Who is Al-Waleed bin Talal? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Arabian Warren Buffett, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Abdulaziz Alsaud, Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud

Age: 68 Years, 68 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Ameera Al-Taweel, Asmaa bint Eidan bin Nayef Al Taweel Al Osaimi Al Otaibi, Khlood Al-Sarhani, Maha Al Saeed Al-Tamimi, Princess Dalal bint Saud bin Abdul Aziz, Princess Iman Bint Nasser Al-Sudairy

father: Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

mother: Princess Mona El-Solh

siblings: Khaled bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

children: Prince Khaled bin Talal, Princess Reem bin Talal

Quotes By Al-Waleed Bin Talal Humanitarian

Height: 5'6" (168 cm), 5'6" Males

Notable Alumni: Menlo College

City: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Founder/Co-Founder: Kingdom Holding Company, Rotana Records, Al-Resalah Satellite TV

More Facts

education: 1979 - Menlo College, 1985 - Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, University of Exeter

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Childhood & Early Life

Al Waleed was born to the Monarch named Prince Talal and his wife Mona Al Solh on 7th of March, 1955, in the middle-eastern city of Jordan.

His father was actively involved in the country’s political affairs and was even appointed its Finance minister. However, he was overthrown from power due to a political turmoil and was forced into exile.

His parents officially parted ways in 1969, through a divorce, after which Waleed resided with his mother at Lebanon. During his younger days, Bin Talal was quite undisciplined and would frequently escape from his residence. He would then end up resting in cars parked on the streets during the nights.

The youngster completed his primary education from a military institution in Riyadh, which he claims instilled discipline in him. Talal later moved to the United States where he pursued his studies at an institution named ‘Menlo College’.

Quotes: Will

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Career

After graduating from ‘Menlo’ in 1979, Talal returned to his home turf to embark on his own business venture. Saudi Arabia’s economy had flourished significantly during the period due to the boom in its oil business.

This state of the nation’s economy immensely helped this young man who ventured into real estate and construction at the time. The idea of initiating his business at the time of the Saudi Arabia’s oil boom helped Al-Waleed strike gold.

He then acquired an underperforming financial institution named ‘United Saudi Commercial Bank’. Later, he merged this bank with other enterprises like ‘Saudi Cairo Bank’ and ‘SAMBA’. The ‘United Saudi Commercial Bank’ went on to become one of the best financial organizations in the whole of Middle East.

Al-Waleed bought a huge chunk of shares of the financial giant ‘Citicorp’ in 1991, a time when the bank was undergoing a great crisis. He later went on to even bail out the renowned organization ‘Citibank’, with an amount of $550 Million. It is believed that the business baron owns stakes worth $1 Billion in the ‘Citigroup’ firm today.

During the year 1997, the popular magazine ‘Time’ had claimed that Al-Waleed owned a stake of 5% in the American media giant ‘News Corporation’.

Talal later went on to invest in firms like ‘AOL’, ‘Apple Inc.’, the film manufacturing giant ‘Eastman Kodak’, ‘TWA’ – a renowned airline, the ‘Four Seasons’ group of hotels and even the highly reputed ‘Plaza’. In 2004, he went on to sell a significant number of shares he had with the firm ‘Plaza’.

The Prince went on to purchase the renowned ‘Savoy Hotel’ located in London for a staggering $250 Million, during early 2005. He even sold the stakes he owned in the Steve Jobs owned ‘Apple Inc.’ during the same year.

In 2006, his firm, ‘Kingdom Holding Company’, entered into an acquisition deal with a firm named ‘Colony Capital’, to clutch the ‘Fairmont Group of Hotels’. The deal thus made was worth a whopping $3.9 Billion.

A few sources of the media reported that Bin Talal had a say in stakes worth 35% in the Middle-Eastern media giant ‘SRMG’.

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The business honcho publicly declared in 2011 that he would collaborate with the Saudi Arabian construction firm ‘Bin Laden’ group to construct ‘The Tower of One Mile’, which would become the highest building in the world, once it is ready.

The same year, Al-Waleed also invested a whopping $300 Million in the world-renowned, multi-Million dollar, social networking site ‘Twitter’.

Major Works

His stake in ‘Twitter’ had grabbed attention from world over, especially during the year 2011. It was later reported that Waleed’s stake in the firm was approximately $8 Billion.

Awards & Achievements

During the year 2009, Al Waleed received ‘The Order of Izzudin’, from Mohammed Nasheed, the President of the island nation of Maldives. He was also felicitated with the ‘State of Palestine’ award in the same year.

The businessman was honoured with the ‘Dwight D Eisenhower Award For Innovation’, in 2010.

Bin Talal was awarded the ‘Bahrain Medal of the First Order’, ‘Mahaujjval Rashtradip Mandapvi’ and ‘Colina De Boe Medal’, honours, in the year 2012 respectively.

Personal Life & Legacy

This business tycoon from Saudi Arabia has a sister named Sultana Narul, who is also a stake holder of the ‘Fairmont Hotels and Resorts’hospitality empire. She reportedly owns stakes worth 16% of the total capital.

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Bin-Talal first tied the knot with the member of a royal family, named Dalal Bint Saud, but the relationship ended a short while later. The couple had two kids, namely Khalid and Reem. He later got married to a Saudi Arabian princess named Ameera Al Taweel. This relationship too didn’t last too long and ended in November 2013.

Bin-Talal owns super luxurious palaces and hospitality concerns such as ‘Kingdom Resort’, ‘Kingdom Palace’ and ‘Kingdom Oasis’. Apart from these he also owns a yacht named ‘Kingdom 5KR’, which is one of the longest vessels of its kind in the whole world

The business tycoon is a co-founder of the firm named ‘Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation’, a humanitarian initiative aimed at alleviating social problems such as poverty and helping victims of natural disasters overcome their aftermath.

In a bid to encourage education, this businessman had contributed around $500,000 to the ‘George Hebert Walker Bush’ scholarship, an initiative of the educational institution named ‘Philips Academy’, in 2002.

The same year, he donated 18.5 million Euros to the Palestinian families, who suffered due to the political conflict between their nation and the neighbouring Israel.

He even gave away $17 Million to those families which were devastated by the aftermath of the killer ‘Tsunami’ tragedy, which struck the Indian Ocean in 2004.

On behalf of Al Waleed’s initiative, his former wife Ameera, still travels extensively throughout Saudi Arabia in a bid to encourage women empowerment across Saudi Arabia.

According to the world renowned media channel ‘British Broadcasting Network’ (BBC), Al-Waleed would be donating a whopping $32 Billion towards the welfare of the society.

Trivia

Al Waleed had offered a cheque worth $10 Million to the mayor of New York City, named Rudy Giuliani, immediately after the devastating ‘World Trade Center’ attacks of 2012.

Al-Waleed bin Talal Biography