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Discuss this article (2 Comments)Lifting the veil on Saudi’s mega-rich elite
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Tuesday, 18 August 2009
As we all know, the Arab world is pretty reticent when it comes to discussing the private wealth of prominent families and individuals.
By all means drive a fleet of $2m supercars, just don’t tell anyone how much you’ve got in the bank – or how you got it. And at the heart of this Arabic ‘omerta’ is Saudi Arabia: the Gulf’s biggest economy, but also its most opaque.
In a country flush with billionaires and positively flooded with multimillionaires, many private companies are loath to publish accounts, and those that do often give only a limited insight into their operations.
As for family fortunes, it’s quite a task to delve into the accumulated billions of dynasties that have been around and making money for over a century.
Still, there’s nothing like a challenge, and so we’ve spent four months trawling everything from stock listings and share disclosures to luxury yachting sites, compiling hard data on over 300 families and individuals.
The Arabian Business Saudi Rich List 2009 will be unveiled on August 30; it will be the most comprehensive study of the finances of the Kingdom’s rich elite ever published.
We’ve had people on the ground in Saudi doing just about everything but rooting through bins looking for receipts.
We’ve had English and Arabic reporters break down the stock dealings (and occasional disasters) of every player on the Saudi Stock Exchange, the Tadawul, and we’ve spoken to high-profile Saudi business figures both in the Kingdom and abroad. We’ve bothered analysts, bugged accountants and badgered august authorities.
Cash holdings, property values, and individual assets have all been thrown into the mix. Got six Knightsbridge townhouses? You may have suffered in London’s real estate downturn, but you’re still worth a bit of money on today’s market. So your mega-yacht has a helipad (obviously), but also a sandy ‘beach’ that deploys on demand from its side wherever you are in the world? That’s worth a few dollars more.
We’ve had hiccups, too. The time a researcher elected to find out whether one company founder was still alive, by phoning his office direct and posing the question.
Something was lost in translation; panic ensued when his long-suffering secretary got the wrong end of the stick and thought we were calling to inform them of his demise.
But now that we’re through all that and in the final stages of working through our findings, we can’t wait for you to see the fruits of our labour. We know there will be omissions; we know that chances are we’ll have overshot a couple of the valuations: that’s what comes with the territory when you try to shine a light on one of the least open economies in the world.
What we will guarantee you is an unprecedented insight into the lives – and fortunes – of some of the richest men on earth.
There are the big names (the arms dealer, the kidnap victim, the Bin Ladens) but there are also those who keep their fortunes close to their chest – the ‘Leader of Businessmen’ (it sounds better in Arabic), the ‘Sheikh of Gulf Tourism’, and one family firm that dates back to 1887.
There will no doubt be a barrage of bouquets and brickbats when the list is published.
But then that’s what happens when you lift the veil on a society otherwise unused to the glare of publicity: with a little candour, comes a lot of controversy.
READERS' COMMENTS
Disclaimer: The views expressed here by our readers are not necessarily shared by ArabianBusiness.com or its employees.
Arabian Business in beacon of hope among Middle East media
Posted by Anis, Doha, Qatar on Thursday 20 August 2009 at 13:42 UAE time
Congratulations in advance to the efforts of White and the Arabian Business team in compiling the Saudi Rich List. Quality journalism of this kind, is truly lacking in the Middle East while it is routine in the West and the Indian sub-continent.
What we otherwise have on offer in the region, are editors driving reporters crazy with demands for a story on a daily basis to fill up reams of newsprint. So what we finally end up with are reports with empty statements from officials and information without research. Reporters of such news organisations will lose their jobs for non-performance if they chase a story for four months!!
I hope this experience shared by White will encourage more editors in the region to introspect and do justice to journalism and the growing number of discerning professionals residing in the region.
Posted by Anis, Doha, Qatar on Thursday 20 August 2009 at 13:42 UAE time
Congratulations in advance to the efforts of White and the Arabian Business team in compiling the Saudi Rich List. Quality journalism of this kind, is truly lacking in the Middle East while it is routine in the West and the Indian sub-continent.
What we otherwise have on offer in the region, are editors driving reporters crazy with demands for a story on a daily basis to fill up reams of newsprint. So what we finally end up with are reports with empty statements from officials and information without research. Reporters of such news organisations will lose their jobs for non-performance if they chase a story for four months!!
I hope this experience shared by White will encourage more editors in the region to introspect and do justice to journalism and the growing number of discerning professionals residing in the region.
Who cares
Posted by DooBoy on Thursday 20 August 2009 at 13:14 UAE time
Does anyone really care about this list? Surely AB could find something a tad more news worthy than this? What a waste of journalistic resources!!
Posted by DooBoy on Thursday 20 August 2009 at 13:14 UAE time
Does anyone really care about this list? Surely AB could find something a tad more news worthy than this? What a waste of journalistic resources!!
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