The Saudis are making a billion dollars a day from oil [1], the personal wealth of the dictator clan is estimated at 1.4 trillion dollars [2] and the real value is likely significantly higher than that, especially if you include assets owned nominally by the government or national companies, but factually under clan control.
So yes, this is absolutely pocket money, particularly if it makes sure that they can't be toppled from the money spigot or that their neighborhood gets destabilized in a second Arabian Spring again. Smaller Qatar spent four times than that on the World Cup infrastructure that was nothing more than a couple weeks worth of sports whitewashing.
We can't apply Western values of "worth it" to people who can sink billions of dollars on a whim in European soccer clubs just because they can.
> The Saudis are making a billion dollars a day from oil [1]
That was revenue (?) when oil prices were much higher.
> particularly if it makes sure that they can't be toppled from the
But yeah, I guess arguing about monetary amounts is a but pointless since I think the whole premise is just absurd..
Organizing the WC or buying European fotball clubs is a much better investment (if there only reason they invested in Twitter is what you’re suggesting, which of course makes no sense).
Raises some good points indeed, however it assumes that the Saudis ordered Musk to buy and crash Twitter directly, and it assumes that the Tesla shares he used as collateral would go to zero.
It's also possible that they got approached by Musk and saw a good timing to exploit a rich Western idiot to further their interests. I mean, Musk being deranged enough to call a rescue diver a pedo, smoking weed in Joe Rogan's podcast or give names to his children that are completely bonkers even for celebrities?
The signs that he's not completely well mentally were there for years. Loaning him 20 billion or whatever dollars was an extremely high risk move alone for that factor, so either the Saudis have gone off the rails as well or they see some hidden aspect that makes the deal worth their while even if the risk event materializes.
So yes, this is absolutely pocket money, particularly if it makes sure that they can't be toppled from the money spigot or that their neighborhood gets destabilized in a second Arabian Spring again. Smaller Qatar spent four times than that on the World Cup infrastructure that was nothing more than a couple weeks worth of sports whitewashing.
We can't apply Western values of "worth it" to people who can sink billions of dollars on a whim in European soccer clubs just because they can.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-26/saudi-ara...
[2] https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/saudi-royal-familys-dol...
[3] https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/10/influence-game-...