BEIRUT, Feb 15 (AFP) - Rafiq Hariri, who rose from humble beginnings as the son of a farm hand to become a billionaire tycoon, commanded a huge empire that stretched from Saudi Arabia to the United States and bought him a ticket to politics.
"We could make bets to guess the exact fortune of Rafiq Hariri but it is well above 10 billion dollars," a Lebanese-Swiss businessman who also built his wealth in oil-rich Saudi Arabia told AFP.
"Banks, media, real estate, construction, Rafiq Hariri`s empire extends from Saudi Arabia to the United States, and that`s not counting his philanthropic activities," he said on condition of anonymity.
No one knows what Hariri`s killing in a massive explosion Monday will mean for the wealth he has amassed and what the future holds for those employed by the man who led Lebanon`s government five times since the end of the former prime minister.
Hariri`s empire includes the Beirut Arabic-language newspaper Al Mostaqbal, television station Future TV and Al-Sharq radio based in Beirut and Paris, which employ hundreds of people.
Dubbed the father of Lebanon`s post-war reconstruction, Hariri rebuilt Beirut`s center which was ravaged by the 15-year civil conflict, turning it into a chic modern city.
The work was done by Solidere, the real estate firm which he founded in 1994 and now the biggest company on the Lebanon bourse with a capital of 1.6 billion dollars. Solidere shares will soon be traded on the Kuwait bourse.
Hariri`s empire includes interests and substantial shares in banks as well as Lebanese and foreign holding companies, some of which are placed in the names of family members or close associates.
"It is very difficult to estimate Rafiq Hariri`s fortune because in Saudi Arabia everything is done by mutual agreement," a Lebanese banker said.
His rags-to-riches story is a classic, of the stuff motion pictures are made.
Born to a modest peasant family in the southern port city of Sidon, Hariri studied accounting and then moved to Saudi Arabia where he taught mathematics before joining a Saudi contracting company and later set up on his own.
In 1977 he took a bold step by contracting to build for Saudi King Khaled bin Abdel Aziz a conference hall in a record six months.
The wager Hariri did with himself marked him down as as a businessman with flair and won him the frienship of the Saudi royal family, who thanked him by granting him Saudi nationality in 1978 -- a privilege given to a select few.
That same year Hariri set up his flagship construction firm, Saudi-Oger, and bought Oger-France which later became Oger-International.
According to "Who`s Who in Lebanon," Hariri owns Mediterranean Investors Group, which groups since 1983 Banque de la Mediterranee, the Saudi Lebanese Bank, an insurance company and other firms.
He also controls companies dealing in real estate in France, Britain and the United States and owns a luxury apartment near the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
In 1979 Hariri decided to share some of his wealth with those less fortunate than himself and set up the Hariri Fondation, which provided scholarships and loans to 31,000 Lebanese students, including 23,000 abroad.
02/15/2005 14:42 GMT - AFP