Saudi prince accuses Forbes magazine of understating his wealth

PanARMENIAN.Net - Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has accused Forbes magazine of understating his wealth, BBC News reported.

In its latest list of richest people, Forbes estimated Prince Alwaleed's net worth at $20bn, ranking him as the world's 26th richest individual.

However, the prince's office said the magazine used flawed valuation methods that it claimed were "designed to disadvantage" Middle Eastern investors. It said that it had requested Forbes to remove the prince from its rich list.

The office added that it had severed all ties with the magazine and would no longer co-operate with the valuation teams.

"We have worked very openly with the Forbes team over the years and have on multiple occasions pointed out problems with their methodology that need correction," Shadi Sanbar, chief financial officer of Kingdom Holding Company, which the prince owns, said in a statement.

"However, after several years of our efforts to correct mistakes falling on deaf ears, we have decided that Forbes has no intention of improving the accuracy of their valuation of our holdings and we have made the decision to move on."

The statement by the Kingdom Holding Company did not indicate what it thought was the actual net worth of Prince Alwaleed.

However, some media reports quoted a spokesman for Forbes as saying that the firm had estimated his net worth to be about $29.6bn.

That figure would have put Prince Alwaleed in the top 10 in the magazine's latest list of the world's richest people.

The list, published on Monday, saw Mexico's Carlos Slim retain the top slot for the fourth straight year with a net worth of $73bn.

The 10th spot on the list went to Bernard Arnault and family of LVMH, with a net worth of $29bn.