Forbes Middle East is uncovering the Arab billionaires that have been revealed in the 2018 Forbes US Global Billionaires ranking. The 31 mega-wealthy Arab business tycoons have a combined estimated net worth of $76.7 billion.
Construction and chemical tycoon, Nassef Sawiris, tops the list with an estimated net worth of $6.6 billion. He is followed by three Emirati business moguls—Abdullah Al Ghurair, Majid Al Futtaim and Hussain Sajwani, with an estimated net worth of $5.9 billion, $4.6 billion and $4.1 billion respectively. The name of UAE’s property tycoon, Mr. Sajwani, emerged on Forbes list fairly recently, but as a matter of fact, there is a rapid increase in the numbers representing his wealth estimate.
None of the previous year’s Saudi billionaires made it to this year’s rankings. This is not because the billionaires have lost their fortunes, but rather due to the inability of Forbes journalists to estimate accurately the Saudi’s wealth. During the past few years, there has been a number of cases when Forbes estimates of Saudi’s business tycoons wealth differed from their claims.
As per the official statements, this year Forbes US chose to abstain Saudi Arabia billionaires from the list due to reports revolving around their asset seizures. Last year Saudi billionaires were worth $42.1 billion, this year they were expected to be worth more considering the rise in oil prices and capital markets globally.
As a result, the total wealth of Arab billionaires has fallen from $123.4 billion to $76.7 billion, and 11 have dropped off the charts: last year there were 42; today there are 31.
