The Forbes billionaires list, seemingly designed to stroke the egos of the world's richest people, has pricked one of them in painful fashion, alleging that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal "systematically exaggerates" his wealth.
Hours after the Saudi investor issued a press release announcing that he was "severing ties" with the benchmark of billionaires' bragging rights, the magazine published a lengthy investigation into his net worth.
Forbes' estimate, up $2 billion (€1.53 billion) in the past year to $20 billion, stands $9.6 billion below the prince's estimate.
Most of the gap, it said, stems from a lower assessment of his 95 per cent stake in Kingdom Holding, which houses his investments in assets including Four Seasons hotels and News Corp. Forbes said Kingdom's valuation "rises and falls based on factors that, coincidentally, seem more tied to the Forbes billionaires list than fundamentals". - (Copyright The Finan- cial Times Limited 2013)
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