JEDDAH – Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), has been featured in Bloomberg's Billionaires Index with a personal fortune of $30.5 billion as of Feb. 25, 2014. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world's richest people. In calculating net worth, Bloomberg News strives to provide the most transparent calculations available. Each Bloomberg Billionaires profile contains a detailed analysis of how that person's fortune has been tallied. The index is a dynamic measure of the world's wealthy based on changes in markets, the economy and Bloomberg News reporting. Each net worth calculation is updated every business day at 5:30 p.m. in New York. Stakes in publicly traded companies are valued using the share's most recent closing price. Valuations are converted to US dollars at current exchange rates. Moreover, Alwaleed was ranked number one in the Arabic and English issue of Arabian Business Magazine's World's Richest Arabs list 2013, with a personal fortune of $31.2 billion. Also, in 2013 Hurun Report, China, released its Hurun Global Rich List 2013 in which Alwaleed was ranked with a fortune of $29 billion. In 2013, Alwaleed announced that he was severing ties with the Forbes Billionaires list. The Prince took this step as he felt he could no longer participate in the process that resulted in the use of incorrect data and seemed designed to disparage Middle Eastern financial institutions such as the Saudi stock exchange, which Alwaleed believes resulted in deeply flawed results. As a result, neither Alwaleed nor Kingdom Holding Company provided any information or assistance to Forbes, or participated in the 2014 wealth estimation process in any way. Prince Alwaleed is known for his precision for exploring new and potential business opportunities and ventures in synchronization with the direction and fluctuations of the economic climate. Moreover, the Prince is active in social responsibility projects through significant local and international donations made by Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundations span all the continents. Founded in 1980, KHC is a publicly traded company which was listed on Tadawul (the Saudi Stock Exchange) in 2007. KHC is one of the world's most successful and diversified business organizations, highly respected in the field of investments and recognized as an elite player in the Arabian Gulf region, and internationally.
The Company is recognized as one of the largest foreign investors in the United States. KHC's portfolio has its major interests in investment categories in 13 sectors across the globe ranging from luxury hotels management hotel companies (Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Fairmont Raffles Holding Intl and Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts AG) and real estate (Kingdom Tower and project in Jeddah and Kingdom Riyadh project) to hotel real estate investments such as The Plaza, New York, Savoy Hotel, London and Four Seasons, George V Hotel, Paris. KHC also has investments in Media and Publishing (News Corporation, Time Warner, Saudi Research and Marketing Group and Rotana Group), as well as in Entertainment (Euro Disney S.C.A). In addition, Finance and Investment services (Citigroup), Social Media and Technology (Twitter, AOL, Apple and Motorola), as well as Consumer and retail, petrochemicals (Saks Incorporated and Jingdong). Moreover, the Company has investments in Education (Kingdom Schools), Health Care (Medical Services Projects Company), Aviation (NAS Saudi Arabia) and Agriculture (Kingdom Agricultural Development Company – KADCO Egypt). The Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundations that are chaired by Prince Alwaleed are involved in a wide spectrum of humanitarian and philanthropic activities in more than 83 countries. Their main focus areas have been established around strategic initiatives, ranging from Disaster Relief and Community Development, to Women and Youth Empowerment, as well as Promoting Intercultural Understanding. – SG
