Saudi Prince Becomes Super-Rich by Not Eating the Royal Family's Old Money

In the newly released Arabian Business magazine2009global50The list of the Great Arab Richest Men is topped by Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed with a180billion dollars once again topped the list. In the Middle East, people admire Alwaleed, not because of that"son of a king" The title, on the contrary, is that the wealth he currently possesses comes entirely from his own shrewd business operations, and has nothing to do with his princely status.

1.5Started with $10,000

1955surname Nian3moon7Alwaleed was born into a prominent aristocratic family in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Sunday. His grandfather was Abdulaziz Al Saud, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, his grandfather was the founding prime minister of Lebanon, and his father was the Saudi ambassador to France.

As a teenager, like other royals in the Middle East, Alwaleed had been studying the military at military academies to prepare for a future in politics. But perhaps it was a talent for19At the age of one, Alwaleed eventually chose to leave Saudi Arabia to study business in the United States.3Years later, Alwaleed returned to Saudi Arabia with a master's degree in business administration. Unlike other princes who throw away money, Alwaleed borrowed only a few dollars from his father.1.5million dollars as seed capital to begin a business career that was truly his own.

1980In 2007, the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war triggered a global oil crisis. The price of oil soared and Saudi Arabia's oil revenues skyrocketed. At the same time, the large-scale infrastructure development in Saudi Arabia caused the price of land to skyrocket dozens of times. Alwaleed saw a huge business opportunity in the booming real estate industry, and he invested heavily in real estate and made his first bucket of money easily.

Buffett in the Middle East

In fact, as far as personal assets are concerned, there are few people in oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait who are richer than Alwaleed. However, both Arabian Business and Forbes rich list, the business operation of the wealth ranking, those who have a huge amount of royal property princes and nobles are not eligible for the list. Therefore, Alwaleed, who is the richest Arab in both Arabian Business and Forbes, is the real business giant in the Middle East. And Alwaleed's insightful investment behavior has earned him the title of"Middle East Buffett"The beauty of the name.

The investment in Citibank was one of the most successful.1990In 2007, Citibank, the largest bank in the U.S. at the time, was in trouble, and Citi's stock price was in tatters. Alwaleed, however, entered the market against the grain and purchased nearly8billion dollars in Citi shares. Alwaleed's vision was quickly validated--Shares purchased back then later appreciated in value at one point to100More than a billion dollars, he also became the largest individual shareholder of Citigroup.

In addition, Alwaleed has stakes in major international companies such as Motorola, America Online, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Coca-Cola, Four Seasons Hotels, Time Warner, Disney and Bank of China. The scale and breadth of Alwaleed's investments have made it the pride of the Middle East business community.★