Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to the first-ever zero issue of EnterpriseAM Saudi, wherein we will chronicle what we immodestly think is one of the most globally compelling business stories of our generation.

THIS MORNING’S ISSUE is heavy on capital markets stories, but we’ve also got the latest on drugmaker Spimaco’s turnaround bid, a new air passenger’s bill of rights, and the latest on the meltdown of OpenAI (where the story is literally shifting hour-by-hour).

** This is a zero issue of EnterpriseAM Saudi and has not been published or distributed to a wide audience.

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SIGN OF THE TIMES- You know Tadawul-mania is at a new level when homegrown burgerchain Burgerizzr makes the leap to the big league. Shatirah House Restaurant Co., the owner and operator of the Burgerizzr brand, has filed to transition to Tadawul’s main market from parallel market Nomu, the company said in a regulatory filing yesterday. Burgerizzr hopes the move will make it more attractive to potential shareholders — only qualified investors can dabble in Nomu, with its light-touch regulation, while an upgrade to the main market opens it to other individual investors.

BACKGROUND- Burgerizzr has been working on this for some time and arranged for Mohamed Al-Ruwaigh, a founder and major shareholder, to divest last week a 0.84% stake to make certain the popular burger chain could meet the liquidity requirement for an upgrade to the main market. Al-Ruwaigh now holds 42.8% of the company, according to data compiled by Argaam, and was formerly the company’s CEO after a career working FMCG for domestic and multinational players including Al Safi-Danone. The chain had 100 outlets nationwide at the end of last year (the last figure it has publicly disclosed) and is looking to double that number by 2025.

DATA POINT #1- Foreign ownership of Saudi equities is up 300% in value terms in the past five years, the Capital Markets Authority said in a report. The news comes as the CMA aims to make KSA equities more appealing to foreign investors, who are underrepresented in a market that remains dominated by Saudi individual and institutional investors. We have more on the story in this morning’s news well — and an update in Planet Finance on the return of foreigners after last month’s selloff, both below.

PSA- The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority is reminding us all that the deadline to submit tax returns is Thursday, 30 November. Zatca is calling on businesses whose annual revenues exceed SAR 40 mn to submit their tax returns for October by 30 November, the authority said yesterday. This can be done either via ZATCA’s official website or through the authority’s mobile application. Failure to comply within this timeframe may result in fines ranging from 5% to 25% of the declared tax value.

SH*T SHOW AT THE F*CK FACTORY- Sam Altman is out at OpenAI. But is he returning as CEO to the company he founded? Or taking as many as 700 OpenAI staff and decamping for Microsoft? Not even Microsoft boss Satya Nadella seems to know. Sh*t show at the f*ck factory, indeed.

Here are the big beats — and big, lingering questions — in the drama that the global business press has dubbed the single largest business story of 2023. (Bloomberg | Financial Times | WSJ)

1- OpenAI’s board fired Altman over the weekend in what Silicon Valley insiders are calling a “coup” led by the company’s chief scientist.

2- The chief scientist is now threatening to leave with Altman, saying he regrets his actions. (Sure, Fredo.)

3- OpenAI’s board (all of them external folks, none of them shareholders) has missed two deadlines to bring back Altman and then resign themselves. They’ve been under pressure from major shareholders including Microsoft and venture capital outfit Thrive. Instead, they’ve fired the interim CEO they appointed a few days ago (she’s backing Altman) and hired the guy who used to run Twitch.

4- Nadella announced in a stone-coldtweetpost on Elon Musk’s dumpster fire of a social network that Altman is joining Microsoft.

And as of right now: More than 700 OpenAI staff have threatened to walk, Nadella doesn’tseem to know whether he employs Altman or not, and it seems Altman is still making a play to return to OpenAI.

PSA- Maybe you don’t want to pay for ChatGPT Plus, after all? Microsoft’s Copilot (until recently named Bing) is powered by a fairly recent build of ChatGPT and Google’s Bard has exploded out of the gates in recent weeks, now giving users the ability to link Bard to their email as well as to Google’s Docs, Sheets and Slides products, among others.

THE LOCAL ANGLE- Does this mean the end of Altman’s bid to raise funds out of Saudi and the UAE to back a new business focused on chips and devices for AI? He had been in and out of our neck of the woods trying to raise “tens of bns” of USD for unspecified hardware-focused projects, Fortune reports, suggesting Altman had been speaking with the Public Investment Fund as well as Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala.

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- It’s the second day of meetings for a Saudi business delegation in Cairo kicking tires on potential investments there. The delegation is being led by Trade Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi, who has led meetings with officials including Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly.

One-on-one meetings with Egyptian business leaders and government officials are on the agenda for today ahead of tomorrow’s opening of the Egy-GCC Business forum, also in Cairo.

Egypt’s pitch: Some 90 top executives from both private and state-owned companies will hear from Egyptian officials that the country is positioning itself as a logistics and manufacturing hub for Saudi companies looking to sell in to Europe, Africa and beyond. Attracting fresh FDI, particularly in manufacturing and exportable services, is a key component of Egypt’s strategy to get past an FX crunch that has weighed on growth since the outbreak of war in Ukraine last year.

Alhokair is already in: CEO Turki Al Hokair, who has joined the delegation, said on Sunday his business plans to invest some USD 1.5 bn in Egypt next year in sectors including energy, real estate, and infrastructure.

Yeah, but can they get their money out? Saudi Egyptian Business Council chief Bandar Al Amiri told CNBC Arabia that Egypt’s central bank governor is pursuing a remedy that will make it easier for investors to repatriate dividends from Egypt despite the ongoing FX crunch.

DATA POINT #2- Saudi of the largest foreign investors in Egypt this year, Al-Eqtesad reports, citing Central Bank of Egypt figures. Net FDI out of KSA and into Egypt hit USD 2.14 bn in Egypt’s 2022-2023 fiscal year, representing 21.3% of total inbound foreign investment to Egypt in the period. Arab countries accounted for 42.9% of Egypt’s total inbound FDI, half of which came from Saudi, followed by the UAE and China.

ALSO ON THE AGENDA IN CAIRO- Saudi and Egypt are discussing whether to use local currencies in trade exchange, according to state-owned Ahram Online, quoting the head of Egypt’s foreign commercial service. The central banks of both countries are discussing the matter, he said.

#2- It's day three of Global Entrepreneurship Week at the Taif Chamber, organized by the Ataa Center. The three-day event includes a series of talks and workshops for entrepreneurs in a range of fields.

#3- The BRICS and UN will Facetime todayto discuss Israel’s war in Gaza, Bloomberg reports. Attendees include all BRICS leaders, making it the first time they’re all in the same gathering since August. Also on the call with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and his staff will be representatives of countries invited to join the alliance earlier this year, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

It’s Thanksgiving week in the United States — and because we all love a good capitalist discount, Black Friday sales now blanked the Arab world. Saudi is no exception: Some of the bargains on offer at Amazon.sa look particularly appealing. Both brick-and-mortar and online retailers are ramping up the hype ahead of this weekend’s festivities.

SOUND SMART- Retail lore has it that Black Friday — the Friday after US Thanksgiving — is the day on which major retailers saw their income statements turn from “in the red” to “in the black” for the year. Some of us are a bit, uh, overly sensitive to the notion that a “black” Friday has a negative connotation in our part of the world, hence the rebranding to “White Friday” in some quarters. (We’re looking at you, Amazon.)

OIL WATCH-

OPEC+ could extend oil supply cuts into 2024 in a bid to arrest falling prices, Reuters reports, citing multiple sources at the group of oil producers. The cartel will meet on Sunday, November 26, with prices having fallen c. 20% since late September to hit a four-month low last week.

In numbers: Brent crude prices fell to USD 79 a barrel this week down from a 2023 peak in September at USD 98.

What’s weighing on prices? Concern over waning demand and a possible oil surplus next year have slashed prices, despite voluntary supply cuts and the ongoing war on Gaza.

What it means for us: Extending oil cuts will put some downward pressure on the government’s spending program, with oil receipts still accounting for the majority of the inflows into state coffers.

Oil futures edged higher yesterday as traders start pricing in expectations of the supply cut, Reuters reports. Brent crude rose USD 1.18 to USD 81.79 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was up USD 1.05 to USD 76.94.

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