Saudi Arabia.

Because it is the only country buying the whole board. Savvy Games, backed by PIF, runs a $38 billion gaming strategy. The Esports World Cup pays $75 million in prizes. Qiddiya, a purpose-built gaming district, is rising from the desert right now. Target: $13 billion of GDP and 39,000 jobs by 2030. Then the FIFA World Cup in 2034. Everyone else builds games. Saudi builds the stadium, the city, and the league.

There are many raw materials, also called natural resources, commodities or minerals, far more than 10. The US lists 60 critical minerals, the EU 34. These are 10 very important ones, in no particular order: gold, copper, uranium, silver, rare-earth magnets, gallium, lithium, cobalt, yttrium and graphite. Don't underestimate water and oil. They are just as important, so I describe each of them separately. These 10 are inside your car, your phone, solar panels, wind turbines, power grids, data centers, chips, humanoid robots, rockets and missiles. The real power is not who digs them up. It is who refines them, and that is mostly China. Who controls what: • Gold: money without a government. China, Russia and Australia mine the most. • Copper: carries electricity. Chile, DR Congo and Peru mine it. China refines about 45%. • Uranium: fuels nuclear power. Kazakhstan, Canada and Namibia mine nearly 75%. • Silver: the best conductor. Mexico, Peru and China lead. • Rare-earth magnets: drive electric cars, robots and fighter jets. China mines about 70% of rare earths. • Gallium: high-power chips and radar. China produces 99%. • Lithium: batteries. Australia, China and Chile lead, Zimbabwe is rising. • Cobalt: batteries and jet engines. DR Congo mines nearly 3 of every 4 tons. Battery makers are engineering cobalt out of batteries before 2030. That's why it moves out of the top 10 after 2030. • Yttrium: jet engines and lasers. China and Myanmar. • Graphite: the other half of every battery. China mines nearly 4 of every 5 tons, Madagascar, Tanzania and Brazil follow. Some countries are very rich in raw materials, others have almost none. Ranked by the value of all their natural resources, Russia is the richest country on the planet: $75.7 trillion in a 2012 valuation, ahead of the US, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Iran. Beyond this answer: • Water: my FAQ on why water is becoming the world's most strategic resource. • Oil: my OIL 2075 prediction card. • Countries: my FAQ on the top 10 richest countries in natural resources.

Russia ranked number 1 in a 2012 natural-resource valuation, with an estimated $75.7 trillion, about $31 trillion more than the United States. Saudi Arabia, Canada and Iran completed the top 5. The study estimated the value of 10 resource categories, including oil, gas, coal, timber, gold and uranium, using prices available at the time. Forget GDP. And Russia's biggest treasure in that ranking was not oil. It was timber, valued at $28.4 trillion. The world's top 10 in the 2012 study: 1. Russia: $75.7 trillion. Timber, natural gas, oil. 2. United States: $45 trillion. Coal, timber, natural gas. 3. Saudi Arabia: $34.4 trillion. Oil, natural gas. 4. Canada: $33.2 trillion. Oil, timber. 5. Iran: $27.3 trillion. Oil, natural gas. 6. China: $23 trillion. Coal, timber. 7. Brazil: $21.8 trillion. Timber, iron ore, gold, uranium. 8. Australia: $19.9 trillion. Gold, uranium, iron ore, coal, copper, timber. 9. Iraq: $15.9 trillion. Oil, natural gas, phosphate. 10. Venezuela: $14.3 trillion. Oil, natural gas. Important: These figures come from a 24/7 Wall St. analysis published in April 2012 and later reproduced by Statista. They are not 2026 valuations. They estimate gross resource values at historical prices, without deducting extraction costs. The timber calculation assumes all trees could be harvested and sold. DR Congo is sometimes quoted at $24 trillion in untapped minerals, but that estimate uses a different methodology and cannot be directly compared. My final thought: Owning the mine is potential. Owning the refinery is power. Raw materials, natural resources, commodities, minerals, critical minerals and rare earths: see my top 10 raw materials, my OIL 2075 prediction card and the top 10 richest countries in natural resources.

The UK lost 16,500 millionaires in 2025, the largest single-country outflow ever recorded. France, Germany and Spain bleed rich citizens for the first time in history. The winners: the UAE took 9,800 in 2025, the US 7,500, Saudi Arabia 2,400, 8 times more than in 2024, and Dubai hands 10-year golden visas even to creators and influencers.

142,000 millionaires relocated in 2025, the UAE the number 1 destination, Saudi Arabia up 8 times. Europe punishes leavers with exit taxes, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands billing you on gains you never sold. The UAE offers golden visas, zero income tax, and the safest streets on Earth, Abu Dhabi ranked number 1 year after year. 1 continent builds a wall. 1 region builds a welcome mat.

Live Nation, CTS Eventim, and Informa, with Saudi Arabia as the new money. 3 companies, then 1 country. Live Nation (the world's biggest concert promoter), number 1 worldwide: $25.2 billion group revenue in 2025, $20.9 billion of it from concerts, 159 million fans at 55,000 shows, and for the first time more fans outside the US than inside. It runs the promoter, the venues, and the ticket counter. A New York jury ruled in April 2026 that it used that chain illegally: a monopoly on primary ticketing at major venues, a monopoly on large amphitheaters, and amphitheater access tied to its promotion business. CTS Eventim (Europe's biggest ticket seller, Munich), number 2: 177.9 million tickets in 2025, revenue past $3.4 billion for the first time. Its ticketing business runs a 46% margin. Its concert business runs 6%. Informa (the London exhibitions group), 800+ brands across the group: live business events revenue up 14% to $4 billion, 74% of the whole company. Then the new money. Saudi Arabia pulled 89 million entertainment visitors and 1,690 events in 2025, in an industry built from zero since 2016. The West sells tickets. The Gulf builds cities around them.

MICE is the business side of live events: Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions. The trade floor, not the dance floor. It is the biggest slice by far. $1.3 trillion in direct spending in 2025, 1.65 billion participants in 180+ countries, $1.8 trillion added to world GDP, according to the Events Industry Council (the sector's global body). If MICE were a country it would be the 16th largest economy on earth, ahead of the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia. Where the money sits: corporate events $566 billion, conventions and congresses $383 billion, trade shows $179 billion, incentive trips $87 billion. North America pays $488 billion of it, Asia $353 billion and now bigger than Western Europe. Oxford Economics (the forecasting house) sees business events at $1.6 trillion by 2028. Business events are the biggest slice inside the broad live-events market of $1.2 to 1.6 trillion, which also counts concerts, festivals and sports. My $2.5 trillion forecast is for that whole market.

Control sits with the Ellison family and Gerry Cardinale's RedBird Capital, a New York investment firm. The Ellison family owns 77.5% and RedBird 22.5% of a holding company called Harbor Lights, which owns all of Skydance's voting shares. David Ellison runs the company. His father, Oracle co-founder and chairman Larry Ellison, provides the financial muscle. The $110 billion deal is financed with about $47 billion of new equity plus massive debt. Roughly $24 billion of the equity comes from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi's L'Imad Holding. Their shares are non-voting. Bank of America, Citigroup and the private lender Apollo originally committed $54 billion of debt financing. Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders received $31 a share in cash, plus a small daily fee for the delay since 30 September. Paramount also funded Warner's $2.8 billion termination payment to Netflix. Skydance remains public. Since the deal closed on 6 October 2026, its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange as SKYD. David Ellison is chairman and co-CEO alongside former Mattel boss Ynon Kreiz.