Mohamed Al-Fayed
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| Mohamed Fayed | |
 Wax statue of Mohamed Fayed
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| Born | January 27, 1933 Alexandria, Egypt |
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| Nationality | Egyptian |
| Occupation | Businessman Owner of Harrods and Fulham football club |
| Religious beliefs | Muslim |
| Spouse(s) | Samira Khashoggi (m. 1954–1956) Heini Wathén (1985-present) |
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Fayed (Arabic: محمد عبد المنعم فايد) (born January 27, 1933) is an Egyptian businessman estimated to be worth £900 Million[citation needed]. Amongst his business interests is ownership of Harrods department store in Knightsbridge and the English Premiership football team Fulham Football Club. He relaunched the humour publication Punch in 1996 but it folded again in 2002.
He has two brothers; Ali Fayed and Salah Fayed. Since 1985 he has been married to Finnish socialite and former model Heini Wathén. Together they have four children (Jasmine, Karim, Camilla and Omar) and two grandchildren (Delilah, from Jasmine, and Antonia, from Karim). A fifth child, Dodi, from Fayed's first marriage, died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, along with Diana, Princess of Wales and Henri Paul, the driver of the car and employee of the Fayed-owned Hôtel Ritz Paris.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Bakos (باكوس), a neighbourhood in eastern Alexandria, Egypt, as the eldest son of a primary school teacher, Fayed tried a number of jobs, from selling soft drinks on the streets of his home city as a child to working as a sewing machine salesman and teacher.
He was married for two years to Samira Kashoggi (1954 - 1956). Fayed founded his own shipping company in Egypt before becoming a financial adviser to one of the world's richest men, the then Sultan of Brunei Omar Ali Saifuddien III, in 1966.
He arrived in Britain in 1974 and added the Al- to his name, earning the Private Eye nickname "the Phoney Pharaoh". He briefly joined the board of the mining conglomerate Lonrho in 1975 but left after a disagreement. In 1985, he married Wathén, his second wife.
In 1985, he and his brother Ali bought House of Fraser, a group that included the famous London store Harrods, for £615m. The Harrods deal was made under the nose of Roland 'Tiny' Rowland, the head of Lonrho. Rowland had been seeking to buy Harrods and took the Fayed brothers to a Department of Trade inquiry. The inquiry, involving one of the most bitter feuds in British business history, issued a 1990 report stating that the Fayed brothers had lied about their background and wealth. The bickering with Rowland continued when he accused them of stealing millions in jewels from his Harrods safe deposit box. Rowland died in 1998, and, without accepting responsibility, Fayed settled the dispute with a payment to his widow. (Al Fayed had been arrested during the dispute and sued the Metropolitan Police for false arrest in 2002. He lost the case.)
In 1994, House of Fraser went public, but Fayed retained private ownership of Harrods.
For years, Fayed unsuccessfully sought British citizenship. Both Labour and Conservative Home Secretaries repeatedly rejected his applications on the grounds that he was not of good character. He took the matter to court, but failed. It has been suggested that the feud with Rowland contributed to Fayed's being refused British citizenship the first time.[1]
Mohamed Fayed was involved in the cash for questions scandal, having offered money for questions in the commons to the Conservative MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith. Both left the government in disgrace.[1] Fayed also revealed that the cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken had stayed for free at the Ritz Hotel in Paris at the same time as a group of Saudi arms dealers leading to Aitken's subsequent unsuccessful libel case and imprisonment for perjury.[2] During this period Fayed was represented publicly by public relations expert Michael Cole.
In 2003, Fayed moved from Surrey, UK to Switzerland, alleging a breach in an agreement with the Her Majesty's Inland Revenue Commissioners. In 2005, he moved back to Britain, saying that he "regards Britain as home".[1]
[edit] Dodi Al-Fayed's death
Fayed's oldest son, Dodi had a close relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales. Both of them died in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997. Fayed came up with a theory that the driver, Henri Paul, had plotted with the Royal Family to kill Diana and Dodi and an inquiry was called to discover if there really was a plot to kill Diana.
On February 18, 2008, Fayed accused Prince Charles and Prince Phillip of killing Diana, because Charles was furious that she was dating with Dodi.[3]
His testimony was roundly condemned in the press as being farcical and led to members of the British Government's Intelligence and Security Committee including George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock and Dari Taylor to accuse him of turning the Inquest into a 'circus' and calls for it to be ended prematurely.[4]
[edit] Fulham FC
Fayed bought Second Division (equivalent to modern Football League One) Fulham F.C. from chairman Jimmy Hill in the summer of 1997. His initial, ambitious long-term aim was that Fulham would become a FA Premier League side within five years. To this end he installed the managerial "dream team" of Ray Wilkins and Kevin Keegan, which resulted in the sacking of Micky Adams, who had guided Fulham to promotion from the then named Third Division.
Fulham stormed to the Second Division title with a record 101 points in 1999. Kevin Keegan was appointed manager of England at this time. In 2001, Fulham took the First Division (now Football League Championship) under manager Jean Tigana, winning 100 points and scoring over 100 goals in the season. This meant that Fayed had achieved his objective of Fulham being a Premiership club a year ahead of schedule. Also, by 2002, Fulham were competing in European football, winning the Intertoto Cup and challenging in the UEFA Cup.
Fayed stated that he wanted Fulham to become the "Manchester United of the South", referring to United's rise in the 1990s to being one of the biggest clubs in the world.
On 5 May 2007, Fayed celebrated his 10th year with Fulham. This was marked by a 1-0 win over Liverpool, which ensured that the club retained their Premiership status for another season.
In 2009, Fulham had finished 7th in the Premier League, making them eligible to play in the newly-formed Europa League, the European competition that succeeded the UEFA Cup.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c BBC News accessed 18/02/08
- ^ Cash for Questions . http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/336797.stm Retrieved 20/10/07
- ^ CNN News accessed 18/02/08
- ^ BBC NEWS | UK | Coroner warning in Diana inquest
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mohamed Al-Fayed |
- Extracts from 1990 DTI Report on Fayed's purchase of Harrods
- Fayed on CBC
- Interview with Al Jazeera (English) Riz Khan
- Mohamed Fayed's personal website
- Fayed Charitable Foundation
- Interview about Hotel Ritz Paris
- Download: Lord Stevens' 832-page Operation Paget Report Into The Deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi Fayed & Henri Paul 14th December, 2006
- Notes from the Howard Stern Show - March 6, 2007
- 2007-2008 Coroner's Inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed
