including Rupert Mudoch's empire:
http://www.meib.org/articles/0209_med1.htmsnip: Expanding the Empire
Having established a strong foundation for his growing financial empire on Saudi soil, in the late 1980s Al-Walid began to extend his investment horizon beyond the Arabian peninsula. Following his mantra that "banks are the eyes of an economy," in 1987 his financial team began intensively studying ailing money-center banks in the United States. By 1989, he had spent $250 million snapping up shares of Chase Manhattan, Citicorp, Manufacturers Hanover, and Chemical Bank.
The following year, he decided to sell his stakes in three of the banks and pour everything into Citicorp - acquiring a 4.9% stake through common stock purchases. On paper, Citicorp was the worst-performing of the three, but Al-Walid believed that its international brand presence gave it the most potential for future growth. In 1991, amid widespread fears that the bank would fail, the prince invested another $590 million in return for convertible preferred stock that raised his stake in Citicorp to over 14%.
His timing could not have been better. Two weeks after making the deal, a consortium of international investors poured another $600 million into the bank, ending its capital crisis. By April 1998, after Citicorp announced plans to merge with Travelers, the value of Al-Walid's stake in the company (now called Citigroup) had climbed to $7.6 billion.
Al-Walid's investment in Citigroup (later reduced to just under 10% in compliance with Federal Reserve regulations) was followed over the next decade by major acquisitions in other ailing blue-chip American and European companies.
http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/Content/2004-11/29bagdikian.cfmsnip:This unexpected shock to Murdoch revealed how much the Saudis have been involved not only in United States media companies and other U.S. properties. The BBC once estimated that the Saudis have $750 billion invested in the United States..
snip:
Forbes says they are investors in Citicorp, Apple Computer, Motorola, and the Plaza Hotel, in New York. One prince alone, Najav Fawwaz Al-Shaalar (once indicted for smuggling 4,300 pounds of cocaine in his private jet), has significant money in Apple, Priceline, Four Seasons Hotel, and Saks department store.
The Saudis conducted much of their business through a Bush family friend, James Bath, who in 1979 invested $50,000 in the Texas firm, Arbusto, which was the first oil venture of George W. Bush (who initially denied this and when the records turned up, admitted it).
The Saudi royal family consists of about 5,000 princes and with intermarriages may number 25,000. The elders are aging and failing in health. So the princes that are younger and more vigorous become the strategic investors in the United States.
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