Saudi Crown Prince expected in Silicon Valley for meetings with Apple, Google execs

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, on October 24, 2017. The Crown Prince pledged a "moderate, open" Saudi Arabia, breaking with ultra-conservative clerics in favour of an image catering to foreign investors and Saudi youth. "We are returning to what we were before -- a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world," he said at the economic forum in Riyadh. less Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, on October 24, 2017. The Crown Prince pledged a "moderate, open" Saudi Arabia, breaking with ... more Photo: Fayez Nureldine / AFP / Getty Images 2017 Photo: Fayez Nureldine / AFP / Getty Images 2017 Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Saudi Crown Prince expected in Silicon Valley for meetings with Apple, Google execs 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will meet with the Bay Area's top tech leaders this week— the next stop on his almost three week-long U.S. tour to build diplomacy and economic partnerships.

On his Silicon Valley agenda are meetings with Apple CEO Tim Cook, top Google executives, and venture capitalist investors, according to Axios. The crown prince visited the White House on March 20.

The controversial 32-year-old prince, nicknamed M.B.S, said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that he was inspired to take a more nontraditional route — away from the standard monarchy —by the work of tech icons Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Prince Mohammed met with Bill Gates in Seattle several days ago.

Other details on his Silicon Valley visit were not released at this time, but a compelling theory on his lodging has emerged.

Quite a few signs point to the Four Seasons Silicon Valley, a palatial hotel perched on East Palo Alto's border. As first reported on by Recode, the upscale hotel is not accepting any reservations from April 2 to April 7, and some guests are being relocated to other hotels at the request of the U.S. Department of State to accommodate a "large VIP delegation."

"Due to the hotel's layout and location [the U.S. Statement Department]'s adamant that we are the best fit for their high security needs which will be restricting the hotel and all outlets from other guests," the hotel memo Recode obtained read.

While Recode couldn't get official confirmation that the crown prince would be staying at the hotel, their report noted the hotel's announcement matches the dates of bin Salman's Silicon Valley visit.

Last week, the Plaza hotel in midtown Manhattan was reportedly closed to the public to accommodate bin Salman and his delegation.

Prince Mohammed is still a mystery to the United States and much of the West. He has allowed women to drive and opened movie theaters shuttered since the 1980s, advocating a more moderate brand of Islam than that which has dominated Saudi life for the last four decades.

But he's also asserted power in the Middle East in an altogether new way for a Saudi monarch, detaining some of his country's richest and most powerful men in a stunning anti-corruption campaign that netted over $100 billion. Critics saw it as part of an authoritarian power grab that disregarded civil law.

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Read Annie Vainshtein's latest stories here. Send her news tips at avainshtein@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @annievain

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.