Saudi Arabia is working to engage its sports fans from the bottom up.

As Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pours billions of dollars into international golf, tennis and football, Danny Townsend, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s SURJ Sports Investments, says it’s vital to get the young generation hooked early in their lives.

“Frankly, I care far more about engaging a 10-year-old in a sport we invest in than engaging someone my age,” Townsend said in a panel discussion about sports at the Milken Summit. “If we get the product right and deliver it the right way for that young fan, the long-term value follows.”

Ben Harburg, the American investor who founded MSA Capital and bought Saudi Arabia’s Al-Kholood pro soccer club in July, said he’s constantly amazed by the dedication of local fans.

“I’ve had fans come up to me at matches with printed A4 pages – line-by-line recommendations on how we should compete in the league, which players to pursue, what style of play to adopt, even preferred formations,” Harburg said.

It didn’t take long today for discussions at the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit to focus on artificial intelligence – the promise, the costs and the threats of the technology that is permeating all levels of business and daily life.

Michael Milken, the billionaire financier who sponsors the annual two-day conference in Abu Dhabi, raised the issue in his opening remarks, pointing out that the largest amount of capital expenditures in the world are going into data centers for AI. “The world has changed and we can see it,” he said.

The UAE has, in fact, created a cabinet position to ensure that everyone in government embraces AI technology. Still, Omar Al Olama, the Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence, especially the proliferation of fake information and images.

“The fact that I can give you a piece of paper and you think that is value, that is trust,” Al Olama said. “Money is built on trust. If trust is being eroded, it will mean a tsunami of change that is going to be negative.”

Meanwhile, Mubadala Deputy CEO Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi gave a measured forecast for the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund’s performance in credit markets. “We’ve had four fantastic years in private credit, and we know that’s likely to perform cyclically,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to implode in any shape, way or form.”

Other headliners at the conference today included Emaar’s Mohamed Alabbar, Liberty Strategic Capital’s Steven Mnuchin, Saudi Culture House founder Princess Noura bint Faisal Al Saud, Greycroft’s Dana Settle, and Maaden’s Bob Wilt.

While Elon Musk didn’t turn up at the Milken Summit, his brother Kimbal appeared under the “Visionaries of Tomorrow” program. Kimbal Musk is Co-Founder of Nova Sky Stories, which flies clusters of light-emitting drones to “turn the night sky into a canvas for storytelling.” He is also a major shareholder in Tesla and Co-Founder of both the restaurant group The Kitchen and the non-profit Big Green, which builds school gardens.

Mubadala Capital, the asset management arm of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sovereign fund, and developer Aldar are pairing up to launch a platform that aims to connect global investors with real estate projects in the UAE and wider Gulf.

The new venture, to be called Aldar Capital and based out of Abu Dhabi’s ADGM free zone, is planning to raise $1 billion for its first fund next year.

“We have received significant inbound interest from a number of our existing investors who want exposure to the region,” Mubadala Capital CEO Hani Barhoush told Bloomberg.

The fund will invest across office buildings, residential real estate and logistics, transforming one of the UAE’s biggest developers into a manager of global capital.

The biggest shareholder in Abu Dhabi-listed Aldar is Alpha Dhabi, which is controlled by International Holding Co., the vast conglomerate overseen by UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed. 

The Gulf’s three biggest sovereign wealth funds have all thrown their weight behind Paramount Skydance in the three-way bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of CNN, HBO and DC Comics.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are among the investors backing David Ellison’s sweetened bid for the entertainment giant, which also includes financing from RedBird Capital and Apollo Global Management, Variety reports. Netflix and Comcast have also renewed their bids, with the streaming flicks leader seeking only the Warner Bros. part of the business.

It is understood that Paramount’s all-cash offer is still mostly funded by the family of Oracle co-founder and billionaire Larry Ellison and son, David, and the amount offered by the three Gulf funds does not meet the threshold for requiring U.S. foreign investment approvals. Paramount’s previous non-binding bid of $24 a share submitted on Nov. 20 did not involve the sovereign funds, Variety said, clarifying its earlier reporting.

In whatever form it takes, a full or partial sale of Warner Bros. Discovery has the potential to reshape the media and entertainment landscape in the Gulf, where the company has far-reaching interests, from content streaming and theme park branding deals to a CNN bureau. 

In the UAE, Warner Bros. Discovery paid $57 million in March for a 30% share in Dubai-based streamer OSN, which is now hosting its high-value content in the region, including HBO hits like “The Sopranos” and “Succession,” and counts the Abu Dhabi and Kuwait royal families as its other shareholders.

The high-adrenaline sailing league founded by former America’s Cup winner and Oracle founder Larry Ellison and champion sailor Sir Russell Coutts returns to the UAE this weekend for the final race of the season.

The Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix will see 12 national teams race their foiling catamarans at speeds topping 100 kph (62 mph) off the city’s Corniche in a winner-takes-all showdown for the trophy and a $2 million cash prize.

The Grand Final comes as the nascent league broke a 31-year-old viewership record set by the 1992 America’s Cup last weekend, with almost 3.5 million U.S. fans tuning in to watch “The Race to Abu Dhabi” on CBS, making it the most-watched sailing race in U.S. history.

“This is huge for SailGP and proof that nation-vs-nation, high-octane sailing has mainstream appeal,” Coutts, SailGP’s CEO, said.

The record is a boon for Abu Dhabi and SailGP sponsor Mubadala, as the Gulf and its sovereign wealth funds continue to splash billions into U.S. sports in a competitive pursuit of soft power, prestige and investment returns from far-reaching media rights deals.

Launched in 2019 and rapidly expanding to 12 teams and events, SailGP has attracted a host of high-profile competitors and investors, including Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman and F1 champion Sebastian Vettel.

Qiddiya officials say the $40 billion “city for play” project will rely comfortably on Saudi sovereign funding for years, despite recent calls for greater involvement from the private sector.

“We recognise that creating a brand-new city from scratch in the desert is a sovereign undertaking,” Qiddiya Investment Company Vice Chairman Morgan Parker said at the Cityscape conference held in Riyadh last week.

He added that building a city the size of Las Vegas will “take some time.” Qiddiya is located outside Riyadh with a motor racing track, 12 theme parks, 40 sports venues and 27 entertainment attractions.

The city expects to develop around 120 hotels with 41,000 rooms over the next 20 years.

The Six Flags Qiddiya amusement park held its soft-opening earlier this month, with an official launch expected on New Year’s Eve. 

Abu Dhabi’s Eagle Hills and Italy’s Coima will jointly invest $463 million to transform Rome’s Guido Reni Barracks in the Flaminio district, as cash-rich UAE developers increasingly eye overseas projects.

The Rome initiative builds on Eagle Hills’ expanding European footprint, including its €200 million restoration of Venice’s Hotel Des Bains and a recently announced €3 billion waterfront development in the Latvian capital, Riga.

Founded by Emirati businessman Mohamed Alabbar, the company now operates more than 35 luxury hotels and leads major mixed-use projects across 14 countries.

Alabbar also recently purchased the historic Castello di Antognolla in Umbria for $55 million to convert it into a luxury resort and wellness center.

Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, fresh off a $55 billion takeover of Electronic Arts, is getting ready for its next blockbuster deal.

The PIF-backed firm, centerpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s strategy for dominance in the global gaming market, is in talks with TikTok owner ByteDance to buy its Shanghai Moonton Technology unit, Bloomberg reports.

Along with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Savvy was backed by investors Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners on the EA deal.

If Savvy succeeds in buying Moonton, the acquisition would add one of the world’s most popular mobile developers – creator of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – to a portfolio that already includes some of gaming’s biggest console and PC properties.

Extending control from popular titles to fast-growing mobile hits could help Saudi Arabia influence how and what billions of gamers play. Bloomberg notes, however, that negotiations are still at an early stage, and as with an earlier failed attempt, the deal could unravel again.