Saudi Arabia Bailed Out A Cruise Ship Company With Close Ties To Trump
President Donald Trump has spent weeks promising to protect cruise lines from the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic. Now a fund that Trump ally Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman controls has revealed a big new stake in Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise operator.
The sudden change of fortunes for a company run by Micky Arison, a longtime Trump associate, could be as much about personal relationships and geopolitics as about business.
A Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) now owns more than 8% of Carnival. It held no stock in the firm at the start of 2020. The news prompted Carnival’s share price to climb 20% ― the company’s biggest percentage increase on record, The Wall Street Journal reported.
As of Thursday afternoon, the kingdom’s 43.5 million shares were worth more than $500 million.
Carnival’s Diamond Princess cruise ship was the site of a large, early outbreak of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. More than 800 deaths due to the disease are linked to the Diamond Princess and another cruise liner, the Grand Princess. The cruise line’s stock price has tumbled in the last month, sending it desperately seeking finances to cover refunds and future orders as its operations are suspended.
The windfall from the Saudis boosted investor confidence that the company and the broader cruise ship industry could rebound. But its timing has alarmed good government advocates.
“It’s a little too convenient to be a coincidence,” Derek Martin, a spokesman for the watchdog Accountable.US, said via email. “We know the president has been desperate to secure bailout funds for his friends at the cruise lines from Congress, because he won’t stop talking about it.”
“If Trump turned to Saudi Arabia to close this deal, it wouldn’t be the first time he asked a foreign country to do him a favor,” Martin added. “With...
