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00:00Let me just ask you about the country that you're from the United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven emirates will lobby being the largest the oil and gas is not going to be here for the next thousand years. It's finite and we have to prepare ourselves for the future. You've got a group that bought a team in the Premier League in England over the last seven years . Manchester City has been the most successful club you ever go down in the field and say let me kick a couple balls off I don't do I'll give that a little bit in order not to embarrass myself . Would you fix your tie please. Well people wouldn't recognize me if my tie was fixed but just trying to sway all right . I don't consider myself a journalist and nobody else would consider myself a journalist. I began to take on the life of being an interviewer even though I have a day job running a private equity firm. How do you define leadership. What is it that makes somebody tick let's talk about something that you're very passionately interested in which is football. You've got a group that bought a team in the Premier League in England called Manchester City which just won their Premier League. It was a great journey . You know football is a passion of mine. I enjoy football so doing that job was was an absolute absolute joy. So ten years ago we started this journey. Manchester City was a modest club back then in terms of their standing within the Premier League . They had revenues of about 80 million dollars. Ten years on we've pushed the revenue to almost 550 million. The group is very successful financially economically but more importantly when you in the business of sports you have to be successful on the pitch. And over the last 70 years because it took us three years to build the capability and the club to be competitive over the last seven years Manchester City has been the most successful club in the Premier League. We've won the Premier League three times in those seven years. So you go into the locker room and give them kind of win one for the Gipper kind of speeches or how do you inspire the troops. No I inspire the troops by making sure we have the right organization in place. I mean that's what I think I'm good at getting the right ecosystem to for success on the pitch getting the right players. That's really what wins in sports. It's a complete package when they're practicing. You ever go down on the field and say let me kick a couple balls. I don't do it I'll give that a little bit in order not to embarrass myself. What other teams do you have around the world. So we started with Manchester and then we came up with this idea of football as a global sport and it's a sport that's growing everywhere. How about we create a brand. You know I was counting the system are our management systems and use these synergies to be successful in multiple jurisdictions. Never been done before. It was a thesis we didn't know who was going to work or not but over the last six to eight years we've built a group called the city football group that owns controlling stakes or management stakes in clubs all around the world. And we're seeing the benefits of that by essentially having a much better proposition for sponsors who won access to not just one market but a global market and one have want to have that local presence through the football network that we have in these clubs. We're looking now at India we're looking at China which is kind of a reflection of everything else I'm doing. If you look at our portfolio and by that I follow a very similar path as a global platform. Our presences in all these markets and that's how we've grown over the last 15 16 years. Let me just ask you about the country that you're from. I should disclose that you and I have done investments together you've invested in my firm. So we've gotten to know you over quite a period of time. And I wanted to ask you about Abu Dhabi. So let me give you a quick history lesson. The UAE is a federation. United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven emirates seven states. I will lobby being the largest Dubai being one of the most famous . The federation was formed in 1971. The father of the nation is His Highness Sheikh Zayed. He passed away several years ago but he was the father he established the federation. We have a population of about 10 million overall. We have a a wealth of resources particularly in the oil and gas field. That's been the foundation of the economic development. The oil and the gas is not going to be here for the next thousand years. It's finite and we have to prepare ourselves for the future the leadership of this country has focused on maximising the benefits and the returns from this resource. But at the same time build a diversification strategy preparing yourself for the future. And that's what you haven't done in the UAE today . Your economy now is dependent on oil. Is it 50 percent of your economy 70 percent 80 percent. So many years ago oil represented about 70 to 80 percent of the GDP of the country . We've been able to move the economy where that concentration is now less than 25 percent. Now we're still a long way away. And I think the focus now is to continue to push that number down as much as possible. Why do you think Dubai which is not as wealthy as Abu Dhabi is better known in some parts of the world . We have a radius around those of countries like India . Countries like Egypt countries with an immense history and we are new into this market and we don't have a Taj Mahal and we don't have the pyramids. But what we've been able to do in Dubai particularly has been able to do was build a tourism infrastructure in terms of hotels shopping restaurants entertainment taking advantage of what we have which is the sea and the desert. And by doing so we've been able to build a an influx of tourists that supersedes Egypt and India combined . Well let's talk about how you got to where you are. You grew up in Abu Dhabi is that right. Yes. Now you're not a member of the royal family. It's not right now to be a member of the royal family. That means you're part of the family that helped the found the country. And the royal family now in Abu Dhabi has hundreds of members hundreds of members. OK. So you're not a member of the royal family. My grandfather was essentially the first chief justice in the UAE when the Federation was established and. And my father was an ambassador. So I come from a family that has justice has diplomacy. And I was after my father passed away . I was brought up by my grandfather. So I was at a young age . And your father passed away because of something that was tragic . Yes. He was assassinated in France where he while he was he was ambassador. Supposed to. And how well were you. I was six years old. So you are now living in Abu Dhabi when this occurs you later go to college in the United States. Yeah had tops in Medford. And how did you happen to pick tops. First of all I'd even know where Tufts was. I had never been to Boston. I think I had been to the United States once the summer I graduated I went west coast. That was the first time I got to actually go to the west coast. It's only then that I realized that I was deeply tricked by my friends and colleagues who convinced me to go to Boston. I love Boston but the weather taught from a kid coming out of Abu Dhabi with temperatures in the summer are north of 100 degrees to go end up in Boston. That was a tough tough transition for me and I didn't know California. And when I went to California after I graduate I should have started it tough. When you got the tops that people say whereas Abu Dhabi your student friends. So I dealt with two things. Number one nobody had any idea about Abu Dhabi the UAE. Second is the pronunciation of my name. I have a very difficult name. It's called on and is pronounced for pronunciation of this letter in English is is challenged by most of my friends in the United States. So I struggled with my name because people couldn't pronounce CAC so I became known not as hardcore which was my name but Chaldean Chaldean as my let's say my American name so how do you actually pronounce it. Hold on you can do that in Yiddish but not so much in Arabic. Yes I found that also with my Yiddish good friends. You have opened up a museum that is the Louvre. Yes it's it's beautiful Yes. I think the art collection is remarkable. But I think there's a bigger story in this. You know we are trying to push out of the way a message of tolerance you come back after college and you looking for a job. And what did you do right after college back then. You come out of college you go back to Abu Dhabi and you're a you know a US graduate and you're going to have essentially two options Either you're going to work in oil and gas or you're going to work in the investment field. So I interviewed with both. I had an offer from both. And I decided to to start at the National Oil Company. I worked there for for a couple of years and spent a lot of time in Abu Dhabi but also spent a lot of time in Japan . Not many people know that but I will be is one of the largest producers of crude oil in the world and our largest market is Japan. That was very very interesting for me. I learned a lot from that experience from there on I moved into the investment world. I started out a pipeline project was the first gas project that connects three countries in them in the Middle East . And it needed a company to own it. So the government established a company and that company was uber. So what I started with that project and evolved over the last 20 years to what it is today. So you were asked to run move Ottawa and move bottler today it has assets of about two hundred and twenty billion dollars Caroline Hyde 20 billion dollars. So you have grown it from a relatively modest company over the last three years. We've been evolving and expanding in different directions and maybe four years ago I've told you less than 2 percent of our portfolio was in China India and South America . We had no presence in these countries no exposure over the last three years we've been actively investing and present and China actively investing at present and in India actively pleasant President investing in South America. We've been opening offices around many places around the world where our operations have reached scale role model is owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. Correct. So who do you report to. So I have a board of directors the board of directors is chaired by his highness chef Mohammed bin Zayed on the conference of Abu Dhabi. So we have a strong board a very present board. The board meets on an on a monthly basis. Now Sheikh Mohammed is the crown prince. But day to day he's in charge of running the operations of the government of Abu Dhabi. Is that fair to say. That's right . And it's fair to say you're very close to him. I've worked with him now for almost almost 17 years. So I guess you are pretty close. So when he comes to let's say the United States and he meets with the president United States RTS I ask you to go with him sometimes. Yes. So have you met with President Trump. So I've had the pleasure and honor to meet with President Clinton President Bush President Obama and now President Trump. So you do this and other parts of the world as well do you go to these prime ministers when Sheikh Mohammed goes. Yes. So how much of your time is running the day to day the uber operation and how much is dealing with government related issues. So the best thing about my job David is Ahmed actually do it. I don't do anything. I have an organization that one of the things I've tried to do throughout my career is always to run myself by talented capable individuals. I've been lucky I've hired well I've built a very strong team in Mobile. I have four top notch CEOs. The report to me that essentially do everything my ethos professionally has always been always trying to hire the best . Always try to make sure that you have a strong stable of talent around you and that allows me to do so many things. Now I have a significant commitment my time working obviously for his highness. So I spend a lot of time supporting his highness and traveling with him many places around the world. Would you ever go into the government full time or you're happy where you are . You know his highness Well you've met him on many many occasions . He's a person that then I think working for him is is not a job. It's beyond Dax it's beyond that you know I what I if he asked me to do it to do anything I would do it so I'm loyal to to my country and work to my government. But above all I think just working with someone like like Sheikh Mohammed I think is an absolute joy and I would do anything for it. And one of the things that the country has decided to do is to not make it a tourist center necessarily but bring more things into the country. One is you have a Cleveland clinic. Yes that you've opened that Mubarak has been involved with. Why did you decide to have a Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi. It's it's a it's a funny story about yeah about 10 years ago I was I was with his highness Sheikh Mohammed and it was it was the month of Ramadan and we had. He was visiting a family and he had the breaking of the fast at this family's house and one of the members of that family had just come back from being treated in Cleveland for for a long time. They had just come back cut a long story short after the after the meal Sheikh Mohammed let's take a walk always and many of our meetings are actually over long walks which is a challenge when when you have to carry documents and particularly with our weather when it's very hot some days it's believe me. One of the hard parts of my job. So anyways we took a walk and Sheikh Mohammed turned to me . It was night. It was maybe 10:00 at night by that point. And he said this gentleman spent six months in Cleveland. We're one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We have a small population. We've invested well in terms of infrastructure . Why don't we have a hospital of the quality of Cleveland Clinic here in the UAE. It's not acceptable. My people deserve this quality health care and I want you to handle this project. Why don't you go figure out how you can be how you can build a Cleveland Clinic Hospital here no lobby. So you have that now and that's what you did. He said to me listen I don't know. I don't want any bureaucracy on this. You can report directly to me on this project and I want it done now. And I want it done is done immediately. And it took me took us to costs as an organization. It took us about seven years to go convince Cleveland Clinic of the logic of this. Convince them that we would actually commit to the to the quality of the care of care and to the to the management that this requires to deliver exactly what you have in Cleveland and Abu Dhabi took us seven years to build a state of the art hospital which we have today . And then that vision that he had that dream he had I think has been achieved. Let me ask about another thing. You have opened up a museum. That is the Louvre. How is that working out . Well first of all I want to double check. Last time you came to my office and we met you made a commitment to you know visited . Did you do it. I absolutely did. And I was astounded to see some of the works of art there. Here I am an American and I go to Abu Dhabi and I see Whistler's mother. So a great American . I painted this and actually it was in the loop it's part of their collection. And now some people say that the most expensive work of art ever purchased is in that museum. Yes it will be in that museum soon. OK. This is it eventually. This is the dementia that was purchased a few months ago I guess roughly 450 to 500 million dollars. No. So that should be a pretty good attraction. You know it's a it's a young country . It's a young nation. We didn't have a museum of this of this magnitude in the UAE. And I think this this museum represents many things. Yes it's it's beautiful Yes. I think the art collection is remarkable. But I think there's a bigger story in this. We are trying to push out of the UAE a message of tolerance. If you go to that museum you will see that there is a curation. There was one particular gallery that was for me incredible in which you see the world religions really in one gallery and you see them next to each other. So there's there's there's a there's a tour next to a Bible next to a on from the same period. And you see multiple iteration of different periods where you see the three books next to each other . Phenomenal. Now you can see that in a museum and in Germany or in or in the U.K. or in the United States. But for a museum in the U.K. to have that I think for people that are that don't know the Middle East I mean that's a massive step a massive step and a mass a massive message that you will understand David and many people that know the Middle East will understand the significance of that. Now another thing that you've done is bring the Formula One races now you've built an elaborate formula one course. I've been to the races. There's that working out is working out great. I mean the way when we say we need to attract what we've gone from from a country that was attracting a million to us a year to now over 20 million tourists per year of a country that has a population of less than 10 million. So over the years we've invested heavily in sporting activities and museums and hotels et cetera. And that's made the UAE such an attractive place for tourism. But you know what's more important than all this safety and security in the neighborhood we're in and in the region run to have a country like the UAE attract that sort of number of tourists . It can only be done by having a country that's safe and that's secure and that people feel both safe and secure. Some of the rhetoric coming out of the US government has been of concern to people in the Middle East about Muslims. Don't worry about that . I think we we have such strong links with the United States and we have such strong links with the people here in those states. You know we have to be able to distinguish between rhetoric and reality and that reality on the ground is what we feel of the Middle East top Sheikh Mohammed is very close to Sheikh Mohammed bin Salman who is the crown prince in Saudi Arabia . How did they develop this close relationship. You know the crown prince of Saudi Arabia his highness Hamad bin Suleiman is another incredible leader. I mean what he is doing and what you seeing in Saudi Arabia now is transformational. They share a view of the future. They share a vision of the future a better place not just for their people but but for the region. And I think it's all these factors that make again these two very special leaders very close together . President Trump has pulled out of the Iranian nuclear agreement . Did you support the agreement. You know David it's not a big secret that we in the UAE have always had reservations over that that agreement from the beginning. We live in our region we live in our neighborhood. We've been dealing with with Iran and the challenges that Iran puts on the region and the stability and security of the region. It's always been our position. A concern over the what that agreement was able to achieve in terms of preventing Iran from building a military nuclear capability. Now recently Saudi Arabia and UAE among others have had a dispute with Cutter. How do you see any resolution and what is the basis of that dispute the basis of this dispute is we live in are in a very challenging region. National security has been at the forefront of of of challenges that all countries in our region face. And the JCC is a block that has always tried to maintain at least a vision of how we see the future and the stability and security of that region. There has been a fundamental shift or disagreement in terms of how we see the future of this region and the direction that the party has decided to go through with its decisions in terms of both its politics which decided to support how it's really in our view not done what we had hoped it would do with regards to combating terrorism and combating the financing of terrorism and really sharing the vision that we have of what we feel all of us should have for the stability of our region . That's really at the heart of this dispute. These issues are quite deep but these issues obviously are have been going on now for months. I hope that ultimately this this matter gets resolved and I hope at the end of the day we're all one family properties in one RTS Saudis about any Egyptian squares we are all one people. Some of the rhetoric coming out of the U.S. government has been of concern to people in the Middle East about Muslims or do you think it's political rhetoric and not something you worry about as much. No I don't worry about that . No we don't worry about that. I think we we have such strong links with the United States that we have such strong links with the people here and the United States with the government with the business community with the academic community the think tanks across all facets of U.S. society. So I think these links are deep. You know we have to be able to distinguish between rhetoric and reality and that reality on the ground is what we feel when I'm in Washington D.C.. I'm meeting with politicians I'm meeting with businessmen I'm meeting with you know people from all facets and no I don't not feel it and I know it doesn't work. A final question I'd like to ask you about is is there anything that you'd rather be doing than you're doing now. I love what I do. I enjoy it both professionally and personally . But if there's one thing that I'd like to do more than what I'm doing right now is spend more time with my family. And you have two children. I have three kids so I have a lovely wife and three children that unfortunately because of what I'm doing I don't spend enough time with. And that's that's that's my one regret. OK. Well at least maybe they'll wait to watch this interview and they can see you at some point on TV. Maybe I'll give you some credit right now. Thank you very much. Thank you . Time to do this. Thank you. My pleasure .

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The David Rubenstein Show: Khaldoon Al Mubarak

Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chief executive officer of Mubadala Investment Company and chairman of Manchester City Football Club, discusses the soccer club's success, Abu Dhabi's efforts to diversify from an oil economy, the Iran nuclear deal and his relationship with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince. He speaks on the latest episode of "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations," taped May 9. (Corrects company name in description and video.) (Source: Bloomberg)

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