Prince Alwaleed, Forbes settle libel suit

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Forbes, Forbes Media and two of the magazine’s writers have settled Prince Alwaleed's libel suit against the Forbes companies and the two writers on mutually agreeable terms, said a press release.

Given the opening of the Saudi stock exchange to foreign investors in June 2015, Forbes and the other defendants will now use the stock price of Prince Alwaleed's publicly traded investment firm, Kingdom Holding Company, in valuing the KHC component of Prince Alwaleed's wealth.

In March 2013, the Saudi prince blasted the magazine for under-reporting his fortune.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, often called the Arab world's richest man, had announced that he would no longer cooperate with Forbes because it understated his wealth.

Alwaleed, a nephew of the Saudi king who owns large stakes of Apple, Citigroup, News Corp and Facebook and well as a luxury hotel chain through his Kingdom Holding Co., came in 26th with $20 billion.

That was far less than the $28 billion estimated by Bloomberg's competing billionaires list.

Alwaleed had accused Forbes of ‘intentional biases’ that led to undervaluing his assets and that ‘seemed designed to disadvantage Middle Eastern investors and institutions.’

"Kingdom Holding Company will continue to work with the Bloomberg Billionaires valuation teams," the company said in a statement, adding that it had "retained counsel," AFP said in 2013.

 

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