The bin Laden business empire

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 23, 2001

The founder: Mohammed Awad bin Laden emigrated from South Yemen to Saudi Arabia and in 1931 founded a construction company. He parlayed work on the royal palace and an important road into a slew of additional government contracts and a close relationship with the Saudi royal family that still endures.

The heirs: When he died in an airplane crash in 1968, Mohammed bin Laden left behind a business empire and more than 50 sons and daughters, the products of a number of marriages. One of 20 sons was Osama bin Laden.

The successors: Control of the family business passed first to Salem bin Laden, his eldest son, and when he died in 1988, to Bakr bin Laden.

The board: Bakr bin Laden and 11 relatives now make up the board of the business, which is called the Saudi Binladin Group. Its headquarters are in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Its reach: Now an international conglomerate, the family business has 50,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues estimated at $5-billion. Its enterprises include construction, engineering, telecommunications, book publishing and manufacturing that ranges from motor vehicle parts to crystal chandeliers. Its business partners include General Electric, Nortel, Snapple beverages, Motorola and CitiBank. The conglomerate had a corporate office in Rockville, Md., that was dissolved last year, and several family members own homes in the United States. One of them, Khalil bin Laden, has a 20-acre vacation estate in Winter Garden.

Its donations: The conglomerate and family members have donated to schools, nonprofit causes and Islamic organizations around the world. Among the donations: $1-million to the Harvard Law School and $1-million to Harvard's Graduate School of Design.

Its stand on Osama bin Laden: The family business disavowed him in 1994. In a statement shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks on America, it expressed "regret, denunciation and condemnation of all acts that Osama bin Laden may have committed."

Sources: Saudi Binladin Group Web site, Wall Street Journal, Frontline, Time, Times research.

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