Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is unhappy with Forbes magazine, accusing it of prejudice in estimating his wealth at $20bn – a mere 26th among the world’s 1,426 billionaires. The Saudi investor has broken off his “long-standing relationship with the Forbes billionaires list” and sought comfort in the Bloomberg Billionaires ranking.
The prince has traditionally occupied a high position on the Forbes list, since he bought an $800m stake in Citigroup in 1991 and prospered as the bank recovered from?a?debt crisis. Forbes has accused him of manipulating the price of Kingdom Holding, his investment company, to retain a top 10 place, which he indignantly denies.
The question is: why on earth does the prince care so much? The answer is: because most of us care, too. The billionaires’ list is Forbes’ most lucrative and popular franchise, and Bloomberg has energetically tried to beat it – uncovering 90 “hidden billionaires” since last year. The wealthy fascinate us, and are trailed by an industry of wealth managers, lawyers and tax advisers.