RIYADH – Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), has ended the long-standing relationship with the Forbes Billionaires List, said a press release issued by KHC here Tuesday. Prince Alwaleed wrote a letter to Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes, requesting that the he be removed from the list and informing Forbes that KHC officials would no longer work with the Forbes valuation teams. Prince Alwaleed has taken this step as he felt he could no longer participate in a process which resulted in the use of incorrect data and seemed designed to disadvantage Middle Eastern investors and institutions, said the press release. “Over the past six years, Kingdom Holding Company officials, working with the Forbes teams, have uncovered what appear to be intentional biases and inconsistencies in the Forbes valuation process, including a sudden refusal after six years to accept share values as listed by the Tadawul – Saudi Arabia's fully regulated, 21st century, high-tech stock exchange that services the largest economy in the Middle East and is a member of the World Federation of Exchanges.” Forbes team has considered “rumors that stock manipulation ‘is the national sport' in Saudi Arabia because ‘there are no casinos',” said the press statement. Shadi Sanbar, CFO of Kingdom Holding, said: “We have worked very openly with the Forbes team over the years and have on multiple occasions pointed out problems with their methodology that need correction. However, after several years of our efforts to correct mistakes falling on deaf ears, we have decided that Forbes has no intention of improving the accuracy of their valuation of our holdings and we have made the decision to move on. KHC puts a premium on tracking the true value of our investments and it is contrary to both our practice and nature to assist in the publication of financial information we know to be false and inaccurate.” Kingdom Holding Company will continue to work with the Bloomberg Billionaires valuation teams, which Prince Alwaleed considers to use a more accurate method of calculating financial holdings. – SG
