Richest man

Chapter 27 Asia: Al Waleed bin Talal (2)
Alwaleed's purchase of Citibank stock several times and holding it for a long time is a proof of his investment strategy, and the investment in Citibank is also Alwaleed's most successful investment event so far.

In the fall of [-], the then largest bank in the United States was in trouble. It had suffered heavy losses on a series of real estate loans and needed funds urgently, and the Federal Reserve Board urged it to increase its capital reserves.But Citibank's efforts to find more than one billion dollars to invest have come to nothing.The stock price plummeted as people sold off Citigroup stock in fear of bankruptcy.

At that time, Prince Alwaleed, who already owned billions of dollars in property, came. In the early 20s, except for the local media in Saudi Arabia, almost no one paid attention to the fifth richest man in the future world.After getting word of Citibank's troubles, in late 90 Al Waleed bought what was then 1991 percent of Citibank's common stock for $[-] million ($[-] per share) -- The maximum number of shares that are not required to be published by law.In February [-], when the U.S. troops entered Saudi Arabia to prepare for war with Iraq, Al Walid used his special relationship with the Saudi Arabian government to buy new preferred shares of Citibank for $[-] million. The price of $[-] per share is converted into common stock.This part of the stock accounted for [-]% of the total shares of Citibank.As a result, Alwaleed's total stake in Citigroup also rose to [-]%.

As a novice entering the US capital market, Alwaleed's vision is undoubtedly commendable, and the timing he chose has applauded the investment community.Just two weeks after he invested in Citibank, a group of international investors bought another $[-] million in preferred shares of Citibank. After many investors entered the market strongly, the financial crisis of Citibank passed quickly.By [-], the bank's stock skyrocketed, and Prince Alwaleed gained both fame and fortune.

Through continuous purchases, the value of Citibank stock in Alwaleed's hands is now 10 times that of when he purchased it, and he therefore owns Citibank's assets of about US$80 billion.According to statistics, throughout the 90s, Citigroup's shareholder return rate was as high as 40.8%, and Citigroup handed over an impressive investment report card to Al Walid.

Only buying stocks in crisis is considered by Alwaleed to be the best investment method, but how to find such a company? His multiple investments in other American companies other than Citigroup are enough to prove that he has what others do not have. vision.

In the early 90s, Alwaleed also invested in Apple, which was in trouble, and made positive suggestions for the company. Gilbert Amelio, who served as chief executive officer (CEO) at Apple from 1996 to 1997, said in his autobiography "Apple's 500 Days on Thin Ice": "He (Prince Alwaleed) was able to enter Apple at that time. If the board of directors, maybe Apple's life will be much easier than it is now."

After the 2001/911 incident in 9, no rich man would seem to consider investing in the United States, but the American industry believes that Al Waleed of Saudi Arabia will do so, just like Citigroup did in the investment crisis many years ago.Sure enough, on the morning of September 17, when the New York Stock Exchange resumed trading, Prince Alwaleed accepted a telephone interview with CNBC, an American economic TV station, and expressed that he was extremely concerned about the development of the situation.After this interview, he invested $4 million in US stocks.

In October 2002, Prince Alwaleed announced that he would support the merger of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer Corporation, which had poor development prospects at that time.Alwaleed has been buying Compaq shares since 10, an investment from outside the U.S. at a time when the Hewlett and Packard families, which hold a combined 2000 percent of Hewlett-Packard's shares, opposed the merger, citing falling stock prices. The critics sang the anti-tune and made a counterattack in action-he bought shares in the two companies again.

The United States seems to be where all of Alwaleed's investment dreams are located, and he also has a high degree of influence among American companies because of his continuous investment in American companies in crisis.According to a senior official of the royal holding company owned by al-Waleed, by the end of 2004, the royal holding company's investment in the United States will reach 200 billion US dollars.

When seasoned investors like the Hungarian-American George Sauros and Warren Buffett are confused about what's going on in the U.S. stock market, Alwaleed always bets big."I think there's still a lot of opportunity in corporate America, just move carefully," he said.

What is certain is that Al Waleed, who wears the traditional Arab turban and likes to hold company stock for a long time, will appear more frequently at shareholder meetings or operating meetings of American companies.

Buy Undervalued or Misunderstood Companies and Hold It
Alwaleed and Buffett are also similar in that they share a long-term view of holding the stocks they buy.

Alwaleed has insisted on a long-term investment strategy since he was in the stock market. He believes that buying and selling stocks is originally a transfer of equity, and those who hold equity are shareholders, and shareholders' equity comes from the profits obtained from business operations.In the long run, the stock price depends on the development of the enterprise and the profit created by the enterprise, and keeps consistent with it, while the short-term price will fluctuate greatly due to various factors, and no one person can predict it consistently and accurately .Therefore, the real stock investment should be to choose a good company worth investing in, buy its stock at a suitable price, hold it for a long time, and wait patiently for the growth of the company to create wealth for itself.

Alwaleed is also a person who is good at finding undervalued companies, which is closely related to his investment strategy.He said that his investment is investing in companies rather than stocks, and speculation is to obtain short-term market price differences by buying and selling stocks of companies.What speculators care about is the price, which is the external market; but what investors care about is the value, that is, the intrinsic value of the enterprise.In Alwaleed's view, the best holding time is lifetime -- you own a stock or several stocks in your lifetime.

Let's take a look at the time and number of calls for some of his major holdings.

At the end of 199, Alwaleed bought the shares of Citibank for the first time. In the past 14 years, he increased the shares by a large amount as many as 4 times. Now he already owns 80 billion US dollars of Citibank shares.

1997年3月，阿勒瓦利德以每股18美元的价格购买了620万股苹果公司的股票，3年后苹果公司股票价格差不多已达到每股100美元。到现在为止，阿勒瓦利德仍旧持有大量苹果股票。

In 2001, Alwaleed began to buy shares in Hewlett-Packard, which was in crisis. After experiencing the turmoil of the merger between HP and Compaq and the volatile stock price in 2002, Alwaleed still did not give up his investment in HP.

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"If you are not prepared to hold a stock for 10 years, don't even hold it for 10 minutes." Buffett's famous saying is also believed by Al Walid.

In addition to his long-term holding strategy, Alwaleed says he is also a brave and dedicated bargain hunter, exemplified by his investment in Motorola stock.

In October 1997, the U.S. stock market was still in a downturn and Motorola was facing global competition. At this time, Alwaleed made a bold move and bought 10 million Motorola shares at a price of $76 per share.In a year-long period, Motorola's stock price fell by half, and it didn't stop falling until $600.Professionals in the international financial circles all agreed that Al Waleed was crazy about investing in Motorola.However, it turns out that his choice was not wrong.After stopping at a low of $38, Motorola's stock price rose all the way up to $38 by November 1998, and Alwaleed made another $11 million.

Buffett and Alwaleed, who ranked second and fourth on the 2004 list of the world's richest people, also use investment as the main means of wealth growth. Is the similarity in their investment strategies just a coincidence?

The Buffett of the Arab world is still a castle in the sand

Where will Alwaleed go after starting a company at the age of 31, becoming a billionaire at the age of 47, and owning a capital of US$215 billion at the age of [-]?
Since 1998, Alwaleed has preferred to invest in trendy sectors such as networking, communications and other high-tech industries.That was the year Alwaleed entered the high-tech industry for the first time.He invested 2 million US dollars in Teledisk, which will use more than 200 satellites to build the world's first high-speed data transmission network.He believes the company's technology will change the world.

到了2000年以后，阿勒瓦利德对于网络等高科技股票的热衷达到了高峰。2000年4月，阿勒瓦利德花了10亿美元买入了大量科技股，其中以4亿美元买入了AOL的部分股票（股价74美元）。2000年9月，他又以每股25美元的价格从公司创始人那里买入200万股Priceline。2000年11月，阿勒瓦利德再次买入20亿美元AOL股票（股价54美元）。除了AOL外，他还持有另外两家网络公司eBay、亚马逊的股票。在美国之外，阿勒瓦利德还拥有著名的网络公司“阿拉伯在线”50％的股份！

How cautious are the risks in the Internet industry? People like Buffett think they can’t see clearly, so what about Al Walid?

Another problem for Alwaleed is that his investments appear to be too concentrated in the United States.Even in mid-May 11, when the Dow Jones index fell 31%, the Nasdaq index fell [-]%, and the U.S. stock market was in turmoil, he still resolutely invested in the U.S. and announced that he would invest [-] billion U.S. dollars in [-] U.S. companies. , including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Ford Motor, Amazon, eBay and Internet Capital Group, etc.

The United States and the Internet seem to be the two best investment directions in the world, but their turmoil seems to be the most frequent in the past two years.

Al Walid once said proudly: "If I want to do something, I either do it earth-shatteringly or I don't do it at all." This sometimes arrogant Saudi Arabian billionaire can indeed shake the whole world. He believes that his wealth It will be as strong as the palace he spent 1.3 million dollars to build, but everyone knows that the castle he owns is built in the desert after all.American money is in Jewish pockets.

(End of this chapter)