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LIV Golf CEO Denies "Speculation" That Saudi Arabia On Cusp Of Severing Ties

Update (1130ET): Amid reports that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund might be on the verge of pulling its funding for the league, LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil told staff in an email overnight that its season will go on "as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle."

The email, which was obtained by ESPN, didn't directly address reports that PIF might stop investing in the breakaway circuit after spending more than $5 billion since its inception in 2022, or whether the league will continue competitions beyond this season.

"I want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle," O'Neil wrote in the email.

"While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass. We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before."

LIV Golf is scheduled to play its sixth tournament of the season starting Thursday at Club de Golf Chapultepec near Mexico City.

Its first tournament in the U.S. is scheduled for May 7-10 at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.

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As Middle East Eye reported earlier, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is on the cusp of cutting its backing for LIV Golf, as it tightens its belt amid the US-Israeli war on Iran and delayed megaprojects at home.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund could announce it was stepping away from the Saudi-backed golf tour, established in 2021, as early as Thursday, taking a hit on its $5bn investment in the entity.

via AFP

The report said PIF had been weighing an exit before the US-Israeli war on Iran began, but any decision would likely send a chill through the sports world and other entities seeking cash from Gulf sovereign wealth funds.

PIF is the main backer of LIV Golf, which has racked up major losses since its founding in 2021, and the move would likely spell its demise.

PIF's bet on LIV Golf to rival the PGA Tour was one in a series of investments that were made in a bid to bolster the kingdom’s involvement in sports and entertainment, as it pushes to diversify its economy away from energy.

Saudi Arabia’s potential reversal on its costly golfing venture is part of a wider pullback on sports investing, as it looks to prioritize returns, rather than cultural influence. https://t.co/s0iQdRcFAZ

— Bloomberg (@business) April 16, 2026

Even before the US-Israeli war on Iran, high-flying projects were being cancelled or massively scaled down. The kingdom’s finance minister, Mohammed al-Jadaan, said in December that it had "no ego" preventing it from reassessing projects.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia suspended construction of the Mukaab, a giant cube-shaped structure set to be built in downtown Riyadh. The kingdom also shelved plans to build a desert ski resort and a large dam for an artificial lake.

Because of its East-West pipeline running from the Gulf to the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia can bypass Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz. It is practically the only Gulf state exporting oil amid the war and is benefiting from higher oil prices.

But the conflict has also made it harder for Gulf states to present themselves as safe hubs for tourism and business.

Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of PIF, told Al Arabiya Business on Wednesday that the war on Iran was having an effect on PIF’s calculus, saying that “the war would add more pressure to reposition some priorities”.

Rumayyan confirmed for the first time that a 170km straight-line city envisioned to be part of the larger Neom development was no longer a priority.

"There are directives to Neom to reprioritise. Everyone thinks The ‌Line is Neom, but The Line is one project in Neom," he said. "Is it necessary to have The Line by 2030? I think no. It's good to have, but not a must-have," he said.

Cutting ties with LIV Golf would align with the kingdom’s efforts to keep more of its sovereign wealth fund cash at home. PIF is estimated to be worth $1 trillion.

Rumayyan said that PIF wanted 80 percent of its investments to go to local projects while it deployed 20 percent abroad, down from a high of 30 percent in recent years.

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Google In Talks With Department Of War To Deploy Gemini AI In Classified Settings

The Information, citing multiple people familiar with the discussions, reports that Google is now negotiating with the Department of War on an agreement that would allow Gemini AI models to be deployed in classified settings. This development suggests the DoW is moving very quickly to broaden the use of frontier models for military and intelligence purposes after the Anthropic fiasco.

The agreement under discussion would permit the DoW to deploy Gemini for lawful uses, signaling what can only be seen as a critical expansion of Google's DoW business, as AI models are being deeply embedded across defense and administrative functions. Sources say both parties are still negotiating the terms.

Those sources noted that Google proposed additional language in the contract to ensure that AI models used by the DoW would not be weaponized for domestic mass surveillance or for autonomous weapons without "appropriate" human oversight.

As we've previously noted, AI kill chains and autonomous weapons are flooding the battlefield across Eurasia. 

The potential deal comes after the Trump administration blacklisted Anthropic for restricting the military use of its AI models.

While Anthropic's litigation plays out in court, OpenAI's Sam Altman recently revealed that his AI company "reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network."

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