Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud (الوليد بن طلال بن عبد العزيز آل سعود) was born was born in 1955 in Riyadh. He is the grandson of King Abdulaziz Alsaud, founder and first ruler of Saudi Arabia, and Riad El Solh, an iconic statesman in Lebanon’s drive for independence and its first Prime Minister. He graduated magna cum laude in 1979 from Menlo College, California with a B. Sc. in Business Administration. In 1985, he received a M.A. in Social Science from Syracuse University. According to his CV, the Prince began building his investment portfolio in 1979, when he returned to Saudi Arabia after earning his Bachelor’s degree in the US.