Prince Alwaleed bin Talal returns to Riyadh after SpaceX IPO windfall

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal flew from Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg to Riyadh on June 22, landing at King Khalid International Airport after a five-hour flight aboard his Boeing 747-4J6, HZ-WBT7. The trip returns him to his home base just days after a surge in SpaceX shares boosted the value of his investment firm Kingdom Holding Company by nearly $1 billion in a single session, per Finance Middle East.

The same week the prince returned to Riyadh, Bloomberg reported that SpaceX’s first-day trading gains drove Kingdom Holding’s stake in the rocket company to roughly $7 billion, nearly half the Saudi firm’s market capitalization. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, whose net worth Forbes Middle East pegged at $19.9 billion in April, has been a major backer of Elon Musk’s ventures, including X and xAI, and his recent movements align with a period of intense portfolio revaluation.

Basel is not a typical destination for the prince, whose aircraft more often visits Paris, Geneva, or London. His two prior flights this month also originated from the same Swiss-French airport, suggesting a private stay or business meetings in the region before heading home to manage the aftermath of a landmark IPO.