Category Archives: Billionaires
Saudi Arabia's American Problem
Really, who’s surprised? According to Kuwaiti economist, Jassem Al-Mutwwa, Saudi families spend nearly twice their income on what you might call, stuff. “Education, amusement and eating out account for more than 181 percent of a family income in Saudi Arabia,” … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business
World's Newest Media Hub Has Everything but Freedom of the Press
It’s no secret that media is an industry in dire need of a White Knight. Will it be the iPad? The sudden, improbable rebound of advertising rates? The demise of the internet? Right now, it seems the most successful (least … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business
Media Ruins Australia's Biggest Trade Contract
When Australian mining tycoon Clive Palmer announced over the weekend that he had cinched a staggeringly-lucrative commodities deal with the world’s most-powerful trade partner, the collective world was pretty impressed. Not bad for a guy who resembles (in looks and … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business
The World is Sinking
It was intended to sink. That is the party line of Nakheel, developer behind Dubai’s manmade island project “The World.” The company issued the defensive statement yesterday in response to a story in Britain’s Daily Mail claiming a satellite image … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business, Uncategorized, World
Billionaire Philanthropy and Haiti: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
First, an example of how to gracelessly give away a large sum of money to an important cause. Meet Stewart Rahr, pharmaceutical billionaire known as much for his company Kinray’s inexpensive generic drugs as he is for his party-going alibi, … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business
Arab Rich List Defies Recession, Logic
Is this what they mean by “green shoots? In the midst of what is easily the most dismal economic environment the Middle East has experienced in recent memory, Dubai magazine Arabian Business unveiled their annual list of the world’s 50 … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business, Uncategorized
Read This Before Extorting a Billionaire
Moochers, hangers-on, wannabes and con artists, remember this: when it comes to your billionaire pals, there is no such thing as “no strings attached.” French celebrity photographer and man-about-town Francois-Marie Banier is learning this the hard way. A close friend … Continue reading
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Saudi Billionaire's Libel Legacy
Have you heard? England may be shutting itself to tourists. Not the camera-toting, Big Ben-gawking, bus-riding sort of course, but a different, more controversial subset of regular visitors ignominiously labeled “libel tourists.” Lured by London’s archaic libel law- where the … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business, World
Did a High-Flying American Take Down Dubai?
The Wall Street Journal finally found its American anti-hero to round out the cast of the unfolding “Goodbye Dubai” drama. Dominating the front page of yesterday’s Money & Investing section was a profile of expat banker David Jackson, one of … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business, Uncategorized
Billionaire's Dubai Delusion
In case you need more evidence of how badly Dubai Inc. is bungling both its finances and its “message” right now, here it is: Billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor, founding chairman of Dubai conglomerate Al Habtoor Group and self-appointed spokesman for … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business, Uncategorized
