AlWaleed Bin Talal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

AlWaleed Bin Talal - Essay Example His professional and financial initiatives AlWaleed’s prominence in investment surfaced in 1990s when he bought substantial shares in Citicorp, when the firm was experiencing financial crisis. Al Waleed’s bailed out Citibank with an initial investment of $550 million, an investment that has grown to about $1 billion currently. In 1997, AlWaleed was reported to have owned about 5% of News Corporation - stake that had grown to about 7% in 2010 ($3 billion) (Gustin 2). In February 1991, AlWaleed bought new preferred shares amounting to about $590 million. These investments increased his stake in Citigroup from 10% to 14.9%. Afterwards, he invested in a variety of companies including Apple Inc., AOL, MCI Inc., Fox News, Motorola and many other media and technology companies. Prior to 2007-2010 financial crises, his shares in Citibank at some point accounted for about half of his assets (Gustin 3). Al Waleed is the owner of Rotana Group, the Arab world's largest entertainmen t corporation. This company is also owned by News Group, which holds 18.97% of its stake. Rotana Group is an expansive pan-Arab media establishment that incorporates Rotana Magazine, a film production company, Rotana Record label, Rotana TV, and seven music channels (Rotana Radio). In 2005, Al Waleed stakes in Apples were disposed. On the down side, Al Waleed has happened to invest in the airline TWA and Eastman Kodak, which have performed quite poorly. He has also invested heavily in the real estate sector, where he has stakes in the Plaza Hotel and the Four Seasons hotel in New York. In December 2011, he invested $300 Million in Twitter, which gave Kingdom holding more than 3% stake in the company (Knickmeyer 5). His personal initiatives AlWaleed has participated in significant philanthropic initiatives that have build bridges between the West and the Islamic world. He strongly believes that promoting harmonious global co-existence is an imperative role of global philanthropy. In his early life, he capitalized on his advantaged upbringing to share his resources with the less-advantaged in the society. When he was growing up and started accumulated wealth, he upheld his believe in giving and sharing his wealth as an obligation to his God. Up to date, he strongly believes in the principle of giving and sharing of wealth with the less privileged. He also made efforts to dismiss the view that Saudi Arabia was not affected by poverty and reached out to poor remote desert hamlets had urban neighborhoods. As a global philanthropist and investor, AlWaleed has upheld long-term relationships with former heads of states, NGOs, academics, religious and business leaders, and political leaders from around the world. AlWaleed is also a staunch religious believer, hard-working, and gifted in multitasking. In this regards, he holds libel political and religious perceptions, and he subscribes to a Global vision of mutual respect and tolerance amongst different states, communi ties and faiths (Peel 5). There are a total of three philanthropic Foundations established by Alwaleed – all committed to supporting humanitarian projects in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world. These programs are generally