The Arab American News
RAMADAN 2011
31
S
audi billionaireal-WaleedbinTalal
kept his place as the world’s rich-
est Arab in theForbesMiddleEast
list for 2011 even though his place re-
ceded a li le among the richest of the
world.
Despite the effect the global finan-
cial crisis hadonhis business, binTalal’s
wealth in 2011 is
es matedat $19.6
billion compared
to $19.4 billion in
2010. This makes
him the world’s
26th richest.
The list of the
Arab World’s rich-
est is s ll basically
occupied by businessmen from Saudi
Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, UAE and
Kuwait. Saudi and Egypt, however, got
the biggest share with eight people
fromeach country in the list.
New Egyp an names joined the
2011 list such as Mansour brothers:
Yassin, Mohammed and Youssef, the
second being the richest of the three
with a fortune es mated at $2 billion
which ranked him number 595 in the
world and number 17 in the Arab
world.
Egyp an business tycoon Nassif
Sawiris came out on top of the Egypt-
ian rich with $5.6 billion, which made
him the seventh in the Arabworld and
number 182 in theworld.Mohammed
al-Fayed and his family joined the list
for the first me as they ranked num-
ber 993 in theworld and number 32 in
the Arab world with $1.2 billion.
Lebanon, UAE, Kuwait
Lebanon came second in the list of
Arab richest with the wealth mainly
owned by two families: the al-Mika
family, represented by Prime Minister
Najuib Mika who ranked 10th in the
Arabworldand408th in theworldwith
a wealth of $2.8 billion, and the Hariri
family, represented by the four broth-
ers, the richest of whom is Bahaa al-
Hariri who got number 459 in the
world and 13 in the Arab world with
$2.5 billion.
UAEcame thirdwith four billionaires
toppedbyAbdul Aziz al-Ghurair andhis
family, who ranked 420 in the world
and the 12th in the Arab world with
$2.7 billion.
Kuwait came fourth with three bil-
lionaires; the first of them is Nasser al-
Kharafiandhis familywhogot number
77 in the world and the fourth in the
Arabworldwith awealth es mated at
$10.4 billion.
According toForbesMiddleEast ed-
itor-in-chief Kholoud al-Emian, the list
does not includeArabs living abroador
holding dual ci zenships like Brazilian-
Lebanese Joseph Safra, $12.3 billion,
Russian-JordanianZiadal-Manasirwith
$2.1 billion and Bri sh-Iraqi Nazmi
Ojeeh with $1.8 billion. —Al Arabiya
Bin Talal remains richest
Arab in 2011
Hamad, the biggest name in the desert:
Arab sheikh carves two-miles-long name
in sand un l it's visible from space
E
very child has wri en their names on
the beach at some point. But
whereas most people's 'sandwri ng'
is washed away, one super-rich Arab
sheikh has ensured that his doodles will
last a li le longer.
Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, 63, has
scrawled his name in sand on an island he
owns with le ers so big they can be seen
from space.
The word 'HAMAD' measures 1,000
metres high and is a staggering two miles
long from the 'H' to the 'D' on the Al Fu-
taisi island.
And rather than allow the wri ng to be
washed away by the ocean, the le ers ac-
tually form waterways that absorb the en-
croaching de.The ruler's name is even
visible on Google's map service.
Hamad dreamed up the idea and had
his workmen toil for weeks to cra the
enormous piece of sand graffi . It is not
known how much it cost to make.
However, the sheikh boasts a personal
fortune second only to the Saudi king's.
Hamad, also known as the 'Rainbow
Sheikh', is a member of the Abu Dhabi Ruling Family.
He is understood to have some 200 cars including seven Mercedes 500 SELs painted
in different colours of the rainbow which he stores in a giant pyramid.
The Arab sheikh has a taste for doing things on a large scale. He built the world's
largest truck - eight mes the size of the Dodge Power Wagon, with four bedrooms in-
side the cabin.
Hamad constructed a motor home in the shape of a giant globe which is exactly 1
millionth the size of the actual earth.
Alongside his lavish displays of wealth he has become a well-known philanthropist in
medicine and supplied a complete kidney stone opera ng theatre to a public hospital in
Morocco where he con nues to fund its staff.
al-Waleed bin Talal
A satellite image from space shows the enor-
mous le ers of the name 'HAMAD' carved into
the sand on Al futaysi island in Abu Dhabi
Arab
American
& Chaldean
Council
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DR. Haifa Fakhouri, President
and CEO of ACC and on Behalf
of the entire board of directors
and all staff, wishes the Arab
and Muslim community a
blessed month of Ramadan.
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