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| Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal in Forbes list dispute | Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal in Forbes list dispute |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has accused Forbes magazine of understating his wealth. | Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has accused Forbes magazine of understating his wealth. |
| In its href="http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/" >2013 list of the world's richest people, Forbes estimated Prince Alwaleed's net worth at $20bn (£13bn), putting him in 26th place. | |
| However, the prince's office said the magazine used flawed valuation methods. | |
| According to some reports, the prince estimates his net worth to be $29.6bn, a figure that would put him in the top 10 of the magazine's latest rich list. | |
| The list, published on Monday, saw Mexico's Carlos Slim retain the top slot for the fourth straight year with a net worth of $73bn. | |
| The 10th spot on the list went to Bernard Arnault and family of the luxury goods group LVMH, with a net worth of $29bn. | |
| Severed ties | |
| Prince Alwaleed's office claimed that the valuation methods deployed by Forbes were "designed to disadvantage" Middle Eastern investors. | |
| It alleged that the magazine had refused to accept the valuations of the stocks listed on Tadawul, the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange, while it had accepted valuations of listings on other emerging markets such as the Mexican Stock Exchange. | |
| It said that Forbes had applied "differing standards of proof for different individuals". | |
| The prince's office said that it had requested Forbes to remove the prince from its rich list. | |
| It added that it had severed all ties with the magazine and would no longer co-operate with the valuation teams. | |
| "We have worked very openly with the Forbes team over the years and have on multiple occasions pointed out problems with their methodology that need correction," Shadi Sanbar, chief financial officer of Kingdom Holding Company, which the prince owns, said in a statement. | "We have worked very openly with the Forbes team over the years and have on multiple occasions pointed out problems with their methodology that need correction," Shadi Sanbar, chief financial officer of Kingdom Holding Company, which the prince owns, said in a statement. |
| "However, after several years of our efforts to correct mistakes falling on deaf ears, we have decided that Forbes has no intention of improving the accuracy of their valuation of our holdings and we have made the decision to move on." | "However, after several years of our efforts to correct mistakes falling on deaf ears, we have decided that Forbes has no intention of improving the accuracy of their valuation of our holdings and we have made the decision to move on." |