Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (CNN Business)A year ago, Masayoshi Son was the star guest at Saudi Arabia’s investment conference, sitting alongside Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at the glitzy Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh.
When bin Salman made a brief appearance at the same event on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s most important partner in the tech world was nowhere to be seen. A front row seat reserved for the founder and CEO of Japan’s SoftBank (SFTBY) was empty.
Son, and his chief operating officer Marcelo Claure, were both named as speakers by the Future Investment Initiative before a host of top names canceled plans to attend following international uproar over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
