Sept 1, 2021: Saudi Arabia’s news channels have begun moving operations from Dubai to move multinational companies from the country’s crown prince to their headquarters in the kingdom.
Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadid staff, both working under the same media umbrella, were told on Monday about plans to move from Dubai to Riyadh, according to several people who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the matter. Sources said that this step would be taken in stages.
People close to the matter said that 12 hours of news programming is to be prepared from the Saudi capital by early January.
A source close to the matter said that the rest of the staff would be offered help to move forward after the completion of the facilities, and the management assured the employees that there would be no lay offs.
Saudi Arabia is pressuring international companies to hand over their Middle East operations to the kingdom by early 2024 or risk losing business in the region’s largest economy. Dubai Media City has housed the region’s largest news companies for more than a decade. Emails and calls from Al Arabiya for comment were not immediately returned.
Meanwhile Nabil Al-Khatib, General Manager, Asharq News, said that the channel has been headquartered in Riyadh since its inception. He said the company had long planned to expand operations in Riyadh, but the construction of a new headquarters there had been delayed due to the corona virus pandemic.
Alsharq’s main operation is currently outside its offices at the Dubai International Financial Center.
Sam Barnett, chief executive officer of MBC Group, the largest broadcaster in the Middle East and North Africa, said the Saudi company’s plans to set up a new headquarters in Riyadh, announced last year, were “on track”.
He said MBC intends to maintain a “strong regional presence”. From the beginning of 2024, the Saudi government and state-sponsored agencies will stop signing agreements with foreign companies that have their headquarters in another country in the Middle East region, according to a statement from the state news agency in February.
The move is aimed at curbing “economic leakage” and boosting employment opportunities.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pursued a $800 billion strategy to double the size of the Saudi capital’s economy and turn it into a global hub, challenging Dubai’s status as a key business hub in the region.
Although the first steps included incentives for companies to relocate, the announcement in February risked losing billions of dollars in deals unless they relocated.
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