Mohamed Alabbar’s net worth is estimated at $2.3 billion, according to Forbes as of March 2025 — a fortune built almost entirely on real estate. The Emirati businessman founded Emaar Properties in 1997, the developer behind the Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall, and went on to build interests in e-commerce, hospitality and food. Other outlets put it slightly higher, in the $2.5–3 billion range. This guide gives the sourced figures, explains why estimates differ, and covers his life, career and businesses — without inventing a number for any year where no reliable figure exists.
Mohamed Alabbar Net Worth at a Glance
| Detail | Figure / Fact |
|---|---|
| Estimated net worth | $2.3 billion (Forbes, March 2025) |
| Other published estimates | $2.5–3 billion (business press, 2024–2025) |
| Main source of wealth | Stake in Emaar Properties; Eagle Hills; Noon.com; Americana Restaurants |
| Forbes Middle East ranking | 2nd, 100 Most Impactful Real Estate Leaders 2025 |
| Born | 8 November 1956, Dubai, UAE |
| Best known for | Founding Emaar Properties; building the Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall |
Who Is Mohamed Alabbar?
Mohamed Ali Alabbar is an Emirati businessman and investor, best known as the founder of Emaar Properties, one of the world’s largest real estate developers. He is also the founder and chairman of Eagle Hills, a private investment and real estate company based in Abu Dhabi, the founder of the e-commerce platform Noon.com, and chairman of Americana Group, the food company that operates well-known restaurant franchises across the Middle East.
Born on 8 November 1956 in Dubai, Alabbar grew up in the Rashidiya area as the eldest of twelve children; his father was the captain of a traditional trading vessel, a dhow. A government scholarship took him to the United States in the 1970s, where he studied finance and business administration at Seattle University and graduated in 1981 with a degree in Business Administration. He later received an honorary doctorate in humanities from Seattle University in 2007.
His early career was in public service, not property. After graduating he worked at the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, and in 1992 he became the founding director general of Dubai’s Department of Economic Development. In that role he worked closely with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, and became one of his chief economic advisers, helping to shape Dubai’s push into tourism and its global reputation.
How Mohamed Alabbar Built His Wealth
Alabbar’s wealth comes from building companies, not from inheriting them, and it is concentrated in a small number of large bets.
Emaar Properties (founded 1997)
In 1997 Alabbar founded Emaar Properties, which has grown into one of the largest real estate developers in the world. Its landmark projects define modern Dubai: the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, completed in 2010; The Dubai Mall, one of the largest shopping malls on earth; and the whole Downtown Dubai district around them, with its residences, hotels and the Dubai Fountain. Emaar has also expanded internationally, with projects across the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Alabbar has historically been reported as holding around a 24.3% stake in Emaar, which is why his personal fortune rises and falls with Emaar’s market value. Visitors can see the results of that work for free — our guide to free things to do in Dubai includes the Burj Khalifa area and the Dubai Fountain shows in Downtown Dubai.
Eagle Hills
Alabbar is the founder and chairman of Eagle Hills, a private real estate investment and development company based in Abu Dhabi. Eagle Hills develops large mixed-use projects in several countries, including Serbia, Morocco, Jordan and Bahrain.
Noon.com (founded 2016)
In 2016 Alabbar co-founded Noon.com, the Middle East e-commerce platform built to compete with global online retailers in the region. Backed by major regional investors, including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Noon sells electronics, fashion and groceries across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and has been reported as valued at around $1 billion.
Americana Restaurants
Alabbar serves as chairman of Americana Group, the food company that operates restaurant franchises — including KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee’s and Krispy Kreme — across the Middle East and North Africa. Americana listed on regional stock exchanges in 2022, adding a listed food business to his portfolio.
Mohamed Ali Alabbar Net Worth: The Full Name Explained
Searches for this billionaire use several versions of his name, and they all refer to the same person. His full name is Mohamed Ali Alabbar (Arabic: محمد علي العبار). Some sources and search queries add the family name element “Rashed”, giving Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar, and formal or honorific searches use “H.E. Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar” (H.E. stands for His Excellency, a courtesy title) or simply “Mr Mohamed Alabbar”. There is no separate billionaire behind these variants — the net worth figure is the same whichever version of the name you search. The same applies to the spelling “Mohammed Ali Rashed Alabbar”, which is simply an alternative transliteration of Mohamed from Arabic.
Mohamed Alabbar Net Worth Forbes: What Forbes Actually Says
The most authoritative published figure comes from Forbes. In its 2025 ranking of the Middle East’s 100 Most Impactful Real Estate Leaders, Forbes Middle East placed Mohamed Alabbar second — behind DAMAC’s Hussain Sajwani — and stated that, as recognised by Forbes as of March 2025, Alabbar had an estimated fortune of $2.3 billion. Forbes Middle East’s own announcement of the list confirms that figure, and it is the number we use as the headline estimate in this article.
Forbes Middle East compiled the ranking from each leader’s years of experience, the value of completed and ongoing projects, company financials where available, and the size of landbanks and units held. Alabbar’s second place reflects the scale of Emaar’s portfolio as much as his personal wealth. Five billionaires appeared on that 2025 list, with a combined estimated fortune of $19.3 billion, according to Forbes.
Other business outlets have published slightly higher estimates — typically in the $2.5–3 billion range, and in some cases around $2.7 billion attributed to Forbes Middle East’s 2025 billionaire coverage. These differences are normal: different lists use different dates, different Emaar share prices and different assumptions about the value of private holdings such as Eagle Hills and Noon. The honest summary is a range with a sourced anchor: $2.3 billion per Forbes (March 2025), with other reputable business coverage pointing to roughly $2.5–3 billion. Anyone quoting a single precise figure without a source and a date should be treated with caution.
Net Worth Mohamed Alabbar: Year-by-Year Estimates and Why No Clean Series Exists
Many searches ask for Mohamed Alabbar’s net worth in a specific year — 2016, 2018 or 2019, for example. We do not publish a year-by-year table for those years, because no single reliable, consistently-sourced series exists for them. Forbes’ global billionaires list has not carried Alabbar every year on a like-for-like basis, and Forbes Middle East’s regional rankings use different methodologies from year to year. Reconstructing figures for 2016, 2018 or 2019 from share prices or secondary blogs would mean inventing numbers, and this site does not do that.
What can be said with confidence is the direction of travel. Emaar’s value — and therefore Alabbar’s fortune — has moved with Dubai’s property cycles: the boom years before the 2008–2009 financial crisis, the recovery that followed, the pandemic-era slowdown, and the strong Dubai property rebound of the 2020s. The 2025 Forbes figure of $2.3 billion is the most recent authoritative anchor, and it sits in a period when Dubai real estate values were historically strong. If you see a website claiming an exact Alabbar net worth for 2016, 2018 or 2019 with no source, treat it as an estimate at best — not a published fact.
What Does Mohamed Alabbar Own?
His reported ~24.3% stake in Emaar Properties is the single largest component, and its value moves with Emaar’s share price on the Dubai Financial Market. Eagle Hills is private, so its value is harder to pin down, but its portfolio of large international developments is substantial. Noon.com adds a fast-growing digital asset, and his chairmanship of Americana connects him to one of the region’s largest restaurant businesses.
Personal Life and Public Profile
Alabbar keeps his personal life largely private. He is married and has children, including his daughter Salama Alabbar, who has held senior roles at Emaar. He is based in Dubai, where Emaar is headquartered, and remains active as Emaar’s founder and managing director. He has received honours including Middle East Personality of the Year from fDi Magazine in 2010. Despite building some of the world’s most photographed structures, he gives relatively few interviews.