Diamond Mercedes

Al-Waleed Bin Talal

Early life


Prince Al-Walid bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (Arabic: الوليد بن طلال بن عبد العزيز آل سعود‎), born 7 March 1955 and commonly known as Prince Al-Walid, is a member of the Saudi Royal Family, and an entrepreneur and international investor. He has amassed his fortune through investments in properties and the Stock Market. As of 2007, his net worth is estimated at US$29.5 billion, according to the Arabian Business rich list published December 2, 2007. He is ranked by Forbes as the 19th richest person in the world, and is the richest man in royalty. He has been nicknamed by Time magazine as the Arabian Warren Buffett.


Business interests


Al-Walid began his business career in 1979 upon graduation from Menlo College. Funded by a $30,000 loan from his father and a $300,000 mortgage on his house, he initially brokered deals with foreign firms wishing to do business in Saudi Arabia.[citations needed] This was followed by land deals in the 1980s, along with major investments in the Saudi banking industry, which proved to be undervalued at the time.[citation needed]
The Prince's activities as an investor came to prominence when he bought a substantial tranche of shares in Citicorp in the 1990s when that firm was in difficulties. With an initial investment of $550 million to bail out Citibank caused by underperforming American real estate loans and Latin American businesses, his holdings in Citigroup now comprise half of his wealth worth US$10 billion.[2] He has also made large investments in AOL, Apple Inc., Worldcom, Motorola, News Corporation Ltd and other technology and media companies.[citation needed]
His real estate holdings have included large stakes in the Four Seasons hotel chain and the Plaza Hotel in New York. He sold half of his shares in the latter in August 2004. He has made investments in London's Savoy Hotel and Monaco's Monte Carlo Grand Hotel. He currently holds a 10% stake in Euro Disney SCA, the organization which manages and maintains the Disneyland Resort Paris in Marne-la-Vallee, France.[3]
In January 2005 Al-Walid purchased the Savoy Hotel in London for an estimated GBP £250 million, to be managed by Fairmont Hotels, in which Al-Walid owns an estimated 16% stake. In January 2006, in partnership with the U.S. real estate firm Colony Capital, Kingdom Holdings acquired Toronto, CA-based Fairmont Hotels for an estimated $3.9 billion.
As of 2007, he was believed to be in talks with Robert Earl, founder of Planet Hollywood, about taking a controlling stake in the English Premier League's Everton FC[citation needed].
As of 2008, there are plans for the $10 billion construction of the Burj Al-Meel (Arabic for "the Tower of One Mile"), a supertall skyscraper to be the tallest in the world, at one mile (1600m) in height.

Diamond Mercedes

Diamond Covered Mercedes of Prince Waleed..THIS CAR COSTS US$4.8 M