That, or it was a favour to MBS American friends. The other people involved (David Pecker et al) and MBS do share a few friends in the White House, who also seem obsessed with the Washington Post and Bezos himself.
Khashoggi is was not simply a journalist but a member of an influential family with Saudi Arabia [1]. MBS has dealt quite brutally with a variety of his internal opponents without Saudi Arabia. Murdering Khashoggi was something of a statement that MBS wouldn't let his direct opponents escape to other countries to oppose him.
To be clear, the murder was a horrific act by a brutal theocratic regime, I'm not noting these factor to condone it in any way but merely to give background.
[1] For example, this Khashoggi was a relative of Adnan Khashoggi, once know as the world's largest arms dealer.
No matter how much I couch and balance my words, there's always someone ready to jump in with the crude simplification. Frick-off, jeesh.
And to further clarify, the Saudis don't murder exiles, in particular, wholesale. They do murder the Houthas and several other groups wholesale.
Or MBS massively miscalculated. I can't imagine being Lord Emperor gives you many opportunities for people to tell you you're wrong about stuff
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-trumps-fixers-silenced-sto...
I'm not sure I understand your comment