Alwaleed also donated $500,000 to the George Herbert Walker Bush Scholarship Fund in 2002. In December 2005, he donated $20 million each to Harvard University and Georgetown University to finance new initiatives aimed at enhancing the study of Islam in the Western academy and to foster understanding between Muslims and Christians. (Mujtaba 2008)
The Weill Medical College of Cornell University also received a donation $10 million in 2006 to establish the Institute for Computational efforts in wake of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. He also gave $2 million dollars for the development of the remote regions of Pakistan that include Kahuta, Jhelum valley, and the mountainside region of the Swat River valley. Alwaleed financed the building of the headquarters of the Fondation Pour l'Enfance, an organization dedicated to improving the living conditions of Malian and African children in Mali. (Mujtaba 2008)
Princely Lifestyle
The billionaire prince has a colorful life style true to his name and status. He owns a Boeing 747 jet that is converted for his private use. He has also ordered the world's largest passenger aircraft Airbus A380, for private use. The aircraft will be delivered to him in 2010. He owns the yacht Kingdom 5KR, which was seen in a James Bond movie.
He has a close and emotional relationship with the desert and its people. His identity sits on the fence separating the Arab world on one side, with tents, camels, and rifle-toting Bedouins... And the fast-paced, hungry, pinstripe world of Wall Street, with limousines and designer labels. (Mujtaba 2008)
Alwaleed and his children live in a $100 million sand-colored palace whose 317 rooms are adorned with 1,500 tons of Italian marble, silk oriental carpets, gold-plated faucets and 250 TV sets. It will have four kitchens, for Lebanese, Arabic, Continental and Asian cuisines, and a fifth just for dishing up desserts, run by chefs who can feed 2,000...
Their royal highnesses can swim in a lagoon-shaped pool, or catch a film in the 45-seat basement cinema. (Khan, Alwaleed: Businessman Billionaire Prince 2005)
Big-Time Real Estate Investor
His real estate holdings have included large stakes in the Four Seasons hotel chain and the Plaza Hotel in New York. He sold half of his shares in the latter in August 2004. He has made investments in London's Savoy Hotel and Monaco's Monte Carlo Grand Hotel. He currently holds a 17% stake in Euro Disney SCA, the organization which manages and maintains the Disneyland Resort Paris in Marne-la-Vallee, France.
In January 2005 Alwaleed purchased the Savoy Hotel in London for an estimated GBP £250 million, to be managed by Fairmont Hotels, in which Alwaleed owns an estimated 16% stake. In January 2006, in partnership with the U.S. real estate firm Colony Capital, Kingdom Holdings acquired Toronto, CA-based Fairmont Hotels for an estimated $3.9 billion. (Khan, Alwaleed: Businessman Billionaire Prince 2005)
Fighter
He cares very much for his people as well as the people of the world. He continues to fight for women's rights, improve the quality of education, and help reduce the plight of the poor. For a Saudi prince, he is notably enlightened: he hired the first female airline pilot in Saudi Arabia, where women still cannot legally drive a car. (Mujtaba 2008)
Bibliography
Answers.com. Alwaleed bin Talal. 2008. http://www.answers.com/topic/alwaleed-bin- talal (Accessed November 24, 2008).
Khan, Riz. 2008 Time 100: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. November 24, 2008. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1733748_1733758_1735846,00.html (Accessed November 24, 2008).
Alwaleed: Businessman Billionaire Prince. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.
Mujtaba, Syed Ali. Alalweed: Billionaire, Businessman, Prince.…
