17 GCC Billionaires Make Forbes List

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, with an estimated net worth of $18 billion, has once again ranked the highest in the GCC region in the annual list of the World’s Billionaires published by Forbes magazine. The founder and chairman of investment company Kingdom Holdings ranked 29 globally, down from last year’s ranking of 26.

Not surprisingly, he is followed by another entry from the kingdom- Mohammed Al Amoudi- who is the only other regional person to feature in the list’s top 100. With an estimated fortune of $12.5 billion, Al Amoudi, who according to Forbes made his fortune from oil, ranks 61 on the global list.

Real estate tycoon Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber from Saudi Arabia came third from the region on the global list at 133 with $7 billion, while Sulaiman Al Rajhi and family came fourth at 169 with $5.9 billion.

Overall, eight billionaires from Saudi Arabia, five from Kuwait and four from the UAE made it to the list.

While businessmen and brothers Bassam Alghanim and Kutayba Alghanim – with $1.6 billion each, topped Kuwait’s list of billionaires, Mashreq bank CEO Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair and his family ranked first in the UAE with an estimated wealth of $2.9 billion.

Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helu and family once again made it to the top of the global list with an estimated fortune of $69 billion. Bill Gates came second with $61 billion, followed by Warren Buffett with $44 billion, Bernard Arnault with $41 billion and Spain’s Amancio Ortega rounded up the top five with $37.5 billion.

In all, the Forbes list included an all-time high of 1,226 billionaires worth a record $4.6 trillion.