On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s richest man, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, publicly complained that he had been done a disservice by the global wealth magazine Forbes. Apparently disgusted that his fortune was tallied at only $20 billion in the new Forbes 2013 rich list — as opposed to his own assessment of $29 billion —Talal accused the magazine of having a negative bias against portfolio valuations on Tadawul, the Saudi Stock Exchange. He then told Forbes that they would no longer be offering them data on his wealth, instead reserving that privilege for rival business news outlet Bloomberg’s ranking of the world’s richest. Billion dollar cry baby? While childish his reaction may have appear — though the extra $9 billion would have propelled him from 26th position into the top 10 — does the Saudi billionaire have a point? His statement said “the application of differing standards of proof for different
