 |
Net Worth
|
$25.90 bn
|
Age
|
58
|
|
Source of Wealth
|
Banking & Finance
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|
Marital Status
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Married
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A Saudi Arabian businessman and investor. He is a member of the Saudi royal family.
Al Waleed bin Talal was born on 7 March 1955. His parents are Prince Talal and Mona
Al Solh, daughter of Riad Al Solh, Lebanon's first Prime Minister after its independence.
Al Waleed is Prince Talal's second son. Therefore, Al Waleed is the grandson of Saudi
Arabia's founder Ibn Saud.
Al Waleed’s father, Prince Talal, was Saudi Arabia’s finance minister in the early 1960s,
before he went into exile due to his advocation of political reform. Al Waleed's parents
separated when he was 7, and he returned to Saudi Arabia with his mother. As a youth Al
Waleed would run away from home for a day or two and sleep in the back of unlocked
cars. He would later attend military school in Riyadh, where he learnt a strict discipline to
which he continues to adhere.
Al Waleed received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from
Menlo College in California in 1979. He then received a Master's degree in Social
Science with honors from Syracuse University in 1985.
The rapid rise in the price of KHC stock means that the Prince’s 95 percent stake in the
Company, together with his private assets, which include real estate and other local,
regional and international assets, and Rotana, which is 80 percent owned by the Prince,
now bring his total wealth to $25.9bn. It also places the prince in pole position for the
eighth year in succession.
But arguably, the past twelve months have been amongst his very best. By early
December Kingdom Holding shares registered a remarkable 147 percent rise over the
previous twelve months.
Kingdom Holding is active in thirteen sectors; financial services; real estate; hotel
management; hotel real estate; aviation; petrochemicals; media and publishing;
entertainment; private equity; healthcare and education; consumer and retail; agriculture,
and various African investments.
Second-quarter results for this year show a net profit of SR178.9m ($47.70m), compared
to SR163.5m in the same period a year earlier. That equates to a 9.4 percent rise, while
first-quarter profits went up 11.3 percent, thanks in part to the sales of its stake in
Toronto's Four Seasons Hotel and its share of the Oasis Kingdom project in Riyadh.
But it’s the Prince’s key investments that have made a huge difference, including a 34
percent jump this year in News Corp’s share price, a company in which he holds a 7
percent stake. Kingdom Holding also made a $300m investment in Twitter last year,
which sources suggest equates to around 4 percent of the company.
As in previous years, our estimate for the Prince’s total wealth has been verified by his
private office.
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