Prince Alwaleed tops Rich List with $31.2bn

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed has topped the Arabian Business Rich List for the 10 successive year, with a personal fortune of $31.2bn.

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The Kingdom Holding Company chairman saw his wealth rise by over 20 percent in the past twelve months, from $25.9bn. The figure – verified by his private office, reflects a series of strong performances and investments in the last year, most notably his $300m stake in Twitter, which rose in value by 200 percent when the company floated this year.

Alwaleed’s personal wealth for 2013 is more than twice that of second placed hotels magnate Mohamed Al Jaber. Financial statements seen by Arabian Business - and also verified by Al Jaber’s private office – put his total wealth at $12.662bn – nearly double last year’s figure of $7bn.

The Olayan family ($12.5bn), Mohammed Al Amoudi ($12bn) and Issam Al Zahid ($11.6bn – a figure also verified by his private office) – top the remaining slots in the top five.

The 2013 list showed the top 50 richest Arabs in the world now have a combined wealth of $266.11bn, up from $257.21bn last year.

But only 11 of the names on last year’s list saw their figures rise.

Saudi Arabia accounted for nearly half the entries on this year’s list, with 23, followed by the UK and Kuwait, with four each. Seven of this year’s entries are based in Europe, with the UAE accounting for just three.

Arabian Business Editor Ed Attwood said: “The last 12 months  have seen some solid performances by Arab business leaders across the globe, but what is significant is only 11 of the top 50 saw their wealth increase. The overall wealth has increased largely because of phenomenal  performances by the top two in our list, Prince Alwaleed and Mohamed Al Jaber."

The list does not include any members of royal families, unless their wealth is specifically derived from business interests.