Wealth of richest Arabs plunges in 2008
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
DUBAI, Dec 15 (AFP): The wealth of the richest Arabs plunged in 2008, with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the richest of all, seeing his investments shrivel nearly 20 per cent, according to a list published in Dubai yesterday.
The Saudi prince's wealth has shrunk by four billion dollars to 17.08 billion under the impact of this year's global financial turmoil, Arabian Business online magazine said in a survey of the richest 50 Arab people.
The combined assets of the top 50 have plummetted by 25 billion dollars or 12 per cent to 199.48 billion dollars, based on data calculated on December 2, the magazine said.
Despite his losses, Prince Alwaleed remains top of the list, though his wealth sank twice as much as that of second placed Nasser al-Kharafi, a Kuwaiti businessman whose value is estimated to have dropped by two billion dollars to 9.6 billion.
In May, Prince Alwaleed ranked 19 in the Forbes list of world billionaires with 21 billion dollars. His wealth includes a five per cent stake in the troubled US banking giant Citigroup and a private Airbus superjumbo A380, dubbed as the "flying palace" and valued at 330 million dollars.
"As a sign of the downturn in global stocks, nine of the top ten on this year's list have seen their wealth decline," Arabian Business said, citing the collapse in the value of property and banking shares as the main reason behind the drop.
The list clearly did not include Arab rulers, some of whom have huge wealth.
Governments of the oil-rich Gulf countries say their economies will weather the global economic crisis but the financial meltdown knocked nearly 350 billion dollars from the capitalisation of their stock markets this year.
Saudi Arabia takes the lion's share of the Arabian Business list, boasting 16 billionaires who have combined wealth of 92.58 billion dollars. Among the Saudi entrants, the Bin Laden family - - brothers of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden-rank seventh with a net worth of 7.2 billion dollars generated from their construction business.
The United Arab Emirates is second ranked country with eight billionaires, having 31.5 billion dollars between them.
Seven Kuwaitis feature on the list with a total of 24.4 billion dollars.
Saad Hariri, the head of Lebanon's parliamentary majority and son of slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri who made most of his wealth in Saudi Arabia, ranks 31 with 2.6 billion dollars.
Hariri is general manager of Saudi Oger, the family's construction firm valued at nine billion dollars, according to Arabian Business. Former Lebanese prime minister and telecoms tycoon Najib Mikati ranks 47 with 1.5 billion dollars.
The Saudi prince's wealth has shrunk by four billion dollars to 17.08 billion under the impact of this year's global financial turmoil, Arabian Business online magazine said in a survey of the richest 50 Arab people.
The combined assets of the top 50 have plummetted by 25 billion dollars or 12 per cent to 199.48 billion dollars, based on data calculated on December 2, the magazine said.
Despite his losses, Prince Alwaleed remains top of the list, though his wealth sank twice as much as that of second placed Nasser al-Kharafi, a Kuwaiti businessman whose value is estimated to have dropped by two billion dollars to 9.6 billion.
In May, Prince Alwaleed ranked 19 in the Forbes list of world billionaires with 21 billion dollars. His wealth includes a five per cent stake in the troubled US banking giant Citigroup and a private Airbus superjumbo A380, dubbed as the "flying palace" and valued at 330 million dollars.
"As a sign of the downturn in global stocks, nine of the top ten on this year's list have seen their wealth decline," Arabian Business said, citing the collapse in the value of property and banking shares as the main reason behind the drop.
The list clearly did not include Arab rulers, some of whom have huge wealth.
Governments of the oil-rich Gulf countries say their economies will weather the global economic crisis but the financial meltdown knocked nearly 350 billion dollars from the capitalisation of their stock markets this year.
Saudi Arabia takes the lion's share of the Arabian Business list, boasting 16 billionaires who have combined wealth of 92.58 billion dollars. Among the Saudi entrants, the Bin Laden family - - brothers of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden-rank seventh with a net worth of 7.2 billion dollars generated from their construction business.
The United Arab Emirates is second ranked country with eight billionaires, having 31.5 billion dollars between them.
Seven Kuwaitis feature on the list with a total of 24.4 billion dollars.
Saad Hariri, the head of Lebanon's parliamentary majority and son of slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri who made most of his wealth in Saudi Arabia, ranks 31 with 2.6 billion dollars.
Hariri is general manager of Saudi Oger, the family's construction firm valued at nine billion dollars, according to Arabian Business. Former Lebanese prime minister and telecoms tycoon Najib Mikati ranks 47 with 1.5 billion dollars.