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Page added on September 22, 2014
The richest man in Saudi Arabia on oil, Isis and Murdoch
Gaze across the Riyadh skyline and one building immediately demands your attention.
Towering high above the city, with its distinctive inverted arch, is the 992 ft Kingdom Center — owned by the richest man in Saudi Arabia, if not the Middle East.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud’s wealth has been estimated at anywhere between just over $20 billion by Forbes and more than $30 billion by Bloomberg.
Whichever way you look at it, it’s a lot of money — could it be set to grow?
Inside His Majesty’s striking skyscraper is the headquarters of Kingdom Holding, one of the largest investment companies on the country’s stock exchange.
With plans to open up the market — known locally as the Tadawul — to foreign investors next year, this is the start of a brave new era for the phenomenally wealthy prince and Saudi businesses.
Media mogul
Alwaleed already has high-profile stakes in media groups News Corp, Time Warner (CNN’s parent company), and Walt Disney.
Added to that, his $300 million stake in Twitter has quadrupled in value in just two years.
Fellow billionaire, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch, may have been unsuccessful in his recent attempt to take over Time Warner. But Alwaleed believes it might not be the end of the story just yet.
“Combining both companies (News Corp and Time Warner) would have been a dream proposal because the amount of content the combined company would have had would have been tremendous,” he said.
“Knowing Mr Murdoch I think the idea is still in his mind. But I think the time is not right now because the management of Time Warner against it, and the shareholders of Fox were also not for it.”
Oil rich?
Saudi Arabia might be one of the world’s largest oil exporters, but Alwaleed says now is the time for the kingdom to look beyond crude.
“It’s a huge worry when the price of oil goes down,” he said.
“I have always called on the Saudi government to reduce its dependence on oil, because as it stands today, 90% of our annual budget is dependent on oil. And 50% of our GDP is oil based.”
Isis threat
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia held exercises with 135,000 troops. But at a time where Isis exerts its power across parts of the Middle East, the prince does not believe boots on the ground is the way forward for his country.
“I think Saudi Arabia will not be involved directly in fighting Isis in Iraq or Syria, because this does not really affect our country explicitly,” he said.
“Each killing by Isis that takes place is unfortunate, but hopefully every time it happens the world will be more united in eradicating this disease that’s infecting the whole Middle East.”
Billion dollar question
While other billionaires might downplay their fortune, the prince filed a lawsuit against Forbes after he claims it underestimated his wealth.
“They’ve been undervaluing my wealth for 10 years and I didn’t give attention to it,” he said.
“But when they came and attacked Saudi Arabia, and Kingdom Holding, and myself, that’s when I didn’t accept that and that’s when we filed a lawsuit in the UK courts.”
One thing’s for sure, this is a businessman willing to put his money where his mouth is.
15 Comments on "The richest man in Saudi Arabia on oil, Isis and Murdoch"
Plantagenet on Mon, 22nd Sep 2014 2:43 pm
Interesting inside info that Saudi Arabia will not be joining Obama’s “coalition of the willing” to fight ISIS because it does not affect Saudi Arabia directly. And, although the Prince tactfully doesn’t mention it, Saudi Arabia doesn’t need to fight ISIS because they’ve got Obama and the US to do their fighting for them.
Kenz300 on Mon, 22nd Sep 2014 3:06 pm
Quote — ““I have always called on the Saudi government to reduce its dependence on oil, because as it stands today, 90% of our annual budget is dependent on oil. And 50% of our GDP is oil based.”
Diversify…….. diversify…. diversify…….. even the wealthy need to diversify……..
The Saudi’s are now starting to invest in wind and solar….
noobtube on Mon, 22nd Sep 2014 3:11 pm
The whole reason the United States military will never leave the Arab regions is because the cheap oil is gone… forever!
The United States military must always have a show of force, to convince Saudi Arabia, that Americans can still mass murder the innocent, like it always has.
When the Americans can no longer afford to murder innocent Arabs and destroy Arab cities (because gas is too expensive), it will be the end of the United States, as anyone understands it today.
Bad news if you are the poor in America (which is growing daily), because you are going to be fighting and dying for American scumbags who would not piss on you if you were on fire. They will be too busy catching the latest Hollywood blockbuster, watching NASCAR, following Kim Kardashian, gobbling their Wendys, and trying to get that NEW car.
Ahhh, it is an interesting life, to see, first-hand, the end of an empire.
Shaved Monkey on Mon, 22nd Sep 2014 6:04 pm
If ISIS was attacking their oil fields and not their competitors then they would act.
Dragon Spawn on Mon, 22nd Sep 2014 6:10 pm
Isn’t this the cat that had a ton of dough tied up in Shitibank?
Would of lost his genius ass if not for the US taxpayer bailing em’ out.
Summer of ’08 I was screaming at the top of my lungs that the sky was falling. Little did I know the US gov’t would never let their Saudi master take the fall.
Check out the attached from Nov. ’07:
http://archive.fortune.com/2007/11/08/news/companies/citigroup_alwaleed.fortune/index.htm
ghung on Mon, 22nd Sep 2014 10:27 pm
“I think Saudi Arabia will not be involved directly in fighting Isis in Iraq or Syria,…
Syria: US begins air strikes on Islamic State targets</b?
“The US and allies said to include Arab nations have launched the first air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, the Pentagon says….”
ghung on Mon, 22nd Sep 2014 10:36 pm
h ttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29321136#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Philip Smeeton on Tue, 23rd Sep 2014 4:25 am
An why aren’t the rich Muslims helping Muslim refugees?
Steve O on Tue, 23rd Sep 2014 7:35 am
“I think Saudi Arabia will not be involved directly in fighting Isis in Iraq or Syria, because this does not really affect our country explicitly,”
True, but how long until they decide to liberate the holy cities of Mecca and Medina from the infidel house of Saud?
ghung on Tue, 23rd Sep 2014 12:35 pm
Seems the richest man in Saudi Arabia thought wrong.
Northwest Resident on Tue, 23rd Sep 2014 12:40 pm
Whenever ultra wealthy dudes like this say something for public consumption, you can bet that there are ulterior motives and hidden agendas behind every word spoken. A person doesn’t get to be as rich as this person is without a single core dominating determination to get to the very top and stay there — and to do that requires a great deal of manipulation, ruthless decision making and playing the suckers for all they’ve got.
Trooper on Tue, 23rd Sep 2014 2:09 pm
There appears to be a lot of mistrust in the comments thus far and possibly deserved. But let me ask you this: If you have the money like this prince wouldn’t you be will willing to hire a firm like Black Water to protect your interests in lieu of the US Military? The Saudi’s want results not excuses. I served two years in Saudi as an advisor and they didn’t trust me. Why? Because of their past experience in which we embarassed them. They will accept honestly but not in public. Think of their customs.
J-Gav on Tue, 23rd Sep 2014 4:27 pm
Just the mention of the name ‘Murdoch’ in a media context makes my blood boil. Isn’t this the same son-of-a-bitch who helped the U.S./U.K. nexus overthrow the democratically elected Gough Whitlam in Australia back in the 1970s? Check out the history folks. (No, it doesn’t only happen in Latin America).
juice on Tue, 23rd Sep 2014 5:09 pm
saudi arabia itself is a problem, money to isis, isil came from the saudis donation tried to counter iran in syria conflict.
this ala”WEED” guy is a rip off!
Kenz300 on Tue, 23rd Sep 2014 11:16 pm
Murdoch and the Koch brothers…………..
The top 1% want it all………..
And they own the RepubliCON party……..