- Saudi prince's firm loses $8.3B in 4Q
By ADAM SCHRECK
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
The Saudi investment company that bet big on now-ailing Citigroup and other major global companies said Tuesday it lost more than $8 billion in the last three months of 2008.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Holding Co. attributed the drop to losses stemming from the company's investments in capital markets, according to a statement posted on the Saudi Tadawul exchange's Web site.
Kingdom Holding said it lost 30.98 billion riyals ($8.26 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2008. That compares with a gain of 255.6 million riyals ($68.2 million) in the same period a year earlier.
"It's significant," said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at SABB, the HSBC Holdings PLC affiliate formerly known as Saudi British Bank. "I don't think that we have seen such a loss in the recent corporate history of Saudi Arabia."
Kingdom Holding was established in 1980 and initially focused on construction projects before evolving into one of the largest investment companies in the United States and elsewhere.
The firm invests in a number of well-known companies, such as Apple Inc. and News Corp.
A nephew of Saudi Arabia's king, Alwaleed, 52, is ranked as the world's 13th-richest person by Forbes magazine. He has recently taken a big hit in his holdings, however.
Dubai-based magazine Arabian Business reported last month that Alwaleed's net worth fell to $17.08 billion from $21 billion in 2007. The magazine, at the time, said he remained the world's richest Arab.
In November, Alwaleed announced he would raise his stake in Citigroup Inc. to 5 percent, from less than 4 percent -- a move that came as the banking giant was facing a possible collapse.
Citigroup last week posted a loss of $8.29 billion, its fifth straight quarterly deficit, and laid out plans to reorganize itself. The company's shares have lost more than 80 percent of their value in the past year.
Sfakianakis said that although Kingdom Holding's loss was substantial, it doesn't come as a complete surprise given the declines in markets around the world.
"I wouldn't downplay it, but at the same time ... you can fairly say that the top 50 businessmen throughout the world have seen similar, significant losses taking place throughout 2008," he said.
Kingdom Holding said its 2008 losses totaled 29.91 billion riyals ($7.98 billion). That compares with a profit of 1.21 billion ($322.7 million) for the prior year.
Betting on a wrong horse can really hurt!!!!!!
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