Mohamed Al-Fayed dreamed of being accepted into the high and mighty British aristocracy. However, as he learned the hard way, the nobles aren’t fans of “new money” or flashy displays of wealth, two things that Mohamed was synonymous with. The nobles also aren’t fans of scandals, controversies, and problematic monetary gains. Their own multiple transgressions can be forgiven and rapidly forgotten. Still, when it’s an outsider’s, especially a foreign-born one, all bets are off. And the story behind Mohamed amassing his staggering fortune is definitely subject to controversy.
So, how did a lowly street seller from Alexandria, Egypt, end up owning the British establishment and symbol of ludicrous wealth, Harrods, in addition to multiple other treasures? The jury’s out on all the details, but some are available. The BBC reports that Mohamed’s rapid rise to fortune started in the 1970s when he began working for Adnan Khashoggi’s Saudi Arabian import business. The “import/export” business was definitely on the side of shady, making Khashoggi one of the wealthiest arms dealers of the 20th century.
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According to the BBC, Mohamed started a shipping company in Egypt from his Khashoggi gains. He became an advisor to the Sultan of Brunei. Business Insider reports that the Sultan, who later introduced a law that homosexuals should be stoned to death and paid $20,000 per haircut, was the wealthiest man in the world, worth an estimated $40 billion. Which makes Mohamed’s measly $2 billion look like chump change.
