Waleed Bin Talal الوليد بن طلال
HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, (born, March 7, 1955) (Arabic: الوليد بن طلال بن عبد العزيز آل سعود) commonly known as Prince Waleed, is a member of the Saudi Royal Family, though not in line to rule, and an entrepreneur and international investor. He has amassed an enormous fortune through investments in shares and property. With an estimated net worth of US $20 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the eighth richest person in the world, and the richest Arab. He has been nicknamed by Time magazine as the Arabian Warren Buffett.
Prince Al-Waleed 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 the cousin of Prince Moulay Hicham of Morocco whose mother is also the daughter of El-Solh.
Prince Waleed completed his Bachelors in Science in Business Administration from Menlo College, USA in 1979 and Masters in Social Science from Syracuse University, USA in 1985. He is twice divorced, currently married to Princess Kholood, and has two children: Prince Khaled and Princess Reem. He is the nephew of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia but has stayed outside of the core of political power in Saudi Arabia, instead building a large international business called the Kingdom Holding Company through which he makes his investments.
Investment activities
Prince Waleed began his business career in 1979 upon graduation from Menlo College in California. Funded by a $30,000 loan from his father and a $400,000 mortgage on his house, the Prince initially brokered deals with foreign firms wishing to do business in Saudi Arabia. This was followed by land deals in the 1980s, along with major investments in the Saudi banking industry which was undervalued at the time.
The Prince's activities as an investor came to prominence when he bought a large tranche of shares in Citicorp in the 1990s when that firm was in difficulties. He has also made large investments in AOL, Apple Computer, 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 and invested it back in London's Savoy Hotel and Monaco's Monte Carlo Grand hotel. He holds a 10% stake worth $30 million in Euro Disney SCA, the organization which manages and maintains the Disneyland Resort Paris in Marne-la-Vallee, France.
In January 2005 he purchased the Savoy Hotel in London for an estimated GBP £250 million, and it will now be managed by Fairmont Hotels in which Prince Al-Waleed owns an estimated 16%. In January 2006 in partnership with the American real estate firm Colony Capital, Kingdom Holdings acquired Toronto, CA-based Fairmont Hotels for an estimated $3.9 billion.
Charitable activities
Prince Waleed is heavily involved in charitable activities across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and is estimated to donate more than $100 million annually to charity. Much of this expenditure 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.
In 2001, he offered New York City a donation of $10 million towards relief efforts after the September 11, 2001 attacks. This was rejected by Mayor Rudy Giuliani because he construed the prince's subsequent issuance of a statement that the United States "must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack" as a justification of the terrorist incidents.
In 2002, Prince Al-Waleed donated $500,000 to the George Herbert Walker Bush Scholarship Fund, established by the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, to honor former President George H. W. Bush.
In December 2002, Al-Waleed donated $27 million to a Saudi Government telethon raising money for Palestinians.
In July 2005, he donated $20 million to the Louvre Museum, the largest gift ever to the world's largest museum. It will help to fund the construction of a wing for the Louvre's vast collection of Islamic art. The wing will consist of a freeform, glassy structure that will bring a modern touch to a neoclassical courtyard. The design for the new wing would involve covering much of the Louvre's Cour Visconti, a neo-Classical courtyard, with a contemporary sail-like roof made up of small glass disks. Officials put the total cost of the wing, by the architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti, at $67 million and predicted it would open in 2009.
In October 2005, he donated 30 million riyals in the form of goods and cash to support relief and reconstruction efforts in wake of the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake.
In December 2005, Prince Al-Waleed donated $20 million each to both Harvard University and Georgetown University. The donations will finance Islamic studies at both universities. The $20 million to Georgetown is its second largest donation in history and among the 25 largest for Harvard.
Political involvement
Prince Waleed Bin Talal is not part of the ruling executive within the House of Saud, and has generally kept out of politics, concentrating on his business interests. 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.
During recent years, he has also been involved in Lebanese politics (Prince Al-Waleed is a Lebanese citizen through his mother), backing President Emile Lahoud against rival Saudi billionaire Rafik Hariri and investing in luxury resorts and panarab Lebanese media (al-Nahar, LBC International). His effort to be a leader in the Lebanese Sunni community have been relatively unsuccessful so far.
Trivia
Prince Waleed is fluent in English and has given interviews in this language.
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posted by newsclock at Sunday, September 24, 2006
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