Alwaleed vs Murdoch

Kingdom Holding Company and News Corp.

The differences

Forbes puts Rupert Murdoch about $0.2B ahead of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud.Forbes figures from 9 Oct 2026 and 9 Oct 2026.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud: founded it. Rupert Murdoch: inherited and grew it.
Rupert Murdoch is about 24 years older than Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud has signed the Giving Pledge; Rupert Murdoch has not.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud is from Saudi Arabia; Rupert Murdoch is from United States.

Put someone else on either side

Alwaleed

Murdoch

Net worth, Forbes: $24.9BForbes, 9 Oct 2026; $25.1BForbes, 9 Oct 2026
Net worth, Bloomberg: $26.3BBloomberg, 17 Oct 2026; $20.7BBloomberg, 10 Oct 2026
Forbes rank: No. 100Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026; No. 98Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026
Billionaire since: Not stated; Not stated

How it started: Founded itFounded Kingdom Holding in 1980 after graduating from Menlo College, with a modest stake from his father; his best-known early deal was a Citicorp stake bought in 1991; Inherited and grew itInherited his father's interests in the Adelaide newspaper The News in 1952 and expanded News Limited into a global media business
Main source: Kingdom Holding stock, a personal SpaceX stake and Saudi propertyBloomberg's largest items: Kingdom Holding ($10.3 billion), SpaceX ($6.04 billion), Saudi property ($4.5 billion) and Rotana ($1.55 billion); Family stakes in News Corp and Fox Corporation, held largely through LGC Holdco, plus cashBloomberg also counts real estate at purchase prices
Companies: Kingdom Holding CompanyKingdom Holding Company: Founder and chairman; News Corp, Fox CorporationNews Corp: Chairman emeritus; Fox Corporation: Chairman emeritus
Biggest stake: Kingdom Holding Company78% owned; News CorpStake not stated

Born: 7 Mar 1955; 11 Mar 1931Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Country: Saudi ArabiaLives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; United StatesLives in New York, New York, United States
Education: Graduate degreeBS business administration, Menlo College (1979); master's in social science, Syracuse University's Maxwell School (1985); Bachelor's degreeMA, Worcester College, University of Oxford (1953)
Parents: Son of Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, a son of Saudi Arabia's founder who served as minister of communications and of finance, and Princess Mona El Solh, daughter of Lebanon's first prime minister; Father Sir Keith Murdoch was a journalist and newspaper publisher; mother Elisabeth Murdoch was a philanthropist

Giving Pledge: Signed in 2016; Not a signer
Foundation: Alwaleed PhilanthropiesUmbrella for Alwaleed Philanthropies Global, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia; in 2015 he pledged his fortune to it; Not stated
Lifetime giving: $4BAlwaleed Philanthropies, 17 Oct 2026. '$4 Billion+ spent on social welfare' by Alwaleed Philanthropies over 39 years, as shown on its site; not a figure for his personal giving alone; Not stated

Role now: Chair of the boardFounder and chairman of Kingdom Holding Company; RetiredChairman emeritus of News Corp and Fox Corporation
Successor: None named; Talal Ibrahim AlMaiman is Kingdom Holding's CEONo other family member is listed among Kingdom Holding's executives; His son Lachlan Murdoch, chair of News Corp and executive chair and CEO of Fox Corporation
Public office: None found; None found
Legal record: 2018: Saudi Attorney GeneralReleased in January 2018 after more than two months' detention in a Saudi anti-corruption crackdown; a senior Saudi official said he reached a financial settlement with the attorney general; hours earlier he had told Reuters he expected to be cleared of wrongdoing.; 2024: Nevada probate commissioner (Second Judicial District Court)A probate commissioner rejected his attempt to amend the irrevocable Murdoch family trust and concluded that he and Lachlan Murdoch had acted in bad faith; the trust litigation was resolved in 2025.