Blood and Oil Mohammed bin Salmans Ruthless Quest for Global Power by Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck (z-lib.org)

family’s palace at NEOM. Nearby, tribe members were protesting their
imminent move from their barren desert homeland to make way for the
new city. Mohammed’s security forces cracked down, arresting some and
fatally shooting one man, who is said to have been armed.

Through the night, the team talked about the years ahead. Forget the
critics, they said. Mohammed had many years to prove his vision. He
wasn’t even king yet. His legacy might come in ten, twenty, even thirty
years.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are most indebted to our sources, many of whom remain anonymous to
protect themselves against the risk of retaliation. Without their agreement
to tell what they know, despite the risks, we would not have a book to
write.

We would never have had the chance to delve so deeply into this topic
if not for the urging and encouragement of editors at the Wall Street
Journal, especially Elena Cherney, who spearheaded the newspaper’s early,
agenda-setting coverage of the economic transition efforts and IPO of
Aramco in the face of substantial headwinds. Mike Allen edited, and
championed, those early stories. Other editors who played a pivotal role in
our work—and other reporting—on Saudi Arabia are Charles Forelle, Alex
Frangos, Ken Brown, Matthew Rose, Steve Yoder, Tammy Audi, Peter
Wonacott, and Chris Stewart. We are thankful to Matt Murray for his
strong stewardship of the newspaper as a whole and special attention to the
Middle East. Bruce Orwall provided encouragement in moments of self-
doubt.

We are also lucky to have talented and deeply sourced colleagues at the
Journal. Summer Said, based in Dubai, is one of the most fearless and
knowledgeable people in the Middle East about Saudi Arabia’s changes, its
royal family, and the oil market. She has been generous and patient
throughout this process. We have also been fortunate to work closely with
Maureen Farrell, Keach Hagey, Kelly Crow, Josh Robinson, Warren
Strobel, and Rory Jones.

Many experts have helped us learn more about the Al Saud dynasty,
including family tree researcher Michael Field, Gulf States News research
director Eleanor Gillespie, and longtime journalist and Saudi resident

Robert Lacey. We were privileged to work with two phenomenal
researchers, Lucy Woods in London and Kareem Shaheen in Toronto.

Stephen Kalin, a fierce competitor while at Reuters and new colleague
at the Journal, provided feedback on the manuscript, as did good friends
including Gabe Friedman, Steve Lefkowitz, Rob Guth, and Jenny Gross.

Thank you to our agent, Steve Troha, at Folio Literary Management.
Paul Whitlatch encouraged us to pursue this topic and helped
conceptualize this book, while Brant Rumble at Hachette Book Group
thoughtfully edited it. We also thank the whole team at Hachette, including
publisher Mary Ann Naples and associate publisher Michelle Aielli. Thank
you to Jen Kelland for her deft copy editing, and Carolyn Levin and Kirsty
Howarth for their legal guidance.

Lastly, we wouldn’t have been able to spend so much time traipsing
around the world reporting or spending hour upon hour editing this book
without help and guidance from our families, especially Farah Halime and
Chelsea Dodgen.

Coauthored by Bradley Hope

Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and
the World

PHOTOS

Ibn Saud, the grandfather of Mohammed bin Salman and founder of Saudi Arabia’s ruling
dynasty, as pictured in 1942. (Bob Landry/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)





King Abdullah with then-prince Salman, father of Mohammed and long-serving governor of
Riyadh, in 2007. (Hassan Ammar/AFP via Getty Images)

Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
(Bandar Al-Jaloud/Royal Court)

Turki bin Abdullah, son of the late King Abdullah, tried to see if the US government would
support a coup of King Salman and his son Mohammed. (Dmitry Astakhov/AFP via Getty

Images)

Former police official Turki Al Sheikh became a close associate of Mohammed bin Salman in his
rise to power.

(Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)

Mohammed bin Salman and his father pushed Miteb bin Abdullah, another son of King
Abdullah, out of the line of succession and later detained him in the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh on

corruption charges. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)

Mohammed bin Zayed, the day-to-day ruler of the United Arab Emirates and crown prince of
Abu Dhabi, was an early supporter of Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to power.
(Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images)

A horrifying crane accident in Mecca in 2015 caused a rift between Mohammed bin Salman and
the construction company responsible, Saudi Binladin Group. (Ozkan Bilgin/Anadolu
Agency/Getty Images)

In the early days of King Salman’s reign, Mohammed bin Salman vied for influence with his
older cousin Mohammed bin Nayef. President Barack Obama was reluctant to help empower the

younger prince. (Olivier Douliery/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Mohammed bin Salman found an ally in Steve Bannon, chief strategist of President Donald
Trump. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Mohammed bin Salman connected well with Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Trump.
(Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

SoftBank’s Rajeev Misra and Masayoshi Son with the Public Investment Fund’s Yasir al-
Rumayyan. (Bandar Algaloud/Saudi Royal Council/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi with King Salman and President Donald Trump at the
launch of Saudi counter-extremism center in Riyadh. (Bandar Algaloud/Saudi Royal
Council/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)





Qataris write comments on a wall bearing a portrait of Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al
Thani, in Doha. (Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images)

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi billionaire and founder of Kingdom Holding Company,
following his release from eighty-three days of detention in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh. (Guy

Martin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Mohammed bin Salman pushed aside his older cousin Mohammed bin Nayef to become heir
apparent. (Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was detained by Saudi officials. (Hasan
Shaaban/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Mohammed bin Salman was the secret buyer of the world’s most expensive painting, the Salvator
Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. The final price, including fees, was more than $450 million.
(Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

Badr bin Farhan, a close friend of Mohammed bin Salman from childhood, bid for the painting
and later was appointed to run the kingdom’s culture efforts. (Valery Sharifulin/TASS via Getty

Images)

Saudi Arabia began plans to open up long-closed archaeological sites to tourists, including the
historic city of al-Ula.

(Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)

Women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul was arrested and allegedly tortured in Saudi Arabia.
(AFP via Getty Images)

Mohammed bin Salman and Donald Trump meeting in the Oval Office during the prince’s three-
week visit to the United States. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)





Jamal Khashoggi, a longtime regime-friendly Saudi journalist who became a leading antagonist
to Mohammed bin Salman, was murdered by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
(The Asahi Shimbun/The Asahi Shimbun)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan drip-fed information about Jamal Khashoggi’s murder
to the press, punishing the Saudi Arabian government. (ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite the scandal of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, Mohammed bin Salman re-emerged and
wielded more power on the world stage than any Middle East leader in a generation. (Kim

Kyung-Hoon/Pool via Bloomberg)