New York City power broker Kathryn Wylde has held talks to join Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund as a lobbyist and consultant for the oil-rich Persian Gulf kingdom, The Post has learned.
Two sources close to the situation said the well-connected 79-year-old is eyeing a post with Riyadh’s $1 trillion Public Investment Fund, and that discussions took place over the holiday period.
The talks were held between Wylde and a representative for the Saudis, according to one of the sources. They are fluid and still in their early stages, both sources said.
Wylde declined to comment when approached by The Post on Thursday. A spokesperson for PIF did not respond to a request for comment.
If sealed, the plum gig would mark a surprise pivot for the outgoing CEO of Partnership for New York City, who, after years of brokering behind-the-scenes deals between business moguls and city bigs, told The Post last year that she planned to retire.
Sources familiar with the matter told The Post that Wylde had been “discussing the idea” with Big Apple CEOs in the run-up to the Christmas break.
Wylde, who has Wall Street titans such as JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and KKR founder Henry Kravis on speed dial, recently forged ties with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani after he won the Nov. 5 election.
She even went on to secure an unpaid advisory role on his transition team as an economic adviser. That’s despite the fact that Wylde opposed fresh taxes on the rich that the hard-left Hizzoner believes will help bankroll his democratic socialist agenda.
“It’s part of her ‘Wylde’ plan,” one well-placed source said of the possible Saudi job. “Kathy is touting her proximity to business and the new mayor.”
Two insiders close to the situation said that some of the financial bigwigs involved with Wylde’s lobby group had been left bemused by her overtures to the business-bashing Mamdani after his stunning victory.
It is unclear what new projects for the Big Apple the Saudis — led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS — are planning, but PIF holds investments in tech, real estate and sports, including a majority stake in English soccer giant Newcastle United. Last month, it snapped up video games titan Electronic Arts in a $55 billion mega-deal.
“Kathy is adept at seeing where the winds are blowing, and with the [Trump] administration so focused on Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, someone with her background is going to follow the wind. If you are the Saudis and you want to understand the new mayor, you’ve got a bridge named Kathy Wylde,” the person briefed on the matter added.
Last year, PIF partnered with Related Companies on a planned 1,200-foot tower in Midtown Manhattan at 625 Madison Ave. The fund has invested $200 million so far and plans to hold a two-thirds stake in the site, with total development costs expected to exceed $1 billion.
“PIF is involved in everything. They are invested in everything from real estate to finance in the United States. She’s connected, and if they hire her, then they are just adding to their capabilities and their connections in the US,” a Wall Street investor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Post.
“Kathy wants to stay on the field. She’s not going to drift into the sunset,” one Big Apple political operative observed.
Wylde is slated to step down from the Partnership for New York City later this month once her successor, Steven Fulop, completes his term as the mayor of Jersey City, NJ, on Jan.15.
She told The Post last May that she would retire after leaving the plum role that comes with a $1.6 million annual paycheck, according to the organization’s latest available tax filings.
Despite her high-powered job, she still lives in her one-bedroom condo in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Last month, the Wisconsin native said that she plans to remain engaged in the challenges faced by New York City.
“I am definitely not at my age looking for a full-time job,” the sometime Post contributor, who turns 80 in June, told Bloomberg Television last month. “I do not plan to take another job, but I do plan to help the new mayor if he wants it.”
Wylde led the Partnership of New York, set up by David Rockefeller in 1979, from 2011 after first joining the nonprofit way back in 1982.
The Big Apple business lobby group represents over 350 corporate titans including banks, law firms and major corporations.
Its executive committee includes some of the biggest names in Wall Street, such as Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Citi boss Jane Fraser and BlackRock’s Larry Fink.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was set up in 1971 to fund strategic economic projects at home, but it was revamped under the leadership of bin Salman in 2015 to reposition itself as a global investor.
Riyadh has moved to rebuild ties with the US that were upended in the wake of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, which US intelligence pinned on bin Salman. Trump travelled to Saudi Arabia in May for an investment conference that officials there branded “MAGA in the Desert.”
One of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, PIF aims to become a $3 trillion powerhouse by 2030.
