London (CNN Business) Most of the news outlets that had agreed to sponsor a high-profile business conference in Saudi Arabia have now pulled out following the unexplained disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Japanese media company Nikkei is the latest to withdraw, telling CNN early Saturday that it's no longer a media partner for the event.

It joins a slew of other media organizations who have cut ties with the Saudi government's Future Investment Initiative, which is also known as "Davos in the desert."

Bloomberg said Friday it was pulling out as a media partner, but added that it still planned to cover news from the conference "as we do with every major event in the region."

The US media group last year signed a deal with a Saudi publisher to run an Arabic-language financial news network. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of that deal.