Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman controls Aramco, an oil and gas company with a market capitalization of up to $ 2 trillion, twice as high as Apple.
Mohammed bin S Alma n is the 34-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia. He became crown prince in 2017 after King SAlman decided to depose Muhammad bin Nayef.
The crown prince holds a bachelor’s degree in law from King Saud University, the oldest university in Saudi Arabia. After graduating, he worked for a number of state agencies before being appointed as a special adviser to his father in 2009.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin SAlman is not yet a king, but has the right to “run the country on behalf of his father”, according to King SAlman bin Abdulaziz, 83. The crown prince is a workaholic and often spends 18 hours in his office every day.
The total wealth of the Saudi royal family is not disclosed, but it could be as high as $1.4 trillion, according to the Housse of Saud. The royal wealth accumulated over the decades from the expansion of the oil business. For comparison, the British royal family’s estimated fortune is “only” around $88 billion.
The Saudi royal empire includes Saudi Aramco, the oil giant that just went public with an initial public offering (IPO) and currently has a valuation of nearly $2 trillion. Saudi Aramco has become the most valuable company on the planet, far exceeding the market capitalization of leading US technology giants such as Microsoft and Apple. The company also announced revenue of $68 billion in the first nine months of 2019.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin SAlman at one of Riyadh’s royal palaces in October 2015.
He is known for his heavy spending times. The crown prince has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on superyachts, private jets and rare works of art.
The crown prince is said to own a yacht worth $ 500 million, inside there are many swimming pools, hot tubs, two helipads, a gym and a movie theater.
In 2015, the crown prince bought a castle in France for $300 million.
The Saudi crown prince also bought a Leonardo da Vinci painting for $450 million at Christie’s auction in 2017.
In recent years, Crown Prince Mohammed bin SAlman has been involved in a series of scandals. He has been criticized for human rights abuses and for implementing draconian legislation, such as legislation requiring Saudi women to have a male guardian.
In the fall of 2018, the crown prince was opposed by a Saudi agent who murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Türkiye.
While many world leaders publicly condemned Crown Prince Mohammed bin SAlman for the death of journalist Khashoggi, US President Donald Trump said that no one knew the truth about this assassination. The President of the White House expressed his support for the Saudi crown prince. Business Insider reported that Mr. Trump has a close business relationship with Saudi Arabia.
At the G20 Summit in Argentina in December 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly welcomed Crown Prince Mohammed bin SAlman.
Outside of politics, the crown prince has close ties to American technology companies such as Google and Apple. In 2018, the crown prince met Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.