Saudi Prince Loses $4 Billion on Citigroup
November 5th, 2007Priceless.
Via: Telegraph:
The lift in Prince AlWaleed bin Talal’s Saudi Arabian Kingdom Holdings building has just two buttons. One is marked “ground floor”, while the other says, simply, HRH. AlWaleed is Saudi’s most famous businessman, a nephew of King Abdullah, the grandson of a former prime minister of Lebanon and a friend of Charles and Camilla.
He is a bedouin leader who still holds court to thousands of followers at his desert camp. And his hobbies include travelling the world in a custom Boeing 777 jet and taking the yacht to Cannes for the summer. You simply couldn’t make this stuff up.
He is also the single biggest shareholder in Citigroup, the bank in the eye of the sub-prime storm. Like other shareholders in Citi, he has seen his investment lose 32 per cent of its value this year – but in AlWaleed’s case that accounts for a whopping $4bn. The prince has not been afraid to throw his weight around at the bank in the past and will no doubt make his next trip on the corporate jet a visit to New York to make his presence felt with the bank’s remaining board members.
Research Credit: Ebbing
