Politics
Out of context: Reply #10254
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- ukit0
The reporter from Forbes magazine was impressed with his house:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/27…
It was an opportunity too rich to pass up. Prince Alwaleed, one of the world's most successful investors and the wealthiest man in the Middle East, had invited me to spend a week with him in Saudi Arabia.
His objective: prove to Forbes that he is as wealthy as he claims to be. For years, the prince had told us he was worth several billion dollars more than the conservative estimates we printed in our list of the World's Billionaires, and he wanted to set the record straight.
The plan was for me to tour Alwaleed's vast real estate holdings, including his lavish Riyadh palace, meet with various executives of companies he owns, and gather other pertinent information needed to calculate his net worth for Forbes' annual World Billionaires list.
Last March, we estimated Alwaleed was worth $21 billion; he claimed he was worth more than $25 billion. This year, amid the massive decline of Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ), once his largest asset via his publicly traded holding company Kingdom Holding, Alwaleed's net worth had fallen, by our count, to $13.3 billion, making him the 22nd richest person on the 2009 list. Again, Alwaleed insisted he was worth more, despite serious threats to his fortune looming on the horizon.
But observing wealth on this scale, even for a seasoned billionaires reporter, was staggering.
I arrived in Riyadh in early October. After two days, my head was spinning. There was his impossibly large 420-room palace, decked out in marble and decorated with large portraits and photographs of Alwaleed, with two indoor pools and an indoor tennis court. It took an hour and a half to tour the whole place.
Then there was the 120-acre "farm and resort" at the edge of the city with its mini-Grand Canyon, mini-zoo, horse stables, five artificial lakes and multiple residences. It was a refreshing bit of green in an otherwise brown landscape. The prince evidently does not worry about water bills; one afternoon the sprinklers at the resort were going full tilt in the 90-degree weather.
Also on display: a fleet of 60 buff-and-green-colored cars and motor homes designed just for use at the prince's desert retreat. Another garage beneath the palace holds several dozen black cars--Range Rovers, Suburbans, Volvo SUVs and other vehicles used just for city driving.