Crisis?What crisis?Wealth of world’s 50 richest Arabs rises in 2009

[RASKAR AS AR]

A handful of star performers have ensured that the overall wealth of the world’s 50 richest Arabs increased in 2009, even in the face of the global economic slowdown.

The figures are revealed in the Arabian Business 2009 Rich List , which will be published in the print edition of Arabian Business on Sunday.

The list shows that the average fortune of the top 50 has risen to $4.14bn. In total, the top 50 now hold between them $207bn – a rise of almost four percent on last year.

But were it not for the performance of a few superstars, the figures would be very different. Of the 35 entrants that remain on the list from last year, 20 are actually worse off than they were 12 months ago.The collapse in the value of property and banking shares – the bedrock of Arab wealth for much of the past decade – is cited as the biggest reason for the troubles of some of the Arab world’s leading business empires.

This year’s ranking contains 15 new entries, with six risers and 22 fallers on the list.
Rich List 2009 - Top 10

1. 1 . Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud
2. 2 . Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber
3. 3 . Nasser Al Kharafi
4. 4 . Mohammad Al Amoudi
5. 5 . Nasser Al Rashid
6. 6 . Al Ghurair Family
7. 7 . The Bin Laden Family
8. 8 . The Olayan Family
9. 9 . The Kanoo Family
10. 10 . Said Khoury

Complete List