HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Prince Alwaleed has become one of the most well known faces in the Middle Eastern business landscape and with good reason. Since establishing Kingdom Holding in 1979, the billion- aire has acquired increasingly shrewd investments in the likes of Citibank, Mövenpick Hotels, Walt Disney, News Corp and Twitter. He added to this portfolio in December… Prince Alwaleed has become one of the most well known faces in the Middle Eastern business landscape and with good reason. Since establishing Kingdom Holding in 1979, the billion- aire has acquired increasingly shrewd investments in the likes of Citibank, Mövenpick Hotels, Walt Disney, News Corp and Twitter. He added to this portfolio in December by acquiring a 2.3 per cent stake in ride sharing service Lyft for $104.9m and exchanging his stake in Fairmont Hotels for 5.8 per cent of French hotel chain Accor following the company’s acquisition of FRHI. There were some setbacks, however, particularly in February when his news channel Alarab TV was taken off the air just hours after launching. A tweet prom- ising Bentleys to Saudi Arabian pilots tak- ing part in a bombing campaign in Yemen was also promptly deleted in April follow- ing a backlash. Clearly though, the prince intended the lasting memory of his activities in 2015 to be philanthropy when he announced plans to give his entire fortune away to charity. “It is a commitment without bounda- ries. A commitment to all mankind,” the Saudi royal told reporters at the begin- ning of July. The move will see the prince’s entire $32bn fortune gradually fun- neled into Alwaleed Philanthropies – a move inspired by fellow billionaire Bill Gates. Among the first uses of the funds will be a 10,000 home project in Egypt in collaboration with Misr El Kheir Foundation, for which the prince is donating both $109m and 10,000 acres of land. Chairman, Kingdom Holding Origin: Residence: Sector:Finance