Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
March 18th, 2013 at 12:00 pm by David FarrarThe Telegraph reports:
In a rare interview, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal tells Christian Sylt about his anger over the Forbes Rich List, which estimated that he is worth $20bn – $9.6bn less than he claims and not enough to place him in the coveted top 10.
Heh, most people claim these rich lists over-estimate their wealth. Not often someone is angry that they say the estimate is too low!
Prince Alwaleed is the 58-year-old grandson of the founder of Saudi Arabia but not one drop of his fortune comes from oil or inheritance. Instead, he made his money by investing in global brands at a time when their share prices were depressed. Along the way he has built up significant stakes in trophy assets such as Apple, Citigroup, Disney and the Savoy Hotel in London. His portfolio spans the globe and he likes people to know it.
I admire people whose wealth is earnt, not inherited.
The dispute has drawn attention to the extent of Prince Alwaleed’s influence. His career was kick-started with a $30,000 loan from his father after graduating with a degree in business administration from California’s Menlo College in 1979.
His father also gave Prince Alwaleed a house which he mortgaged, raising about $400,000, and each month, as a grandson of Ibn Saud, the first king and founder of Saudi Arabia, he receives a $15,000 allowance. The prince was no pauper, but it was business savvy that built his wealth.
They say the first million is the hardest but even without that initial assistance, he’s done pretty well. But he does seem obsessed with having his worth seen as high as possible. The Wikipedia article on him quotes:
Kerry A. Dolan, the editor of Forbes billionaires list wrote the article Prince Alwaleed and the Curious Case of Kingdom Holding Stock upon the 2013 publication of the list.[6] Dolan wrote of the importance of the list to Al Waleed, most notably detailing the leap in the share price of Kingdom Holdings in the time leading up to the publication of the list.[6] Al Waleed would blind copy Dolan on text messages he sent to prominent people to impress her, she also spent a week with him in Riyadh in 2008, at his behest, touring his palaces. In 2006 Forbes estimated his net worth as $7 billion less than Al Waleed claimed. He telephoned Dolan at her home, with Dolan claiming that he sounded “nearly in tears”.[6] Al Waleed also had Kingdom Holding’s chief financial officer fly to New York before a previous list had been published to ensure that Forbes used his stated numbers.[6] Dolan wrote that “…for the past few years former Alwaleed executives have been telling me that the prince, while indeed one of the richest men in the world, systematically exaggerates his net worth by several billion dollars….The value that the prince puts on his holdings at times feels like an alternate reality, including his publicly traded Kingdom Holding, which rises and falls based on factors that, coincidentally, seem more tied to the Forbes billionaires list than fundamentals.”
If I had $30 billion I wouldn’t get upset if people said it was only $20 billion!
Tags: Alwaleed bin Talal, Forbes
March 18th, 2013 at 12:10 pm
I reckon I could build up a pretty good investment portfolio if I started out with a $15,000 / month allowance from Daddy to work with!
What a hero…
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 12:24 pm
Link to the article with Forbes’ side of the story (which was referenced by Wikipedia):
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2013/03/05/prince-alwaleed-and-the-curious-case-of-kingdom-holding-stock/
The guy comes across as a little obsessed.
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Seed money and family conections…hard to go too far wrong really.
Vote:You can bet he has been investing OPM for a healthy commission too….
March 18th, 2013 at 12:38 pm
If you have to try that hard to appear wealthy, perhaps his empire is really just a house of cards.
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 12:46 pm
I don’t think there’s much to admire about Saudi royals. Despots on a looney kingdom with very little freedom for ordinary folk or foreigners.
They’re also big on exporting wahabbism,which our MSM studiuosly ignore.
Then there’s crucifixtion.
So the MSM blab and flab about this guy ,while the Saudis happily chop and torture people to death. I’m not against the death penalty,but am against media double standards.
No doubt the MSM (like our govts) are shit scared of loosing Saudi money.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/13/saudi-arabia-found-a-swordsman.html
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 12:56 pm
He does not have IRD/ HMRC/ ATO/ IRS etc looking over his shoulder or he would regard under-investment as an ‘advantage’.
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 12:58 pm
“I admire people whose wealth is earnt, not inherited.”
Yes, such a shining example to us all. Thanks for pointing out this noble, self made man, DPF.
Also is that 15k per month in 1980s dollars?
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 12:59 pm
Isn’t this the Jordan prince that some evangelical Christians speculate is the Antichrist because of his heritage, politics and UN affiliations? (el hassan bin talal).
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 1:00 pm
Opos – I meant under-estimate of his wealth would be an advantage.
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 2:17 pm
lol yeah he got a head start.
but turning 15k a month into 20-30 billion is freaking amazing.
if he has turned a lifetime of 15k a month into 20 mill, not so impressive
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 3:33 pm
“I admire people whose wealth is earnt, not inherited.”
I really am gob-smacked. First off he was born a Saudi prince and secondly he got his money gambling on the stock-market, which means other people earned that money for him.
There really are two completely different planets when someone can extol such a privileged individual as an example of a self made man. God only knows where this lunacy will end.
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 3:44 pm
“and secondly he got his money gambling on the stock-market, which means other people earned that money for him.”
LMAO its almost like he exploited those workers! they werent compensated. all he did was put up capital so the business could exist.. what an asshole
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 3:49 pm
“…what an asshole”
Your words, not mine.
Vote:March 18th, 2013 at 4:15 pm
youre an idiot.
Vote:March 19th, 2013 at 10:54 am
ditto
Vote:March 19th, 2013 at 11:09 am
This screams b*llshit from the get go. If you don’t have the time to read the excellent Forbes article above that tears this guy a new on as a desperately insecure grade a narcissist then this image from it all says all you need to know http://blogs-images.forbes.com/kerryadolan/files/2013/03/0304_forbes-billionaires-alwaleed-line-graph_700.jpg
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