Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has described Donald Trump as a “disgrace to America”.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said on Twitter that Donald Trump should give up his presidential ambitions because he would never win.
It follows the Republican presidential hopeful’s call for Muslims to be barred from entering the US for security reasons.
Donald Trump tweeted back, calling the prince “dopey”.
“You are a disgrace not only to the GOP [Republican Party] but to all America,” Prince Alwaleed bin Talal tweeted.
“Withdraw from the US presidential race as you will never win.”
Donald Trump responded by accusing the prince of wanting to use what he called “daddy’s money” to control US politicians.
That would not happen, Donald Trump said, when he got elected.
The real estate mogul has been widely criticized for his call for a ban on Muslims entering the US.
On December 10, Damac Properties – a Dubai company building a golf complex with Donald Trump – removed his name and image from the property.
Donald Trump’s comments came following the San Bernardino shootings, carried out by two Muslims who the FBI said were radicalized.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, 60, is the nephew of King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. He completed a business degree in California in 1979.
The prince was named world’s richest Arab in Forbes’ 2015 list as he worth an estimated $32 billion.
He has stakes in Disney, 21st Century Fox, News Corp, Apple, GM, Twitter, and a string of hotel chains and luxury hotels, including the Plaza in New York and the George V in Paris.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is the owner of 95% of Kingdom Holdings, a publicly-traded company on the Saudi stock exchange. He is considered Westernized and progressive on most issues. He champions women’s rights and most of his staff are women.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has announced he will donate his $32 billion personal fortune to philantropy.
The 60-year-old nephew of King Salman is one of the world’s richest people.
Prince Alwaleed said he had been inspired by the Gates Foundation, set up by Bill and Melinda Gates in 1997.
The money would be used to “foster cultural understanding”, “empower women”, and “provide vital disaster relief”, among other things, he said.
Bill Gates praised the decision, calling it an “inspiration to all of us working in philanthropy around the world”.
Prince Alwaleed is at number 34 on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people.
The money will go to the prince’s charitable organization, Alwaleed Philanthropies, to which he has already donated $3.5 billion.
Prince Alwaleed, who does not hold an official government position, is chairman of investment firm Kingdom Holding Company.
The company owns stakes in hotels The Four Seasons, Fairmont and Raffles, as well as News Corp, Citigroup, Twitter and Apple.
“This is very much separate from my ownership in Kingdom Holding,” he said at the announcement.
“Philanthropy is a personal responsibility, which I embarked upon more than three decades ago and is an intrinsic part of my Islamic faith,” he added in a statement.
Prince Alwaleed said he hoped the gift would “help build bridges to foster cultural understanding, develop communities, empower women, enable youth, provide vital disaster relief and create a more tolerant and accepting world”.
His announcement comes during the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are encouraged to give charity and help the needy.
Prince Alwaleed said the donation would take place over several years and would be overseen by a board of trustees, which he will head.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has defended his decision to sue the business magazine Forbes.
The billionaire is seeking damages over what he claims were “seriously defamatory comments” made about him.
In March, Forbes calculated Prince Alwaleed’s fortune to be $20 billion, placing him 26th on the magazine’s Rich List.
The 58-year-old disputed the methodology used and said Forbes had “insulted” the business community in Saudi Arabia.
Prince Alwaleed has previously said that the magazine underestimated his fortune by $9.6 billion.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has defended his decision to sue the business magazine Forbes
However, in a statement, Prince Alwaleed’s investment vehicle, Kingdom Holding Company, said the libel action was not about his ranking on the Forbes Rich List, but about “correcting the seriously defamatory comments that have been made about HRH Prince Alwaleed as an individual and Kingdom Holding Company”.
The case has been filed in a London court.
Kingdom Holding Company owns stakes in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and London’s Savoy Hotel.
Prince Alwaleed also accused Forbes of publishing a “deliberately insulting and inaccurate description of the business community in Saudi Arabia and specifically, Forbes‘ denigration of the Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul), which is one of the most regulated in the world”.
In the Forbes article, a former executive with Prince Alwaleed’s company is quoted as describing the Saudi Stock Exchange as a place of gambling.
In calculating his wealth, Forbes said it valued the underlying investments of Kingdom Holding Company, rather than the shares listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange.
This, according to Prince Alwaleed, was an “irrational and deeply flawed valuation methodology, which is ultimately subjective and discriminatory”.
In a statement, Forbes said it is “bemused by Prince Alwaleed’s ego-driven PR stunt”.
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has accused Forbes magazine of understating his wealth.
In Forbes 2013 list of the world’s richest people, the magazine estimated Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s net worth at $20 billion, putting him in 26th place.
According to reports, the prince estimates his net worth to be $29.6 billionn, which would put him in the top 10.
Forbes said it had examined the prince’s wealth “deeply” following claims he had exaggerated his fortune.
In an article published on its website, Forbes also said that the prince often went to great lengths to affect his ranking and had complained in previous years about the valuation Forbes had put on his wealth.
“Of the 1,426 billionaires on our list, not one – not even the vainglorious Donald Trump – goes to greater measure to try to affect his or her ranking,”Forbes magazine claimed.
Citing former associates of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the magazine said his ranking was very important to the prince.
“This is how he wants the world to judge his success or his stature,” an anonymous source was quoted as saying.
The list, published on Monday, saw Mexico’s Carlos Slim retain the top slot for the fourth straight year with a net worth of $73 billion.
The 10th spot on the list went to Bernard Arnault and family of the luxury goods group LVMH, with a net worth of $29 billion.
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has accused Forbes magazine of understating his wealth
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s office claimed Forbes used flawed valuation methods that were “designed to disadvantage” Middle Eastern investors.
It alleged that Forbes had refused to accept the valuations of the stocks listed on Tadawul, the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange, while it had accepted valuations of listings on other emerging markets such as the Mexican Stock Exchange.
It said that Forbes had applied “differing standards of proof for different individuals”.
The prince’s office said that it had requested Forbes to remove the prince from its rich list. It added that it had severed all ties with the magazine and would no longer co-operate with the valuation teams.
“We have worked very openly with the Forbes team over the years and have on multiple occasions pointed out problems with their methodology that need correction,” Shadi Sanbar, chief financial officer of Kingdom Holding Company, which the prince owns, said in a statement.
“However, after several years of our efforts to correct mistakes falling on deaf ears, we have decided that Forbes has no intention of improving the accuracy of their valuation of our holdings and we have made the decision to move on.”
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Company, whose shares are traded on the Saudi stock exchange, owns stakes in hotel groups including Four Seasons and Fairmont Raffles and is a part-owner of the Savoy Hotel in London.
The prince is a major investor in News Corporation and, according to Forbes, he bought a 3% stake in Twitter last year for $300 million.
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