Prince Alwaleed bin Talal: The billionaire royal
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Who is Prince Al‑Waleed bin Talal and why does he claim to be a self‑made billionaire?
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Pendoliino plus turusta Helsinkiin, kiisi toimistotalojen ohi. Lounasaika lähestyi. Savu ohi seessarista haaveellessaan, juha nojasi kevyesti pöytäänsä, tuijotti ikkunasta ja pohti, että edessä olisi liikelounas, hyvinkin monessa mielessä. Kuljettiinhan tässä kiskoilla 160 tunnissa. Niinpä, liikematkustaminen junalla on pelkkää voittoa. Vejar. Yhteisellä
matkalla. Tänäänkin Suomessa on tuhansia rahoittamisen arvoisia yrityksiä. Nyt niillä on varaa kasvaa. Me OP-pohjalassa avasimme juuri 100 miljoonien kasvurahoituksen. Lue lisää O.fi kautta kasvurahoitus. Yrityslaina myöntää osuuspankki tai OP-yrityspankki Oj.
March 2013, a copy of Forbes magazine lands on a marble desk in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It contains that year's Forbes Billionaires list, well known to us, the magazine's annual ranking of the world's richest people.
A Saudi prince eagerly flips through the pages before stopping at a picture of himself in his trademark tinted glasses and traditional headdress.
The Forbes list says the Prince has a net worth in the region of $20 billion, making him the 26th most wealthy person on the planet.
But the Prince is furious. As far as he's concerned, the magazine has undervalued him by around $10 billion. I mean, how dare they?
There's only one thing for it. The Prince quietly instructs his lawyers to sue Forbes magazine for libel.
Welcome to Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Each episode we pick a billionaire and we find out how they made their money.
We take them from zero to their first million, and then from a million onto a billion.
My name is Zing Singh and I'm a journalist, author, and podcaster.
And I'm Simon Jack, I'm the BBC's business editor.
This week's billionaire is Prince Al-Walid Bintalao bin Abdulaziz Al-Soud.
Or just Prince Al Walid bin Talal for short. Or Prince Al Walid for even shorter. Yes, widely recognized as Saudi Arabia's richest royal, Al Walid claims very little of his fortune came from inheritance, or indeed the country's
vast oil wealth. You can decide that for yourself. Instead, he's earned a reputation as one of the canniest investors on the planet, styling himself as the Warren Buffett of Arabia.
That's because Prince Alwaleed has built a vast fortune by placing high-stakes bets on huge global companies. But as every gambler knows, not all bets pay off.
Prince Alwalid has an incredibly opulent lifestyle to match. We're talking lavish palaces, private zoos, mega yachts. He even has a golden throne installed on his private Boeing seven four seven.
He's a member of the House of Saud, one of the most powerful royal families in the world. But for our money, he's also pretty unusual one.
So let's sit on the golden throne and fasten our seat belts as we fly back to where it all started for Prince Alwalid Bintalao.
Al-Walid was born in 1955 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second largest city after the capital Riyadh.
Back then, Saudi Arabia was still a relatively young country, founded just over two decades earlier by the prince's grandfather, King Abdul Aziz. Its economy was only beginning to be transformed by the discovery and exploitation of oil.
But it was also ultra-conservative, rooted in religion, and politically dominated by the royal family.
And we can't talk about Saudi Arabia without talking about its human rights record. Because even though the kingdom has become much more socially open in recent years, last year Saudi Arabia still executed the highest number of people in any given year. Authorities continue to severely restrict freedom of expression, and women face widespread discrimination. And the Saudi government has been accused of using investments in international sports and entertainment known as sports. sportswashing to whitewash its human rights record and improve its global image.
However, when defending Saudi Arabia's right to host the twenty thirty four World Cup, Saudi Arabia's sports minister said the claims of sportswashing are, quote, very shallow, adding, A lot of the people that accuse us of that haven't been to Saudi or seen what we're doing here.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Who is Prince Al‑Waleed bin Talal and why does he claim to be a self‑made billionaire?
0:00–5:37
2
Why did Prince Al‑Waleed sue Forbes for libel in 2013?
5:37–11:37
3
How did Prince Al‑Waleed’s childhood and family background shape his early ambitions?
11:37–15:31
4
What role did a U.S. business school and early‑stage investments play in his career?
15:31–23:53
5
How did the massive Citicorp (later Citigroup) bet launch him onto the world‑stage?
23:53–30:50
6
Why did Prince Al‑Waleed invest in Apple in the late‑1990s and how much did it earn him?
30:50–36:17
7
What controversies and philanthropic projects have defined his public image?
36:17–41:37