Al-Waleed bin Talal

Al-Waleed bin Talal
Born March 7, 1955 (1955-03-07) (age 54)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Nationality Saudi Arabian
Occupation businessman
Religious beliefs Islam
Al-Walid bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
Al-Waleed bin Talal
Al-Waleed bin Talal
House of Saud
Al-Walid
bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud
Offspring
  • Khaled bin al-Walid
  • Reem bint al-Walid

Prince Al-Walid bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (Arabic: الوليد بن طلال بن عبد العزيز آل سعود‎) (born 7 March 1955) is a member of the Saudi Royal Family, and an entrepreneur and international investor. He has amassed his fortune through investments in real estate and the stock market. As of 2007, his net worth is estimated at US$29.5 billion, according to the Arabian Business rich list published December 2, 2007. He is ranked by Forbes as the 20th richest person in the world. He has been nicknamed by Time magazine as the Arabian Warren Buffett.[1]

Contents

Early life

Al-Walid was born to Prince Talal, son of the founding King of Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz Al Saud, and Princess Mona El-Solh, daughter of Riad El-Solh, the first Prime Minister of modern day Lebanon and a leader of Lebanese independence. He is also a cousin of Prince Moulay Hicham of Morocco, whose mother is Mona's sister.

Al-Walid completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at Menlo College in 1979 and a Masters in Social Science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University, in 1985. He was also awarded an honorary PhD from the University of Exeter. He has been divorced three times. As of 2006, he is married to Princess Ameera and has two children: Prince Khaled and Princess Reem from his first wife, his cousin Princess Dalal bint Saud bin Abdul Aziz. Despite being the nephew of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, he has stayed outside of the core of political power in Saudi Arabia, instead building a large international corporation called the Kingdom Holding Company, through which he makes his investments.

Business interests

Al-Walid began his business career in 1979 upon graduation from Menlo College.

The Prince's activities as an investor came to prominence when he bought a substantial tranche of shares in Citicorp in the 1990s when that firm was in difficulties. With an initial investment of $550 million to bail out Citibank caused by underperforming American real estate loans and Latin American businesses, his holdings in Citigroup now comprise for about $1 billion. His investments in citibank earned him the title of Saudi Warren Buffet. This title has come under shadow considering his investments in citibank have only doubled in almost 20 years performing worse than treasury bonds.

At the end of 1990 he bought 4.9% of Citicorp’s existing common shares for $207m ($12.46 per share)—the most that he could without being legally obliged to declare his interest. In February 1991, as American troops stationed in Saudi Arabia were preparing for war with Iraq, the prince spent $590m buying new preferred shares, convertible into common shares at $16 each. This amounted to a further 10% of Citicorp and took his stake to 14.9%.[2]

Later, he also made large investments in AOL, Apple Inc., Worldcom, Motorola, News Corporation Ltd and other technology and media companies.

His real estate holdings have included large stakes in the Four Seasons hotel chain and the Plaza Hotel in New York. He sold half of his shares in the latter in August 2004. He has made investments in London's Savoy Hotel and Monaco's Monte Carlo Grand Hotel. He currently holds a 10% stake in Euro Disney SCA, the organization which manages and maintains the Disneyland Resort Paris in Marne-la-Vallee, France.[3]

In January 2005 Al-Walid purchased the Savoy Hotel in London for an estimated GBP £250 million, to be managed by Fairmont Hotels, in which Al-Walid owns an estimated 16% stake. In January 2006, in partnership with the U.S. real estate firm Colony Capital, Kingdom Holdings acquired Toronto, CA-based Four Seasons for an estimated $3.9 billion.

As of 2008, there are plans for the $10 billion construction of the Burj Al-Meel (Arabic for "the Tower of One Mile"), a supertall skyscraper to be the tallest in the world, at one mile (1600m) in height.

Doubts about the source of income

The Economist has expressed doubts about the source of income of Prince Al Waleed and whether he is a front man for other Saudi investors. According to it, he has not earned enough income from his investments to pay for all that he has spent in the 1990s. The mystery goes back to that first stake in Citicorp. The prince has declared that this money came entirely from his personal funds. He says he started out in 1979 with a loan of just $30,000 from his father. He also mortgaged a house that his father had given him, raising approximately $400,000. And each month, as a grandson of Ibn Saud, he receives $15,000. "You could barely clothe a Saudi prince for such sums, let alone furnish him with a multi-billion-dollar empire. Nevertheless, by 1991 Prince Alwaleed had felt able to risk an investment of $797m in Citicorp", writes the newspaper.[4]

Charitable activities

Much of the charitable activities of Al-Walid is in the field of educational initiatives to bridge gaps between Western and Islamic communities by funding centers of American studies and research in universities in the Middle East and centers of Islamic studies in American universities.

United States

France

2005 Pakistan earthquake

Mali

Political involvement

Al-Walid is not part of the ruling executive within the House of Saud and has generally kept out of politics. However, he has recently started to make overt political statements in his press releases and interviews. His views can be seen as critical of Saudi traditionalism, proposing reforms to elections, women's rights and the economy. He has also openly criticized operation of the state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco. He is vocal about women's rights and hired the first female airline pilot in Saudi Arabia, Hanadi Hindi.

He has also taken a notable pro-American stance, backed up by his $10 million financing of American study programmes at the American University in Cairo.

Al-Walid is a citizen of Lebanon, his mother's country. In recent years, he has taken part in Lebanese politics, backing President Émile Lahoud against since assassinated Lebanese billionaire Rafik Hariri and investing in luxury resorts and pan-Arab Lebanese media: (al-Nahar, LBC International, Rotana Records.

Assets

Kingdom 5KR

Al-Walid now owns the yacht Kingdom 5KR, which is the 282' yacht originally built as the "Nabila" for Saudi billionaire, Adnan Khashoggi. She subsequently posed as the Disco, the yacht of James Bond villain Largo in the film Never Say Never Again. The yacht was later sold to Donald Trump, who renamed it Trump Princess. Al-Walid bought the yacht after Trump's second bankruptcy.[8]

He has ordered a new yacht currently known as the New Kingdom 5KR which will be about 170m long and will cost $500+ million. The yacht is rendered by Lindsay designs and is expected to be delivered in 2009.[9]

He owns 300 cars and has been rumored to own a diamond-covered Mercedes SL600 worth an estimated $4.8 million. This, however, is a popular hoax email that has been circulating the internet since 2006 in different forms.[10]

At the 2007 Dubai Airshow, Airbus confirmed that Al-Walid, already owner of a Boeing 747 jet converted to private use, had ordered an Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft. Outfitted for private use, the aircraft is to be delivered in 2010.[11][12]

Al-Waleed and his children live in a $100 million sand-colored palace whose 317 rooms are adorned with 1,500 tons of Italian marble, silk oriental carpets, gold-plated faucets and 250 TV sets. It will have four kitchens, for Lebanese, Arabic, Continental and Asian cuisines, and a fifth just for dishing up desserts, run by chefs who can feed 2,000 people on an hour's notice. Their royal highnesses can swim in a lagoon-shaped pool, or catch a film in the 45-seat basement cinema.[13]

Prince Al-Waleed also owns a 317-room palace in Riyadh where most of his guests come to visit him.[14][15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Your chance to quiz Prince Alwaleed". Arabian Business.
  2. ↑ [[http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=187913&source=login_payBarrier 'The mystery of the world’s second-richest businessman' ]]
  3. ↑ Disneyland Resort Paris, Annual review 2007, p. 53
  4. ↑ [[http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=187913&source=login_payBarrier 'The mystery of the world’s second-richest businessman' ]]
  5. ↑ "Giuliani rejects $10 million from Saudi prince". CNN.
  6. ↑ "Kingdom Foundation Chaired by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Donates SR5,550,000 ($1,480,000) to Center for Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)". The Middle East Times.
  7. ↑ "Fondation Pour l’Enfance: Inauguration du nouveau siège de la Fondation Pour l’Enfance à l’ACI 2000". Office of the President of Mali.
  8. ↑ http://yachts.monacoeye.com/yachtsbysize/pages/kingdom5kr02.html Prince Al-Waleed's yacht
  9. ↑ Agent4Stars.com - Project New Kingdom 5KR
  10. ↑ snopes.com: Diamond Mercedes
  11. ↑ Airbus and Boeing win giant order BBC news - 12 November, 2007
  12. ↑ "Airbus A380 gets first VIP client", Flight Global.com (12 November 2007). 
  13. ↑ The Prince And The Portfolio - Time
  14. ↑ Homes Of The Billionaires 2006 - Forbes.com
  15. ↑ Homes Of The Billionaires 2005 - Forbes.com

Further reading

External links