Saudi Offer Worth Up to $200 Million Withdrawn From the Met

A Saudi offer that could have brought up to $200 million to the Metropolitan Opera has been withdrawn, removing a potential financial lifeline.

A Saudi offer that could have brought up to $200 million to the Metropolitan Opera has been withdrawn, according to a New York Times report, eliminating a potentially significant source of funding for one of the country’s leading performing arts institutions.

The proposed arrangement mattered because of its scale. The funding could have provided a major financial boost to the Met, which the report described as having suffered a series of financial setbacks.

Few other details were available from the cited report. It did not provide, in the material available here, a full account of why the offer was withdrawn, whether the arrangement had been formally approved, or whether another version of the deal could be revived.

For now, the withdrawal leaves the Met without a prospective infusion that could have reached hundreds of millions of dollars, and keeps attention on how the opera company will address its financial pressures.