Management Hall of Fame
Most Respected Management Gurus

Al-Saud, Waleed Bin Talal
Kingdom Holding -The Prince of International Investments (1956 - Present)

"Paparazzi may trail some princes, but money managers follow this one" (CFO Magazine)

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal was born in 1955. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Menlo College in California and a Masters of Social Science from Syracuse University in New York. Prince Alwaleed has also received numerous honorary degrees, including an honorary Doctorate in Business Management from Kyungwon University in Seoul, Korea, honorary Doctorates in Law from the University of Syracuse, Exeter University in the United Kingdom and the American University in Cairo, an honorary Doctorate in Humanities from the Al Aqsa University in Palestine and honorary Doctorates in Letters from the University of New Haven in Connecticut, the University for Development Studies in Ghana and the University of Uganda.

Prince Alwaleed is the founder and chairman of the Kingdom Establishment for Commerce and Trade, which was restructured in 1996 into the Kingdom Holding Company. Prince Alwaleed is a member of the board of directors of several companies in which he holds investments

Key Work

• Born as the nephew of King Fahad of Saudi Arabia
• Received Bachelor of Arts Menlo College, BA/BS from Syracuse University
• Established Kingdom Holding Co. (KHC) & developed interest in international business and investments
• Invested in companies undervalued companies, when most investors chose not to.
• Grows his wealth though real-estate business and a series of highly successful investment to become one of top 5 richest men in the world in 2005
• Invested over $1 billion into the U.S. stock markets Apple, AOL-Time Warner, and Citigroup 
• Invested in a series of international hotels & companies including Korean Daewoo motors
• Voted one of the most influential investors on the planet -  By CFO magazines
• KHC is the largest foreign investor in the US and one of the largest investors in the Middle East region.
• Prince Al-Waleed is heavily involved in charitable activities across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and is estimated to donate more than $100 million annually to charity. Much of this expenditure is in the field of educational initiatives to bridge gaps between Western and Islamic communities by funding centers of American studies and research in universities in the Middle East and centers of Islamic studies in American universities
• In December 2005, Prince Al-Waleed donated $20 million each to Harvard University and Georgetown University to finance Islamic studies. The gift to Georgetown, which set up the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in his honor, was the university's second-largest donation in history, and the gift to Harvard was among its 25 largest.
• In 2006, the Prince donated $10 million the Weill Medical College of Cornell University establishing the HRH Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud Institute for Computational Biomedicine (ICB). This Institute studies complex genomic and cellular systems as they relate to medicine and biology by using mathematical models, physics and high-speed computing.
  

KHC's investment strategy is simple:

• Focusing on core growth and value added industry sectors
• Investing in high performance companies with leading brands
• Maintaining a longer-term investment approach
• Extracting value from undervalued or underperforming assets
• Maximizing Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's unique experience, investment expertise and international network of contacts

Key Business is the Kingdom Holdings:

• Kingdom Holding Company (“KHC”) is a Saudi Arabian company and was founded by HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in Riyadh in 1980.
  
• KHC is one of the world's largest and most diversified private investment companies with holdings in a large number of Saudi Arabian, Middle Eastern and International companies.
  
• KHC's total assets are valued at around SR94.44 billion (US$ 25 billion) as at 31 December 2006.
  
• For the past four consecutive years 'Saudi Arabia's Number 1 Company' (Arab News)
• For the past 3 years, KHC was voted No.1, in the Top 50 Most Admired Arab Companies (Arabian Business)
• Prince Alwaleed was voted as one to the Time 100 Power Givers (Time Magazine)
• Prince Alwaleed was present in '40 Years of Power & Influence' list (Institutional Investor)
  
• Arabian Business has ranked Prince Al Waleed as number one in the '100 Most Powerful Arabs' list for the last three consecutive years.
• KHC's domestic and international portfolio includes investments in many sectors from iconic real estate landmarks, world-famous luxury hotels to banking, media and information technology, retail business & healthcare, entertainment and tourism

Books & References:

• kingdom.com.sa - Investment Portfolio
• The mystery of the world’s second-richest businessman - The Economist Magazine
• US - Saudi Relations - 2005 Interview with Prince Al Waleed
• Forbes World's Richest People 2005

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