Bloomberg: Prince Alwaleed’s Fortune Climbs About US$10 Billion in 2026 as the SpaceX Bet Pays Off
The fortune of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has climbed to a decade high of just over US$27 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has reported a gain of around US$10 billion across 2026. The increase has been driven above all by one investment that has come of age this year: his long held exposure to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. His net worth stood at about US$22 billion in late May, before the company’s stock market debut lifted it further.
The surge underlines how exposure to the global technology and space boom is reshaping Gulf fortunes, and how a bet placed years ago on a private rocket company has turned into one of the standout wins for Saudi capital this year.
The SpaceX windfall
The catalyst was SpaceX’s stock market debut. The company listed on Nasdaq on 12 June 2026 at US$135 a share and closed its first day of trading at US$160.95, a gain of about 19 percent, crystallising large paper profits for early backers.
Prince Alwaleed’s exposure runs through two channels. His investment firm, Kingdom Holding Company, holds 42,408,860 SpaceX Class A shares, a stake of about 0.34 percent. Kingdom Holding has disclosed that the holding carried a book value of about US$4.47 billion, equivalent to roughly SAR 16.76 billion, as of 31 March 2026, and that its fair value rose to about US$6.83 billion, or SAR 25.60 billion, based on the first day closing price. On top of that, Prince Alwaleed holds a further personal stake of about 0.29 percent, taking his total associated interest in SpaceX to around 0.63 percent.
Most of the increase in his wealth has come through in May and June, as the IPO approached and then priced, revaluing a position that had been carried for years at a far lower book value.
A bet placed years ago
The payoff is the result of patience rather than a sudden move. Kingdom Holding traces its exposure to a position built years earlier, beginning with its long standing investment in Twitter, later renamed X, which converted into a stake in Musk’s artificial intelligence venture xAI and then into SpaceX after the companies combined. The result is a holding carried for years at a far lower value that has now been revalued by the listing. It also sits alongside a broader Gulf appetite for high profile technology and space assets, with regional investors increasingly present on the cap tables of the world’s largest private companies.
SpaceX itself has grown rapidly in 2026. Earlier in the year it absorbed Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, before completing its own public listing, a combination that has expanded the company’s scope from launch services and satellite internet into artificial intelligence. That widening footprint, and the valuation it commands, is what has lifted the worth of every early stake, including Kingdom Holding’s.
Why it matters for the region
For the Gulf, the episode is a clear illustration of a strategy that has been building for years: deploying regional capital into frontier global technology rather than relying on domestic and traditional assets alone. Kingdom Holding, alongside sovereign and private investors across the region, has steadily widened its exposure to technology, aviation, real estate and now space, and the SpaceX gain shows how that diversification can deliver outsized returns when a private bet reaches public markets.
It also reinforces Saudi Arabia’s growing visibility in global capital markets at a moment when the Kingdom is pushing to deepen its investment footprint abroad and attract capital at home. A marquee win on a company as closely watched as SpaceX adds to the narrative of Gulf investors as significant players in the technology economy, not only as buyers of trophy assets but as long term backers positioned to benefit from their growth.
The gain also ripples beyond the prince himself. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund owns about 16.87 percent of Kingdom Holding, so the sovereign wealth fund benefits indirectly from the same SpaceX revaluation, even though it is a shareholder in Kingdom Holding rather than a direct partner in the SpaceX holding.
Outlook
A note of caution applies. Much of the gain is, for now, a paper profit tied to a freshly listed and volatile stock. Kingdom Holding has disclosed that its SpaceX shares are subject to a lock up period of up to 180 days from the listing date, with certain early release provisions tied to conditions such as earnings releases and share price thresholds. The decade high in Prince Alwaleed’s wealth is therefore a mark to market snapshot rather than realised cash, and the value of the holding will continue to move with SpaceX’s share price and broader technology market sentiment.
Even so, the direction is striking. A position built quietly over several years has become one of the largest single drivers of a Gulf fortune in 2026, and a reminder that the region’s investors are increasingly tied to the fortunes of the global technology and space industry.
Sources: Bloomberg (Billionaires Index and Bloomberg News); Kingdom Holding Company (Saudi Exchange / Tadawul disclosures); Fortune.
