Ricardo@Ric_RTP
This man stole a country from his own father and spent the next 18 years buying the West with gas money.
- He deposed his own dad in a palace coup and left him in exile for nearly a decade
- He founded the news network that aired Osama bin Laden's tapes
- He built America's largest military base in the Middle East and charges no rent for it
- He bought Harrods, the Shard, Canary Wharf, Paris Saint-Germain and 17% of Volkswagen
- He won the 2022 World Cup for a country with no football history
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani died this morning at 74.
Here's how bought the world:
In June 1995, he waited for his father to leave the country, then took the throne. The coup was bloodless. His father spent nearly a decade in exile.
Qatar is about one third the size of Belgium, and its population was barely two million, most of them foreign workers.
But it was sitting on one of the LARGEST natural gas reserves on Earth.
He bet everything on liquefied natural gas. Qatar became the world's biggest LNG exporter and one of the richest countries alive per person.
Then he hit the problem every commodity business hits:
Gas is gas, anyone with a tanker can sell it, and a tiny country with no army and that much money is a snack for its neighbours.
So he bought two things nobody else in the Gulf thought to buy...
The first was the world's attention.
In 1996 he issued a decree and Al Jazeera was born. Within a few years it was the most influential news network in the Arab world.
He owned the loudest microphone in the region and never had to speak into it himself.
The second was the American military.
In 1996, Qatar spent over a billion dollars building an air base at Al Udeid, outside Doha. It got the longest runway in the Gulf and shelters for nearly a hundred aircraft.
Qatar's air force only had about a dozen fighter jets.
In 1999 he reportedly told US officials he wanted 10,000 American servicemen stationed there permanently.
Then 9/11 happened, and they came.
The genius part:
Al Udeid is now the forward headquarters of US Central Command and the largest American base in the Middle East, with roughly 10,000 troops.
Qatar charges no rent.
He built the asset before the customer existed, handed it over free, and bought the one thing cash cannot: The US military parked permanently between his gas and everyone who wanted it.
The network broadcasting bin Laden and the runway flying America's war sat in the same tiny country, paid for by the same man.
Then he went shopping...
He set up the Qatar Investment Authority in 2005:
- Harrods
- The Shard
- Canary Wharf, London's largest property owner, bought with Brookfield for 2.6 billion pounds
- 17% of Volkswagen
- Paris Saint-Germain
All his.
In 2017 the Telegraph ran the headline "Qataris own more of London than the Queen."
Then 2008 arrived. Barclays needed billions or the British government was going to own it. Qatar wrote the cheque and its stake climbed to 12.7%. Barclays was later charged over how it disclosed that Qatari money.
In 2010, FIFA handed the 2022 World Cup to a desert country with NO football history. Corruption allegations shadowed the bid for over a decade, and the treatment of the migrant workers who built it drew brutal criticism.
Yet he walked into the opening match in 2022 and the stadium gave him a standing ovation.
Every other Gulf state was selling the same molecule at the same price. Hamad spent his money on a newsroom, a runway, a football club and half of London.
A country of two million now brokers hostage deals and hosts American presidents.
He built all of it in 18 years, and he took the throne from his own father to start.
Truly an unmatched legacy.
