The blows keep coming for consultants in Riyadh

Happy FRIDAY, wonderful people. Well, maybe not so happy for our readers among the Big Four global consulting firms?

Riyadh is putting new work for McKinsey, BCG, and other firms on pause, the FinancialTimes reports. It’s the latest in a series of spending cuts and pauses that Mohammed bin Salman has accelerated since the outbreak of the war in the Gulf.

The news comes as Saudi takes a page out of the Abu Dhabi playbook. Yeah, we know — them’s fighting words these days. But that’s how we’re reading a report that the PIF is looking to combine its ports, rail, and shipping assets into a single logistics platform.

Saudi has until now been better known for ambitious greenfield gigaprojects rather than building corporate platforms with bulk. Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, has long built single-industry assets with scale, from ADQ’s creation of AD Ports to the combination of more than two dozen defense firms into Edge and the more recent creation of L’Imad as a sovereign investment platform. We’re curious to see whether Saudi stops with logistics — PIF had earlier made noises about consolidation in construction and engineering, too.

What we’re keeping an eye on this weekend: We’re hoping to catch up on season two of the HBO medical drama The Pitt — while keeping another window open to watch what Oman and Iran are doing with talks about a permanent toll on Hormuz, a move that’s almost certain to draw fire from Washington.

Finally, a sign of the times: Riyadh is shifting this year’s Esports World Cup tournament to Paris amid the “current regional situation.” Last year’s EWC hit viewership records, drawing 750 mn global viewers, if you can believe it. –Patrick