Dealing with (Shhh!) the Saudis

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us //link.mail.bloombergbusiness.com/click/18558743.75609/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5/582c8673566a94262a8b49bdB5e47c0e1 [Get the newsletter]( Hi all, it’s Eric. Travis Kalanick, the co-founder of Uber Technologies Inc., is once again playing the villain. CloudKitchens, Kalanick's new startup, [secretly accepted a $400Â]([million investment]( from the Saudi Public Investment Fund in January, according to the Wall Street Journal. The investment came just a few months after the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA has blamed directly on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The killing led to a round of soul-searching about whether tech companies should be accepting investment from the Saudi government. Uber, which took $3.5 billion from the Saudi PIF in 2016, came under particular scrutiny. Yet in the middle of the controversy, the company's erstwhile co-founder was apparently planning to get back in bed with the Saudis. It’s not as if the political problems with Saudi Arabia have faded since last year. News of the CloudKitchens investment emerges just a few weeks after [Silicon Valley types shunned this year's “Davos in the Desert,”]( the Saudi government’s glitzy investment conference. And earlier this week, federal prosecutors accused two former Twitter employees of helping Saudi Arabia spy on political dissidents. Kalanick’s new business idea is something that alternately gets labeled “ghost kitchens,” “cloud kitchens,” or “dark kitchens.” The company buys or leases space that it turns around and rents to food delivery businesses. In some cases, CloudKitchens runs its own delivery-only restaurants. The company is already being dubbed the WeWork of food. You know, because of the tight real estate margins, controversial founder, and so on. It’s actually amazing the Saudis are willing to get involved given all that, and how poorly their investment in Uber is doing. In a perverse way, it’s almost touching that one exiled founder and one radioactive investor could rekindle their feelings for one another. Kalanick is not the only person to go back to the Saudis after the killings. SoftBanks’s Vision Fund, which is backed by $45 billion in Saudi capital, has been threatened more by its poor investment record than any political consequences. American banks are preparing to help take Aramco, the Saudi oil giant, public. Not many startups are announcing deals with the Saudi PIF, but earlier this year it said it was [planning to open an office in San Francisco,]( perhaps a sign that it’s not getting the cold shoulder from everyone. We live in an era when there aren’t clear battle lines on what countries are acceptable business partners. There's been an uptick in handwringing over China in the last month, after free-speech controversies involving the NBA and Blizzard. Yet the Trump administration is trying to wrap up a trade deal with the Chinese government, and it hasn't pressured it on its human rights record. There's enough ambiguity here that some people can justify letting the money flow, but enough sensitivity to keep it flowing quietly. This might explain both why Kalanick took the investment, and why he tried to keep it a secret. —[Eric Newcomer](mailto:enewcomer@bloomberg.net) Sponsored Content by [Darktrace]( As organizations embrace cloud services, the attack surface is increasing. Meanwhile, cloud-based threats are fast and unpredictable, often outpacing existing defenses. But cyber AI is changing the game. Thousands of companies use AI to detect and respond to advanced attackers in the cloud, before they do damage. [Learn what’s missing in cloud security and how cyber AI can help.](  And here’s what you need to know in global technology news: Goodbye, mint. A humbled Juul is down to [only tobacco and menthol flavors]( after an e-cigarette health crisis. Washington's mad about Robinhood's infinite leverage. If you haven't read about this hysterical, Reddit-based debacle, [read up](. [Now, Washington is asking questions](. Imagine having to pretend to be a Googler. But you're [actually an independent contractor]( getting paid $40,000 without the perks.  Like Bloomberg's Fully Charged? [Subscribe for unlimited access]( to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. [Learn more](.  You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022