It was 3 a.m. and Matthew, an American working for a Saudi prince and living in Saudi Arabia, wanted to go home.
Not to the palace, the place Matthew called "home," over there.
Home, home. California. Away from princes, million-dollar sports cars, and guns.
Away from Prince Alwaleed.
The problem, Matthew now says, was that every time he got up to leave, a guard – Prince Alwaleed's guard – put a hand over the gun holstered under his left shoulder and told Matthew to stay put.
So Matthew stayed put.
***
If you've heard of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud it's probably because you've seen him on CNBC or read about his vast wealth and investments.
Alwaleed, one of Saudi Arabia's thousands of princes (literally), likes to be called the "Warren Buffett of The Middle East."
With a reported net worth approaching $20 billion, Alwaleed is number 26 on Forbes's list of the world's billionaires.
Alwaleed has that much money in part because, back in 1991, he invested $590 million in a struggling American bank, then called Citibank.
The bet paid off insanely well, turning the nephew of Saudi Arabia's king into a billionaire many times over.
Then Alwaleed invested in Apple, just before Steve Jobs turned it around. He's now the second largest shareholder in News Corporation and owns a big stake in Time Warner, too. Just last month, he took a $300 million stake in Twitter, one of the hottest American tech companies.
Prince Alwaleed calls himself the largest foreign individual investor in the United States. And he may well be.
With ownership comes power.
2 comments:
The second largest shareholder of Fox News is a MUSLIM!
Wrap your head around that!
Keep buying your trucks and SUVs, with horrible gas milage, because it is the redneck thing to do. Make them richer and richer.
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