They also fear retribution from Saudi Arabia, which has shown a penchant for holding grudges.
One talking point among some executives has been Citigroup’s experience in Saudi Arabia. For decades, the bank had a joint venture with the Saudi government, Saudi American Bank. But after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and a lawsuit by 9/11 victims against Saudi American Bank, Citi decided to sell its stake. The government was furious and made its feeling clear: Several years later, when Citi sought a license to do business in the kingdom, it found the gates closed. It took years of lobbying and trips to Riyadh before Citi gained the license last year.
Despite pleas from corporate leaders for help, Mr. Trump continued to instruct Mr. Mnuchin to attend the conference — while also saying that he would consider “punishing†the country if it was found to have killed Mr. Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia’s combative posture — it said it would “respond to any measure against it with an even stronger measure†— left business leaders worried that their companies could become targets.
And many chief executives took notice of the vindictive nature of the Saudi response to the criticism from Canada this summer over Saudi Arabia’s arrest of human rights activists: The kingdom instructed its investment mangers to start dumping its stakes in shares of Canadian companies, even if the sales would result in losses.
So the exodus had already begun before the three financial titans began strategizing over the weekend. In a series of phone calls, Mr. Dimon, Mr. Schwarzman and Mr. Fink scrambled to find a way to gracefully exit the conference — or at least put it off, according to the people briefed on the conversations. Those people spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the business and political sensitivity of the discussions.
Mr. Fink called Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the chief executive of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Uber board member, and encouraged him to delay the conference, according to people familiar with the conversation. The event would bring unwanted attention on the kingdom and the many companies that have tried to work with the country, Mr. Fink told him, overshadowing any chance of it serving as a positive catalyst for further investment. Mr. Schwarzman called Mr. Mnuchin, pressing him to cancel his trip or to work with the Saudis to postpone the conference, according to people familiar with the phone call. Neither conversation ended with a solution.
By Sunday night, Mr. Dimon decided he could not wait for more conference-call diplomacy: He declared he was out, the people said. Mr. Fink and Mr. Schwarzman decided to give the Saudis one more chance: If the conference was not postponed by 6 a.m. Monday, they would withdraw from the event.
At 6 a.m., the event was still on, and the three biggest names in finance were out.
The decisions that business leaders have made in the past week are laudable — Mr. Khosrowshahi’s in particular, because of Uber’s direct ties to the kingdom. And the departures of Mr. Fink, Mr. Dimon and Mr. Schwarzman — despite the role of public pressure — opened the door for more companies to walk out.
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