Arabian Warren Buffett, Unsolved Mysteries

Arabian Warren Buffett, Unsolved Mysteries

Although Time magazine once hailed the Prince as an “Arabian Warren Buffett,” there is a striking difference between the investment practices of Al-Walid and his American counterpart. While the Prince has displayed remarkable acumen in deciding when to buy stocks, financial experts say he has demonstrated little knack for knowing when to sell. In fact, he has rarely parted with any major investments. As a result, while the returns on his Citigroup shares have been quite exceptional, the performance of his subsequent investments has been unimpressive. “If the Prince were an American mutual fund,” The Economist concluded in 1999, “his performance would rank in the bottom half of the industry.”