PwC has scaled back sharply in the Middle East, shedding around 60 partners and more than 1,500 staff after losing access to new advisory work from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). The retrenchment marks a dramatic reversal for a firm that only a year ago was riding a wave of regional growth. The trouble began when the sovereign wealth fund, one of PwC’s biggest clients in the Gulf, froze the firm out of fresh consulting assignments. People familiar with the matter link the rupture to a conflict of interest around recruitment from a PIF-backed project, but the ban also reflects a cooling of Riyadh’s appetite for expensive outside advisers. Until recently, PwC had been hiring aggressively to service the Gulf’s mega-projects, from futuristic city schemes to infrastructure overhauls. When that pipeline slowed, the company suddenly found itself overstaffed. Regional revenue growth, once measured in double digits, slowed to a trickle. The decision to cut jobs has reshaped the firm’s leadership as well. Laura Hinton, a senior partner with experience in restructuring, has been elevated to co-head of the region and is expected to take sole charge within a year. Competitors have been tipped as possible beneficiaries of PwC’s loss. Firms such as McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG are all active in Saudi Arabia and are thought to be positioning themselves for opportunities. Yet so far, no confirmed contract awards have been made public showing that PwC’s former mandates have been handed directly to rivals. Instead, most of the visible contracts signed by PIF subsidiaries in recent months relate to construction, design, and project delivery. Analysts note another dynamic at play: Riyadh has made it clear it wants to rely less on global consultancies and more on domestic or regional providers. Some of PwC’s lost ground may therefore be taken not by its usual competitors, but by smaller firms based in the kingdom. The episode illustrates how quickly fortunes can shift in a market dominated by a single powerful client. PwC, once at the forefront of Saudi Arabia’s transformation drive, now finds itself in repair mode—working to rebuild relations with the kingdom while cutting costs to match leaner demand. Whether it can regain its footing may depend less on rivals and more on how Saudi Arabia chooses to balance outside expertise with its own ambitions. Source: comp.