2:00 a.m. in the Arabian desert, the world’s fifth richest man sits alone. A rare moment of tranquility. Who is this man? What is he thinking? Why is he here?
He is His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, nephew of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, grandson of the country’s founder, grandson also of the founder of modern day Lebanon. Just 44 years old, his net worth tops $20 billion.
Mostly he lives here in a 460,000 square-foot palace he calls home. Quaint, it isn’t？ It’s 317 rooms, include 18 sitting rooms, 15 dinning rooms, 10 bedrooms, 16 pantries, and one dozen elevators. The garage is big, too. It has to be to accommodate the Prince’s hundreds of cars. And this is the Prince’s kitchen ? a 30,000 ? square ? foot facility with enough staff and equipment to feed more than a 1,000 people on any given day. And that’s on top of 20 smaller kitchens scattered throughout the palace. The Prince’s bedroom is large, but his closet is larger. Among other things, it holds his 3,000 pairs of shoes, and hundreds of pairs of sunglasses.
Journalist: Do you think you live lavishly?
Prince: No I don’t think… I live happily. Now, maybe to some people, it’s lavish, I would acknowledge that, but to me, I live happily.
This is the other Prince Alwaleed, a top minded negotiator and international investing sensation whose personal inverstment vehicle, Kingdom Holding Company, owns stakes in a litany of the world’s best known brands. Along side Rupert Murdock and Ted Turner, he’s one of the world’s biggest media tycoons, with shares in A.O.L., Newscorp and Disney, alongside the Marriotts and the Hiltons, a leading hotelier with big chunks of The Four Season, Movenpick, and Fairmont chains as well as New York’s Plaza Hotel and Paris’s George Saint. A giant in banking, too, whose stake in Citygroup alone totals a cool $10 billion.
But for all his wealth, this Saudi Royal still seeks something money can’t buy.
Prince: I believe that we have a mission, you know, to tell the western world held by America for sure, is that the Arabs are good businessmen, good honorable people. And when they communicate and when they do this and business with the biggest companies in America, they are welcome, and they do it very honorably. And if I can contribute in having the image being better and enhanced, of course being more positive in America, I would be more than happy to do it.
翻译：
清晨两点的阿拉伯沙漠，全球第五巨富独自坐在那儿。这刻宁静对他来说并不常有。这人是谁？他在想什么？他为何在这儿？
他就是奥瓦里·宾·塔拉·宾·阿杜拉西斯·沃苏王子陛下，是沙特国王法赫德的侄子，沙特创建人的孙子，也是当今黎巴嫩创建人的外孙。年仅44岁，他的财富纯价值已高达200亿美元。
许多时候，王子住在他称之为家的46万平方英尺大的宫殿里。不可思议吧。宫殿共317间，其中包括有18间起居室、15间餐室、10间卧室、16间食品室、以及12架电梯。车库也很大，用来停放王子的数百辆汽车。这是王子的厨房——3万平方尺大小，工作人员和设备足以在任何一天接待逾千人。这间是分布于宫殿的20间小厨房中最大的一间。王子的卧室也很大，不过他的衣帽间则更大。别的不说，单鞋子就有3千双，太阳镜几百副。
记者：你是否认为你生活得很奢侈？
王子：不，我不这么认为……我生活得很幸福。我承认一些人会当这是奢侈。我则认为我是生活得很幸福。
这是奥瓦里王子得另一面——一个强硬得谈判者和敏锐得国际投资商，他的Kingdom Holding个人投资公司拥有很多世界驰名品牌公司的股权。他与拉普特·梅铎、特德·特纳一样，都是全球最大的传媒巨子，拥有美国在线、新闻集团和迪斯尼的股份，是Marriotts、希尔顿酒店的主要老板，还是四季饭店、Movenpick、Fairmont和纽约Plaza饭店、巴黎George Saint饭店的大股东。他也是银行业的巨人，单是在Citygroup的股权就已价值100亿美元了。
但尽管拥有了那么多的财富，这位沙特王储仍在追寻着金钱所不能买到的一些东西。
王子：我相信我们身负一个责任，你知道，就是告诉西方世界（当然是以美国为首的）：阿拉伯人是好的生意人，是善良诚实的。如果我能为建立并美化这种形象做出贡献，并在美国产生出更多的正面影响，我会为此感到非常高兴。
