[photopress:fourseasons.jpg,full,alignright]This is pretty exciting. The Four Seasons hotel in Shanghai is right up there in the top of the luxury class and is the only Four Seasons hotel currently in China.
Two of the part owners of the group had decided to make a $3.7bn take-over bid for the whole Four Seasons group. It appears to have been accepted which means that Four Seasons, Shanghai, will be able to look for direction (I think not on a daily basis) to Bill Gates, currently richest person in the world, and HRH Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud who is not far behind.
Prince Al-Waleed, is a member of the Saudi Royal Family although he is not in line to rule. He is an entrepreneur and international investor and is probably worth US $20 which makes him something like the eighth richest person in the world.
[photopress:alwaleel.jpg,full,alignright]The Prince’s activities as an investor came to prominence when he bought a substantial slab of shares in Citicorp in the 1990s when that firm was in difficulties. He has also made large investments in AOL, Apple Computer, Worldcom, Motorola, News Corporation Ltd and other technology and media companies.
His investment in News Corp was so large that Rupert Murdoch phoned him to congratulate him and promised to treble the worth of the stocks Prince Waleed had bought. And he did just that.
In January 2005 Prince Al-Waleed purchased the Savoy Hotel in London. He is believed to be in talks with Robert Earl, founder of Planet Hollywood, about taking a controlling stake in the English Premier League’s Everton Football Club. This news was not met with unalloyed joy in Liverpool, home of Everton’s rabid fans.
Four Seasons Hotels is a Canadian-based luxury hotel chain consisting of hotels and resorts aimed at the higher end of the accommodation market. According to Travel and Leisure magazine and Zagat Guide, Four Seasons are considered among the best luxury hotels in the world.
Four Seasons is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Toronto, Canada and the first Four Seasons Hotel opened on Jarvis Street in downtown Toronto in 1961. Now it operates 70 properties globally.
Source: Travel Mole and research.
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