Saudi Prince Invests Billions in
Financial Markets
It's a no-brainer to
predict that the Internet will change the lives of every citizen of planet
earth! How the Internet will affect everyone is not so easy to predict.
Because the Internet is an American invention and Wall Street is perceived
to be the economic engine that currently powers the world's economies, perhaps
it's too easy to assume that both are under U.S. control.
Recent reports from Reuters and
AP challenge that assumption. A billionaire nephew of Saudi King Fahd,
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal used some of his "discretionary funds" to
make some investments in the depressed U.S. market on May 16. The prince
has a little more than the average individual has to invest-his new
investments are worth $1 billion! They're spread over 15 U.S. companies,
including six Internet firms.
His largest purchases were $200
million of WorldCom, Inc. stock and $150 million of AT&T Corp.
stock, but he also picked up $50 million each of Priceline.com, InfoSpace,
Inc., Doubleclick, Inc., Amazon.com, Internet Capital Group, Inc.,
and eBay.com.
This recent $1 billion investment
is in addition to another $1 billion that Prince Alwaleed has made
over the past six months in technology, media and telecommunications
companies. In addition to these recent investments, the prince owns
approximately $8.5 billion in Citibank stock.
In a prophecy focused across the
ages, God forecast that the ancient nation of Israel could expect its
wealth to be taken over and controlled by individuals from other nations. "The
alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and
you shall come down lower and lower" (Deuteronomy 28:43). This obviously
undesirable turn of financial fortunes would come as a consequence
of failing to respect and live by the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 28:15).
