The last year has been far from uneventful for the world’s most powerful Arab, with business success partly offset by PR blunders and court cases. Alwaleed’s wealth became a source of controversy in March 2013 when Forbes’ annual billionaire list estimated his fortune at $20 billion, some $9.6 billion below his own calculations. The Prince expressed his dissatisfaction publicly and eventually took the publication to court. Having vowed never to work with Forbes again, by the end of 2013 Alwaleed estimated his fortune had increased by 20 per cent, from $25.9 billion to $31.2 billion. Since establishing Kingdom Holding in 1979, Alwaleed has acquired increasingly shrewd investments, which stakes in Citibank, Movenpick Hotels, Walt Disney, Apple Inc, News Corp, Twitter and PepsiCo, among others. Of these Twitter was a particularly big performer last year. The social network’s public listing increased the value of his $300 million stake, acquired in 2011, to around $1.2 billion by the end of 2013. Progress was also made on his iconic Kingdom Tower project — set to be the world’s tallest building when finished — with piling work completed at the end of the year and a new CEO appointed to lead the overall Kingdom City development. In July the Prince also stepped into politics, addressing an open letter to the Saudi Arabian government criticising its oil policies and warning of the rising threat of US shale gas. If 2013 is anything to go by, few would bet on this year being a quiet one for the world’s most powerful Arab.