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CNN Live At Daybreak

Money Matter: World Economy

Aired October 05, 2001 - 07:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to catch up with Andy Serwer of "Fortune" magazine -- well, let's do that right now because he's sitting here so it's a good time to go to him.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I'm here. Let's talk.

ZAHN: He's with "Fortune" magazine. And you just had a very interesting conversation with one of the richest businessmen outside of the United States who gave you some interesting insights as to what's going on in the Middle East right now. Who did you speak to and what did he say?

SERWER: Prince Al Waleed, Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is his full name, as a matter of fact, he is the nephew...

ZAHN: Nice job there.

SERWER: Thank you. He is the nephew of the king of Saudi Arabia and considered to be one of the richest businessmen outside of the United States with a fortune of about $20 billion. About $10 billion of that is in Citigroup stock. He also owns positions in Disney, AOL Time Warner, the parent company of this network, as well as News Corp., hotels and other technology stocks.

The interesting thing about the prince is that he dresses and looks and appears to be like a member of the Saudi royalty that he is. He's a practicing Muslim. He wears traditional Saudi garb. On the other hand, he behaves like an American CEO. He watches CNN, reads "Fortune," maybe even "Business Week," and...

ZAHN: You won't hold that against him, will you?

SERWER: Yes, no we don't.

ZAHN: OK.

SERWER: But in other words, he's acutely...

ZAHN: No demerit there, folks.

SERWER: He's acutely aware of American culture, American trends and our markets. So in a sense he's a bridge between Saudi Arabia and our country, the way we think and the way they think. And I spoke with him by phone in Riyadh the other night and he had some very interesting comments. He condemned the attacks strongly, saying that the Saudis were ashamed of the attacks.

Now, he has very close contacts with the royal family, so maybe not as in touch with the common people in Saudi Arabia because there are some indications that there's some sympathies with bin Laden that was in the paper today, in the "New York Times."

On the other hand, the act, the terrorist act itself was not at all popular in Saudi Arabia, obviously, he was saying. He talked a little bit about bin Laden's family, very interesting, which is a very large and very wealthy family in Saudi Arabia, saying that they have completely disowned him, as we know, that he has actually done...

ZAHN: Do you believe that?

SERWER: That's very hard to tell. Having spent time in Riyadh as an American, it's very hard to sort through the way that political system works. But we have to take him on his word in the sense that others have scrutinized this. There was a story in the "New York Times" earlier this week that indicted that Harvard University and Oxford and Tufts University in Massachusetts had endowments supported by the bin Laden family. It's a very large and extended family with over 50 people of Osama bin Laden's age and a very wealthy family in the construction business.

The most interesting thing the prince said, though, I asked him what should we do? What should the United States do and what are we missing here? And he said, first of all, a very measured response. And he thought the Bush administration was dead on here, in other words, not sweeping into Afghanistan but very clearly trying to discern who was responsible for these attacks.

The other thing he said -- and this is the most important thing -- is to try to understand why these attacks occurred. Why is there this anger towards the United States by these extremists? I asked him if this had to do with the Palestinian situation? He said yes, that was a part of it. The other thing is he said since the United States has become the only superpower after the demise of the Soviet Union, that he feels that there's a perception that we run roughshod over the rest of the world, particularly the Third World, and he said we really need to look at that and assess whether or not this is the kind of activity that is stirring up these kinds of sentiments.

ZAHN: Did he tell you how conflicted Saudi Arabia is at the moment about what role it might play in a U.S.-ally coalition?

SERWER: He did say that there were some different and conflicting views amongst Saudis in terms of what, how to respond, that there are extremist elements there. The royal family has to balance that out with supporting the U.S. military and oil interests. It's a very complicated situation for the royal family and you're seeing that in very measured comments by them in response to this situation.

ZAHN: Move on very quickly to what the futures are showing right now to give people a preview of how the stock market might open up today.

SERWER: The futures are mixed. Overseas markets have been mixed, as well, and I think we're going to be sitting on our hands a little bit before the open because we do have that unemployment report in about an hour. So we're going to have to see where that takes us. But I think things are kind of winding down this week.

ZAHN: All right, Andy, see you a little bit later on this morning.

I have seen my partner Miles taking notes all this morning. Are you getting your questions ready for Andy Serwer?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm ready. I'm ready.

ZAHN: Because he is going to take any financial questions you might have. Drop us an e-mail at attack@cnn.com. The harder the better. It's Friday. Let's make this man work.

O'BRIEN: He wants curve balls, doesn't he?

ZAHN: Curve balls, yes.

SERWER: Yes, bring 'em on. Bring them on.

O'BRIEN: He'll knock them out of the park for you.

ZAHN: He'll be back in the...

SERWER: Like Barry Bonds.

ZAHN: ... in the nine o'clock -- you'd better him 'em out like Barry Bonds. He'll be back in the nine o'clock hour to help answer some of your questions. We'll be right back.

O'BRIEN: Barry stocks and bonds, right?

ZAHN: Oh, good, Miles.

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