What’s a few billion dollars between friends? A lot, according to Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, who is challenging Forbes’ ranking of his wealth.

Forbes reported the prince’s wealth to be a staggering $20 billion (R181 billion), ranking him at 26 on the Forbes Richest List. But Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal said he has a net worth of $29,6 billion, almost $10 billion more than the measely $20 billion reported by Forbes. The difference would take him from 26th place to within the ranks the top 10 richest people in the world.

The tenth spot is currently held by Bernard Arnault and family of the luxury good brand, Louis Vuitton.

The office of Prince Alwaleed claimed that the valuation method used by Forbes was “designed to disadvantage” Middle Eastern investors.

The prince’s office claims that Forbes refused to accept valuations of stock listed on the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange, while they accepted valuations of stock listed for emerging markets like the Mexico Stock Exchange.

It was reported that the office of Prince Alwaleed asked for his name to be removed from the Forbes Richest List, had severed all ties with the magazine, and would no longer co-operate with them.

[Source: BBC News]

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