Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al Saud is a member of the Saudi royal family. Waleed was listed as one of Time magazine's Time 100, an annual list of the hundred most influential people in the world in 2008.[4] Waleed is a nephew of Saudi King Abdullah, and a grandson of Ibn Saud, the first Saudi king.
Al-Waleed is the founder, the chief executive officer and 95 percent-owner[5] of the Kingdom Holding Company, a Forbes Global 2000 company with investments in companies within various sectors such as banking and financial services, hotels and hotel management companies, media, entertainment, retail, agriculture, petrochemicals, aviation and real estate.[6] The company has market cap of over $18 billion in 2013.[7] Waleed is alsoCitigroup's largest individual shareholder, the second-largest voting shareholder in News Corporation, he owns Paris’s Four Seasons Hotel George V and part of Plaza Hotel.[8][9] His business acumen and shrewd entrepreneurial prowess have earned him comparisons to American investor and business magnate Warren Buffett. Due to his prominence as a businessman, he was acknowledged by Time Magazine, who labeled the Prince as the “Arabian Warren Buffett.”[10]
In March 2013, Forbes listed Al-Waleed as the 26th-richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$20 billion. Al-Waleed disputes the Forbes valuation and believes his wealth to be $26 billion.[2] Bloomberglater estimated his wealth as $30 billion.[11] In December 2013, Arabian Business estimated his wealth at $31.2 billion, while it also ranked him as the most influential Arab in the world[12][13]
