Posted on 03/06/2013 8:05:25 AM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
For most people, even featuring in the Forbes list of the world's billionaires would be cause for celebration, but for Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, appearing at number 26 with $20bn (£15bn) was an insult. The prince, one of the most influential businessmen in the Middle East, insists the list undervalues him by $9.6bn. He has vowed to sever all ties with the group's reporters and accused them of damaging US-Saudi relations.
In response, the editor of the influential list has written a stinging rebuke saying the prince considers a top-10 ranking one of his priorities, systematically exaggerates his wealth and spends more time and effort than any other businessman on attempts to boost his ranking – even more time and effort than Donald Trump. Forbes's estimate of Alwaleed's wealth at $20bn puts him behind Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. But Alwaleed, a nephew of the Saudi king whose investments are run by his Kingdom Holding Company, estimates his own wealth at $29.6bn (£19.5bn), which would catapult him into the top 10 of the magazine's richest people on the planet, just behind 90-year-old French cosmetics heiress Liliane Bettencourt.
Forbes said the prince's camp wrote four letters in the build-up to the list's publication in an effort to secure a favourable valuation. In one letter his chief financial officer, Shadi Sanbar, said an undervaluation "strikes in the face of improving Saudi-American bilateral relations and co-operation. Forbes is putting down the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and that is a slap in the face of modernity and progress." But Forbes hit back, with billionaire list editor Kerry Dolan explaining it no longer considers the share price of Alwaleed's Saudi-listed Kingdom Holdings an accurate reflection of its value.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
I’d be happy with being only one millionth on the list.
It’s probably a good deal of his money causing a lot of problems over here.
I like your screen name. Somebody should mysteriously write that in the wall of Alwaleed bin Talal’s palace while no one is looking :)
Considering how hard he and all those ME Oil billionaires have worked to build their businesses, I think he’s right to
be “offended”./sarc
It would be SO nice if we could separate ourselves from this retrograde part of the world FOREVER. Or, lacking that, show them that they’re no longer important to us, or have to be catered to with grudging but practical shows of “mutual interest”.
Oh the poor baby where do I send a donation????
Suggestion: Let’s have a WHO DOES THE PUBLIC BELIEVE IS THE RICHEST MAN/WOMAN ON EARTH? contest. You are allowed to buy votes. We will give out our mailing addresses and let the best man or woman win by a certain date.
This guy made one good bet, CitiBank, many years ago.
At the end of the day, he’s just a goat herding Bedouin, rude, crass, greedy and brutal.
I really do hope one day a ‘viable” alternative to oil is invented and bankrupts these rag heads forever so we can forget they even exist, just as we do Africa.
The Saudi royals are such a pain in the butt, maybe Bam Bam should put the “moderate” Muslim Brotherhood in charge there, too.
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