Direct presence for Apple and Amazon in S. Arabia?

Seekingalpha.com says Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) are in licensing discussions with Riyadh on investing in Saudi Arabia.

It says Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looking to give the kingdom a high-tech makeover. A direct presence of these companies will raise the country’s profile.

The portal cited sources that told Reuters of the development that could accentuate their presence.

Third party

Both companies already sell products in the kingdom via third parties. S. Arabia has been easing regulatory impediments for last two years, but they have yet to establish a direct presence there.

Apple has also boosted its CEO Tim Cook’s pay cut which jumped 47% to $12.8M, up from $8.7M in 2016 a year after delivering an unusual pay cut in compensation for fiscal-year 2017 as the company exceeded annual sales and profit goals.

Apple’s board also implemented a policy requiring Cook to “use private aircraft for all business and personal travel.”