Is Miamis FII the hottest conference for billionaires? Its way better than Davos
On Wednesday night in Miami, billionaires and royals waited in line to get a seat for President Trump’s speech at the Saudi Arabia-backed Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit.Everyone from Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt to WeWork founder Adam Neumann queued to get a seat in the conference hall, or even in the overflow area.Moguls texted FII organizers and PR reps for seats directly in the President’s sightline or near some of his most important allies — namely Elon Musk. Neumann, sources said, didn’t have much luck getting inside either room.“You had queues of the world’s top investors … people who don’t often queue,” an FII spokesperson told NYNext.
The following day, attendees flocked to hear President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner interview Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff where the pair discussed whether “a new era of US-Middle East Economic Cooperation Dawning?” Sources told The Post the chat was oversubscribed with standing room only.The FII Summit runs through Friday at the Faena Hotel and forum next door. It’s the third such FII event held in Miami.This year the conference — launched less than a decade ago in Riyadh — showed a new level of power and political influence.Last year, the Miami event attracted serious investors but no notable sitting government officials from the Biden administration. Since launching in the Saudi Arabian capital in 2017, FII has expanded to a few other cities.
In addition to its Miami presence, it debuted in Brazil in 2024, and there are plans to expand to Europe and Asia.While it’s not technically affiliated with the Saudi government, it is under the umbrella of the Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund PIF (the public investment fund).The event faced some controversy following the death of journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in 2017.
FII has consistently drawn wealthy and powerful individuals, including Steven Mnuchin and Jare...