Saudi Arabia grants citizenship to Uber co-founder, Red Sea Global CEO

Saudi Arabia has granted citizenship to two prominent Western businessmen working in the country — the co-founder of ride-hailing app Uber and the boss of one of the kingdom’s flagship giga projects, the Red Sea development — as part of an effort to attract international entrepreneurs and companies to the kingdom.

The Saudi Gazette reported the news on Thursday that Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick and Red Sea Global’s CEO John Pagano were granted citizenship in the kingdom.

Since heading up the $200 billion US ride-hailing giant, Kalanick has worked on other business ventures. He is now the CEO of CloudKitchens, a Los Angeles–based company specializing in delivery-based commercial kitchens with operations in more than 400 locations globally. The company operates in the Middle East under the brand KitchPark, with branches in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Pagano, the British-born chief executive of Red Sea Global, announced on X on Thursday that he had been granted Saudi citizenship, expressing heartfelt gratitude to King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for “this immense privilege and trust.”