Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim

Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim ( Walīd bin Ibrahīm Āl Ibrahīm) (born 1962) is a Saudi Arabian businessman, and founder and chairman of Middle East Broadcasting Center, known as MBC Group.

In 2018, the government of Saudi Arabia arranged to acquire 60 percent of MBC, leaving the remaining 40 per cent of the company in Al Ibrahim’s hands. MBC Group said in a statement that Al Ibrahim would retain his stake and had, in his capacity as chairman, reviewed growth plans during a meeting held in the United Arab Emirates on 29 May 2018. A "senior MBC executive" was cited by Arabian Business as stating that Waleed al-Ibrahim was found innocent of any wrongdoing.

Early life and education Waleed Al Ibrahim was born in 1962 and raised in Saudi Arabia. He has eight brothers. Two of his elder brothers, Abdulaziz and Khalid, are businessmen investing in real estate in the U.S. His sister, Al Jawhara Al Ibrahim, was one of at least thirteen wives of King Fahd. Another, Maha Al Ibrahim, married the former deputy minister of defence and aviation, Prince Abdul Rahman, full-brother of King Fahd. His third sister, Mohdi Al Ibrahim, is the spouse of the former Saudi minister of higher education, Khaled Al Angari.

Al Ibrahim received education in Oregon, USA, during the 1980s and completed his higher education there.

Business activities ARAvision After completing his university education, Al Ibrahim founded the ARA Productions and Television Studios (ARAvision) in Saudi Arabia. It was his first enterprise in media.

His company, ARAvision, was registered in Riyadh in 1995. The company was provided with an exclusive licence to deliver a wireless cable service to major cities in the Kingdom. Therefore, it was able to screen the satellite channels' content before being broadcast.

Middle East Broadcasting Company (MBC) Al Ibrahim founded MBC in London in 1991 with the late entrepreneur, Saleh Kamel, launching the first independent Arabic satellite TV station. The company was established to express the views of Saudi royal family. It is part of the ARAvision.

Subsequently, the station introduced several movie and Arabic TV series channels including MBC 2, MBC 3 and MBC 4. Later, two more channels were launched. One of them is MBC Persia, broadcasting Hollywood films with Persian subtitles, and the other one is MBC Action, airing action movies.

Others In the 1990s Al Ibrahim was shareholder and board member of the United Press International (UPI). He served as the chairman of the UPI board until the early 1999. It was argued that they made their wealth through being Boeing and Rolls-Royce representatives in Saudi deals.

Arrest and release

On 4 November 2017, Al Ibrahim was detained in Saudi Arabia in a corruption crackdown conducted by a new royal anti-corruption committee. Al Ibrahim was held at Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel.

Over the weekend of 26–27 January 2018, Al Ibrahim was released along with at least half a dozen other prominent Saudi businessmen detained in the probe, after being found innocent of any wrongdoing. He was among top 20 prominent Gulf businessmen according to Amwal magazine in 2005. He was chosen to be the 27th most influential Arab among 100 Arab personalities by Arabian Business in 2007. He was named the 'Media Man of the Year' at the 4th MENA Cristal Awards held in Lebanon in 2008. He also received other awards, including the "Knight" award from the Arab League in 2006 and "Innovator of the Year" award from Arabian Business. He was chosen as the first among top 50 figures in MENA’s media, marketing and advertising industry in 2011. He was named as the world's 66th most influential Arab personality by Gulf News in 2012, citing his prominent position in the Arab media. Arabian Business named him as the world's 24th most influential Arab among 500 others in 2012.

In May 2021, Al Ibrahim received the King Abdulaziz Order of Merit for his contribution to media and broadcasting in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which is considered the highest civilian honour in the country.

Honours

Other positions Waleed bin Ibrahim is a member of the advisory board of the Mohammed bin Rashid School for Communication (MBRSC) at the American University in Dubai (AUD).