Google to boycott Saudi conference over missing journalist

Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday became the latest company to say it would boycott a business conference in Saudi Arabia, after the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

Google said in a statement that Google Cloud Chief Executive Diane Greene would not attend the Future Investment Initiative Summit to be held in Riyadh starting Oct. 23.

Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, Washington Post columnist and leading critic of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to get marriage documents.

Since news of his disappearance, many American companies, including Uber, Viacom and Ford, have pulled out of the three-day conference, known as “Davos in the Desert.” (Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru).