Prince of projects loses US$4 billion
DUBAI – The Saudi prince who owns a string of luxury hotels and his own Boeing 747 – and has an Airbus A380 mega-jumbo on order – has lost US$4 billion, maybe more, in the global economic meltdown.
The latest Arab Rich List published by Arabian Business magazine estimates the fortune of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal at US$17 billion.
That is nearly twice as much as the second richest on the list, but a considerable drop from the US$21 billion the magazine said the prince was worth a year ago.
In 2007, Forbes magazine estimated the prince’s wealth at US$29.5million, making him the world’s 17th richest man, and the richest Arab.
The Saudi royal’s controlling stake in Kingdom Holdings, which invests in well-known companies such as computer maker Apple Inc. and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., accounts for nearly $8 billion of his wealth, the magazine said.
Kingdom’s hotel investments include sizeable stakes in the Four Seasons and Fairmont groups, London’s Savoy Hotel, New York’s Plaza Hotel and Monaco’s Monte Carlo Grand Hotel. The company also has a stake in Euro Disney.
Another prominent name on the list: the Bin Laden family, which makes its money in the construction business. Arabian Business claims the net worth of the clan, which has tried to distance itself from its most notorious member, at a mere US$7.2 billion
Altogether, the magazine said the world’s 50 richest Arabs lost a combined US$25 billion amid the global meltdown
Ian Jarrett
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