This week, Forbes came out with an article critical of Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia painting him to be someone obsessed with Forbes rankings.

Reading between the lines I don’t think the article was fair. Like Forbes, I’ve met with the Prince and his team but have a different impression also informed by some regional sensitivities.

At the core of the issue is that Forbes claims that HRH Alwaleed has a net worth of approximately $20 billion USD and Prince Alwaleed claims the accurate figure to be approximately $29 billion. Forbes claims this caused Alwaleed to sever ties and Alwaleed’s team questions the methodology and consistench

The Forbes article, and many written by others in follow up which used Forbes as a source, paint the Prince in what I believe to be an unfair light.

At the core of the misrepresentation are two claims:

First, that, in Forbes words, Prince Alwaleed is even more dedicated than “Donald Trump” at getting his name on the rankings. Well, anyone who’s read the Forbes list knows that every year for many years they have featured a side article about Mr. Trump’s many efforts to get higher in the list. If Alwaleed has the same propensity, why are we just hearing about it now?

Second, and more importantly, the valuation issue itself. Net worth is net worth. There are various metrics which can be used but at the end of the day, methodology must be consistent.

Forbes seems to have heavily discounted the valuation of a public company majority owned by Alwaleed under the claim that he inflated the value in order to get a higher list ranking. That claim seems dubious as the performance of Kingdom Holdings is understandable in line with other companies which are publicly traded. But either way immaterial unless they do the same for other public companies.

Forbes also seems to discount personal assets which Prince Alwaleed transferred into corporate assets in exchange for no consideration. Just as any majority owner of a business may find financial benefit of transferring personal assets to the business at no cost, this is entirely consistent if the claim is accurate. It seems very unlikely this would be done simply for a magazine ranking, but, regardless of motivation, the numbers are what matter.

The tone of Forbes article was insulting and seemed to make an effort to pre-emptively frame the fallout of Alwaleed cutting ties with Forbes. Lets remember, despite Forbe’s framing it is Forbes who has far more to lose in this than Prince Alwaleed. Indeed Prince Alwaleed is press conscious and image aware. All the more divisive mid slinging is especially given that such negative articles are so rarely seen in the Gulf, Alwaleed’s press strategy comes, I think, not from an obsession or ego as much as a pragmatic understanding of media and how the press works in an area of the world where most public figures have very poor understanding of media.

I know first hand, for a fact, of times that Prince Alwaleed has turned down major press and media opportunities on several occasions. Donald Trump is known for responding to, even inserting himself, into any public discussion and for accepting any media opportunity with wide exposure. There is nothing wrong with this and it has served Mr. Trump well. But it is not at all the same model used by Prince Alwaleed. To an outsider it may seem so but it is not.

The other thing relevant about Prince Alwaleed is his drive for excellence and perfection. Contrary to the sometimes flexible schedules of the region, Alwaleed is known for extreme punctuality and an exacting schedule. When he says a meeting is at 7pm it means exactly that.

When meeting him on one occasion, the Prince learned that a colleague of mine had made an extremely minor comment about an area which could be improved upon in one of Alwaleed’s hotel portfolio properties. Despite my colleague’s emphasis that the issue was extremely minor, Alwaleed proceeded to spend several minutes grilling my colleague about details and asking for a letter detailing the issues. This is a man who cares deeply about details.

Prince Alwaleed is a very exacting and intense figure. When I first met him I was not sure what to expect. I feared he might be the worst of what one could expect from a figure with a high public profile. On the contrary, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by his focus, energy and intensity. I have also known several people close to him and met several past and current employees. His reputation is consistent: he is a very intense perfectionist. He will stay awake at all odd hours and expect nothing less than excellence from his team. He is extremely intelligent and fairly demanding. He marches to his own best and does not suffer fools. The only complaint I’ve ever heard from any employee is that they cannot keep up with him. I would imagine that exhaustion is the primary complaint of any staff.

I think it is an obsession with accuracy not ego which drove the recent row with Forbes. A couple years ago, Arabian Business Magazine, who publishes an Arabian “Rich List” similar to Forbes, was approached by Alwaleed who provided full documentation of his net worth for the list. On good authority I know that this estimate by the magazine was going to be HIGHER than the figure Alwaleed provided and corrected. I believe his quote was to the effect of “People keep getting it wrong, I want you to get it right.”

There are so many challenges in US – Saudi relations which arise from cultural differences and misunderstanding. Prince Alwaleed has been a great bridge between our countries with some efforts which proved challenging (such as Rudy Giuliani refusing to accept his large 9-11 memorial donation) and others which worked very well. It’s saddening to see a break between Forbes and the Prince. There are few in Saudi Arabia so good at building connections, understanding and bridges as he. Take a look at his interviews with Charlie Rose for example.

Perhaps the fault is not all to Forbes, its surely possible that Alwaleed’s unique personality and style was misunderstood and once a rift was created it widened. Certainly he’d not be the first or only person on that exclusive list guilty of being an unusual and larger-than-life personality. He may have ego, but clearly Forbes does as well. Whatever the challenges I do not think the motivation was accurately characterized by the pettiness portrayed in the Forbes article. Hopefully Prince Alwaleed will continue to build bridges and hopefully American media and other companies will continue efforts as well.