Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Fifteen Saudi business leaders found a place on the annual World's Billionaires list, released by Forbes magazine. The number of Saudi billionaires listed on Forbes rose from 10 in 2017 to 15 in 2025 when this year marked Saudi Arabia's return to the Forbes list after a hiatus of eight years.

Saudi Arabia has the largest number of Arab billionaires, with 15 billionaires with a combined total assets of $55.8 billion, followed by the UAE and Egypt with five billionaires each, worth $24.3 billion and $20.6 billion, respectively.

Out of 15 Saudi billionaires in the list, 14 are new billionaires thanks to their stakes in companies listed on the Saudi stock market, which has seen a surge in initial public offerings following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The only returnee to the list is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the richest Saudi and the richest Arab in the world, with a fortune estimated at $16.5 billion. About 40 percent of that lies in his ownership stake in Saudi-listed Kingdom Holding, which has investments in the Four Seasons hotel chain, the George V hotel in Paris and had an estimated low-single-digit stake in X (formerly Twitter) alongside Elon Musk. Prince Alwaleed last appeared on Forbes’ billionaires list in 2017, worth an estimated $18.7 billion.

The Saudi billionaires range from the founder of a hospital group, to an operator of grocery stores and malls, to the scion of a prominent banking family, in addition to those who made leadership role in media and energy sectors. Fourteen Saudi billionaires on this year’s list are all newcomers. Six are founders or cofounders who listed their company’s shares on the Saudi stock exchange in recent years. That includes the second wealthiest Saudi, Sulaiman Al Habib, with a fortune of $10.9 billion. He is the founder and chairman of Riyadh-based hospital group Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Services Group, known as HMG. Al Habib, a trained pediatrician, launched the group in 1995 and took it public on the Saudi stock exchange in 2020 and he owns a 40 percent stake.

Other billionaires have inherited and built on their family fortunes. They included businessmen from the Al Muhaidib Group, with Emad Al Muhaidib coming in third with $3.8 billion, followed by Essam Al Muhaidib and Sulaiman Al Muhaidib with fortunes of $3.6 billion each. Brothers Emad, Essam and Sulaiman Al Muhaidib took over Dammam-based conglomerate Al Muhaidib Group, founded by their late father Abdulkadir, after his death in 1996 and expanded it into consumer products, infrastructure, construction, real estate and finance.

Mohammad Abunayyan, one of the most prominent investors in the energy and utilities sector, with a fortune estimated at $3.2 billion, came in the sixth place. In the banking and retail sectors, Abdullah Al Rajhi and Abdullah Al Othaim, with equal fortunes estimated at $2.5 billion each, shared the seventh rank. Abdullah Amer Al Nahdi, founder and vice chairman of Al Nahdi Medical Group, the largest pharmacy chain in the Kingdom, came in the 8^th position with a fortune of $2.3 billion while Waleed Al-Ibrahim, founder and chairman of MBC Group, with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion ranked 9th.

Khaled Abdul Rahman Al-Rajhi, chairman of Abdulrahman Saleh Al-Rajhi & Partners, and Yousuf Mohammad Jamjoom, founding member of Jamjoom Pharmaceutical Industries, with an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion each came in the 10^th position. Hamad Ali Al-Sagri, vice chairman of Leejam Sports Company and owner of the Fitness Time gym chain, with an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion; and brothers Ammar Soliman Fakeeh, chairman of Fakeeh Care, and Mazen Soliman Fakeeh, chairman of Fakeeh Care, with an estimated net worth of $1 billion each, are other billionaires in the list.