What Was Mohamed Al-Fayed's Net Worth?
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Mohamed Al-Fayed's net worth was likely close to royal status before his death in August 2023.
The father of Princess Diana's lover Dodi Fayed was a brilliant businessman, and often portrayed in The Crown as a Machiavellian mastermind behind the couple's affair.
Al-Fayed was a self-made billionaire with an oft-questioned backstory, including that he lied about his birth year, that earned him the nickname "Phony Pharaoh." He was repeatedly denied the British citizenship he wanted so badly throughout this life, blaming it on racism in the British aristocracy and government.
"It's the colonial, imperial fantasy. Anyone who comes from a colony, as Egypt was before, they think he's nothing. So you prove you're better than they are," he told The New York Times. "You do things that are the talk of the town. And they think, 'How can he? He's only an Egyptian.'"
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What was Mohamed Al-Fayed's net worth?
At the time of his death, Forbes estimated Mohamed Al-Fayed's net worth at $2 billion.
How did Mohamed Al-Fayed have so much money?
Al-Fayed began his sales career with sodas in Alexandria, Egypt, then began selling sewing machines. He founded a shipping company in Egypt with his brothers and began investing in other shipping companies in the Middle East and Italy.
After a brief failed effort to develop an oil refinery in Haiti, Al-Fayed moved to London and helped property developers secure contracts in Dubai. In 1966, he served as a financial adviser to the then-Sultan of Brunei.
Using the wealth he cultivated from real-estate deals, Al-Fayed bought the famous Ritz hotel in Paris for $30 million in 1979 (about $135 million when adjusted for inflation in 2023). Five years later, he teamed up with his brothers to buy a 30% stake in House of Fraser, the parent company of British high-end retailer Harrod's, and a year later, bought the remaining 70% stake in the company.
In 1997, Al-Fayed bought the Fulham Football Club.
Al-Fayed sold Harrod's in 2010 for £1.5 billion ($1.86 billion) and sold Fulham in 2023 for $300 million.
How much did Dodi Fayed sell Harrods for?
Dodi Fayed didn't sell Harrods. His father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, sold Harrod's in 2010 for £1.5 billion ($1.86 billion) to Qatar Holdings.
How did Mohamed Al Fayed make his money before Harrods?
Pre-Harrods, Al-Fayed founded and invested in shipping companies and real-estate development.
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Why did Al Fayed sell Harrods?
Al-Fayed told The London Evening Standard that a desire to retire and enjoy his life with his children and grandchildren was a motivator to sell Harrods, but a big driver was purely financial.
He griped that he became "completely disillusioned" with having to pay millions in pensions to "subsidize" for 26 years, and that when the government introduced the role of a pension trustee, it became too inconvenient to pay himself dividends.
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What was Dodi Fayed's net worth?
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Dodi Fayed's net worth at the time of his death wasn't publicly known, but we do know he loved flaunting his (and his father's) wealth. The Guardian reported that Dodi had a monthly allowance from Mohamed of £400,000, which is the equivalent of $499,448 in 2023, not accounting for inflation. When you do account for inflation in 2023 terms, it means Dodi got close to $1 million every month from his dad—$965,843.28, to be exact. Other outlets, including Vanity Fair, place his allowance at $100,000 per month, about $193,000 when adjusted for 2023 inflation.
Diana's lover was a playboy and a producer, but spent much of his professional life in the shadow of his wealthy patriarch.
"He always wanted to please his father, and he would have loved to have been successful like his father," a friend of Dodi told Vanity Fair.
Another friend, Jack Martin, told the mag that Dodi often tried to buy love, noting, "Dodi bought a lot more for others than himself. That was part of his low self-esteem. He loved to buy, to give, to provide." Diana herself reportedly wasn't a fan of his using his wealth to woo her, saying, "It makes me uneasy. I don't want to be bought ... I just want someone to be there for me, to make me feel safe and secure."
For as much money as he made and got from his father, Dodi was reportedly a big spender and often portrayed as reckless with his cash: Vanity Fair claims he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid back rent and taxes. He also spent lavishly on gifts, yachts and vacations. Several creditors sued Dodi, including American Express, which claimed he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars from purchases of Armani clothes, high-end jewelry, furs, airline tickets and more.
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How rich was Dodi Fayed?
As the eldest son of Mohamed Al-Fayed, Dodi was born into a billionaire family (his father died in August 2023 with an estimated net worth of $2 billion). Dodi's personal net worth at the time of his death isn't known. Some sources told Vanity Fair that he deliberately and greatly exaggerated his own wealth and assets, noting that he'd often tell people he owned properties that he actually rented.
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Was Dodi Fayed a director?
Dodi wasn't a director, but he was an executive producer of several films through his family's film production company, Allied Stars.
What films did Dodi Fayed produce?
Dodi is credited as an executive producer on Breaking Glass, the 1981 sports drama Chariots of Fire, F/X, F/X 2, Steven Spielberg's Peter Pan re-imagining Hook (starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman and Julia Roberts) and the 1995 film adaption of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter starring Demi Moore and Gary Oldman.
Did Dodi win an Oscar?
He did! Dodi Fayed won an Oscar for Chariots of Fire, which was awarded Best Picture. The Academy Awards for Best Picture are awarded to producers of the winning films.
Despite the win, another producer on the project told Vanity Fair that Dodi was not the most hands-on producer, explaining, "Dodi came on the set for a couple of days, and he came for some postproduction."
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