Neom, Pt 2: The Emperor’s New Clothes
Apr 26, 2025•43 min
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Episode description
Andy Wirth and Tony Harris moved halfway across the world to help build Neom: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s futuristic new city in the Saudi desert. But what they found wasn’t the desert utopia of Neom’s marketing. Instead, they found a project bleeding cash, led by a screaming CEO, where very little was actually being built.
WSJ’s Rory Jones and Eliot Brown explain how Neom fell years behind schedule – and went billions of dollars over-budget – thanks to a culture of runaway spending and never telling the boss “no.” Hosted by Ryan Knutson.
Further Listening:
- Neom, Pt 1: Skiing in the Desert
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