World’s Most Expensive Home? Another Bauble for a Saudi Prince
Eight Investment, according to documents from the Bermudan law firm Appleby, is “owned by members of the Saudi Royal Family,”
and its “wealth is derived from the King and the state.”
The three listed shareholders are Bader Al Asaker, who heads the crown prince’s personal foundation; Hazim Mustafa Zagzoog, the head of private affairs for King Salman;
and Bader Ali al-Kohail, the Saudi ambassador to the Maldives, the Indian Ocean archipelago where the crown prince hosted a series of lavish parties featuring the rapper Pitbull and the South Korean singer Psy.
LOUVECIENNES, France — When the Chateau Louis XIV sold for over $300 million two years ago, Fortune magazine called it “the world’s most expensive home,”
and Town & Country swooned over its gold-leafed fountain, marble statues and hedged labyrinth set in a 57-acre landscaped park.
The 2015 purchase appears to be one of several extravagant acquisitions — including a $500 million yacht
and a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci painting — by a prince who is leading a sweeping crackdown on corruption and self-enrichment by the Saudi elite and preaching fiscal austerity at home.
Those companies are owned by Eight Investment Company, a Saudi firm managed by the head of Crown Prince Mohammed’s personal foundation.
“Like in Versailles, that was way over the top too, and like Louis XIV, he achieved something really quite incredible.”
In less than three years in the public eye, Crown Prince Mohammed, 32, has forged a reputation as an assertive — some critics say reckless — leader.
Eight Investment, according to documents from the Bermudan law firm Appleby, is “owned by members of the Saudi Royal Family,”
and its “wealth is derived from the King and the state.”
The three listed shareholders are Bader Al Asaker, who heads the crown prince’s personal foundation; Hazim Mustafa Zagzoog, the head of private affairs for King Salman;
and Bader Ali al-Kohail, the Saudi ambassador to the Maldives, the Indian Ocean archipelago where the crown prince hosted a series of lavish parties featuring the rapper Pitbull and the South Korean singer Psy.
LOUVECIENNES, France — When the Chateau Louis XIV sold for over $300 million two years ago, Fortune magazine called it “the world’s most expensive home,”
and Town & Country swooned over its gold-leafed fountain, marble statues and hedged labyrinth set in a 57-acre landscaped park.
The 2015 purchase appears to be one of several extravagant acquisitions — including a $500 million yacht
and a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci painting — by a prince who is leading a sweeping crackdown on corruption and self-enrichment by the Saudi elite and preaching fiscal austerity at home.
Those companies are owned by Eight Investment Company, a Saudi firm managed by the head of Crown Prince Mohammed’s personal foundation.
“Like in Versailles, that was way over the top too, and like Louis XIV, he achieved something really quite incredible.”
In less than three years in the public eye, Crown Prince Mohammed, 32, has forged a reputation as an assertive — some critics say reckless — leader.
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