Ayman Hariri is a son of the late Rafik Hariri, Lebanon’s prime minister, who was assassinated while in office in 2005. He inherited a stake in his father’s Saudi-based construction company Saudi Oger and sold it to his brother Saad in 2014. In 2017, he sold his 42% stake in family holding company GroupeMed, which has interests in banking and real estate, for $535 million. He invests in startups through New York-based Red Sea Ventures, whose past investments include smart thermostat maker Nest, now part of Google. He is also co-founder and CEO of Vero, an ad-free social media platform for sharing music, videos, and photos.