Y’all know I’ve got a thing (e.g. admiration) for foreign arab money ballers. But this is just too much. If you don’t know Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud, well… you should! According to Business Insider, this guy is not called the “Warren Buffett of The Middle East” for no reason:
“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.”
So now we know how this guys can afford those Gucci scarfs!
You can see an Arabian camel & horse collection in the background.
The Prince usually spends his time:
- keeping a private entourage of midgets and dwarfs for personal entertainment (much like medieval kings)
- having “midget-tossing” contests with prize money for the person who can throw the dwarfs the furthest
- paying his staff to get abortions or taking photos of his women in his stuffed animals atrium
- spending $5 millions to pimp out his Mercedes with diamonds
- completing the 200 car collection for his son or taking sail on his 300 foot mega-yacht
This guy really must like his transportation.
But dig this.
According to the dailymail, he tricked out the triple-decker jet with:
- A parking spot for his Rolls-Royce
- Five suites with king-sized beds and ensuite bathrooms with showers
- First-class “sleepers” for an additional 20 guests
- A steam room for spa treatments and a marble-finished Turkish bath
- A boardroom with holographic displays
- A prayer area “in which computer-generated mats move to point towards Mecca”
- A “concert hall” with a baby grand piano and seating for 10
- A spiral staircase connecting all three floors
The price tag for a normal A380 is somewhere around $400 million. The unique, one-of-a-kind giant will set Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud back more than half a billion. Reportedly, the Prince invested a few hundred millions in Twitter, so he should have no problem making that money back. Must be good to be a billionaire Saudi Prince.
Oh, and also, what the hell is wrong with his shoulders during this CBC interview back in ’08?!
