How the Bin Laden family business thrived
JEDDAH/RIYADH: In Saudi Arabia, the Bin Ladens are known as the Kennedys of Jeddah for their wealth and tragedies. They built Saudi Arabia’s roads, mosques and palaces.
Family patriarch Mohammed died in a plane crash, as did the son who succeeded him.
Younger son Osama plotted the 9/11 attacks on the US.
Mohammed arrived in Saudi Arabia from Yemen during the 1920s as an impoverished teenager, blind in one eye. He sought his fortune among the pilgrims and hustlers of the Red Sea port of Jeddah.
After founding a small construction firm in 1931, he won the favour of then King Abdulaziz by completing a palace for him within 20 days, according to a biography by former Saudi Binladin Group executive Khalaf Al Sibea. He became Saudi Arabia’s go-to builder, earning contracts for the kingdom’s strategically significant projects.
As the conglomerate grew, the Bin Laden family cultivated ties with Abdulaziz’s sons and grandsons to secure the alliance’s longevity. Contracts were awarded and expanded through those relationships, rather than a formal bidding process.
The family came under scrutiny after September 11, 2001 when Osama, one of Mohammed’s younger sons, brought notoriety to the Bin Ladens.
Under the quiet stewardship of chairman Bakr bin Laden, the company kept its footing and the company went on to reach the height of its power during the reign of King Abdullah, who took the throne in 2005.
But all of that changed in November 2017 when Saudi Arabia launched its anti-corruption drive. – Reuters