How bin Laden family made Rs1,093 billion fortune

LONDON: Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden is most known for once being was the world's most wanted man.

But his family is one the wealthiest in the world with a reported net worth of $7 billion (Rs1,093 billion). So how did they make their money?

The Bin Laden family were named as the 5th wealthiest Saudi family, Forbes magazine reported in 2009, international media reported.

The family's fortune largely stems from bin Laden's father, Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, a multi-millionaire Saudi businessman who worked primarily in the construction industry. Mohammed - originally poor and uneducated - emigrated from Yemen and founded the Saudi Binladin Group where he became the wealthiest non-royal Saudi.

He worked as a building contractor for the Saudi royal family during the 1950s, establishing the bin Laden family as intimately connected with the innermost circles of Saudi royalty. The bin Laden corporate network would later diversify its activities beyond construction, into foreign investment and oil.

When Osama's father died in 1967, the patriarch had made a staggering $5 billion in the construction industry.

Osama reportedly inherited around $25–30 million. He put most of this money into businesses, including banks and cement factories in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Osama was Mohammed's 17th child and had 53 half and full siblings. His eldest brother, Salem bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, was nine years his senior. The Saudi Arabian investor and businessman was a half brother, related to Osama through his father.

Salem died at the age of 42 in 1988. Osama's second-oldest brother Bakr bin Laden, also a successful businesses man, was the former chairman of construction giant Saudi Binladin Group. He was arrested in Saudi Arabia’s anti-corruption campaign and was released 15 months later in January 2019.