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Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a Saudi Arabian prince with insane wealth. His wealth is 8 times the wealth of King Charles III of England. Photo/Luxury Launches
RIYADH – This Saudi Arabian prince with insane wealth is named Al-Waleed bin Talal. He is the grandson of Saudi’s first king, the late King Abdulaziz al-Saud, founder and chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, a Saudi conglomerate company.
Prince Al-Waleed’s fortune is worth nearly $18.7 billion, which, according to the Luxury Launches website, is eight times the fortune of England’s King Charles III.
He may not be grinning with the royal crown on his head, but the 68 year old tycoon really has it all. From living in lavish palaces, traveling on swanky private jets, and owning all the fancy things, this Menlo College graduate in California is often referred to as the Warren Buffett of Arabia.
After completing a master’s degree in social sciences from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1985, Prince Al-Waleed returned to Saudi Arabia amidst the boom in oil prices.
Early Beginnings Prince Al-Waleed Kaya Raya
Despite being of noble descent, he started the business with hard work. It started operating from a small four-room cabin in Riyadh with an initial USD 30,000 given by his father, Prince Al-Waleed who was then 25 years old to form the Kingdom Establishment.
He first tasted success after collaborating with a South Korean construction company in 1982 for an $8 million job to build a bachelors club at a military academy near Riyadh.
“All the money I used to earn from this construction I invested back into real estate, and in the stock market, both,” he said.
In later years, he focused on established brands going through hard times, and by 1989 his net worth was $1.4 billion.
Foto/Luxury Launches
The investment that made Al-Waleed a man worth IDR 274 trillion
Al Waleed has always favored high-growth, high-risk companies, which explains his investments in Canary Wharf, Four Seasons Hotel Group and News Corporation in the early 1990s.
Everyone knows he has shares in Citibank, Apple, TimeWarner, Motorola, 360buy, AOL, eBay, Euro Disney and is the second largest owner of Twitter (Kingdom Holding invested USD 3.4 billion in global equity and custody receipts since 2020).
Little is known that Al-Waleed bought a 10 percent stake in Saks Fifth Avenue for $100 million two decades ago, leading to the opening of a flagship store in Riyadh.
