"We're getting hurt, but I'm a long-term investor"
About this Quote
Pain, here, is being reframed as proof of seriousness. When Al-Waleed bin Talal says, "We're getting hurt, but I'm a long-term investor", he’s not confessing weakness so much as asserting a worldview: volatility is a tax you pay to stay in the game, and public panic is an opportunity for private patience.
The first clause does strategic work. "We're getting hurt" acknowledges the bleed without naming numbers, culprits, or mistakes. It signals realism, even humility, while keeping the details conveniently blurred. Then comes the pivot: "but I'm a long-term investor". The "but" is the spine of the sentence, turning damage into discipline. It’s also a subtle power move - long-term investing is coded as maturity, capital strength, and access to time, which is itself a luxury. If you can wait out a downturn, you’re implicitly telling everyone you’re not liquidity-constrained, not beholden to quarterly panic, not one of the forced sellers.
In context, that posture fits Al-Waleed’s public persona: the princely global dealmaker who wants to be read as steady, not reactive. It’s reassurance aimed at multiple audiences at once - partners, markets, even political stakeholders. The subtext is almost admonishing: yes, we’re taking hits, but if you interpret that as a reason to flee, you’re revealing you don’t belong in this class of capital.
The line also functions as narrative control. It converts a potentially embarrassing moment (losses) into a story about character (conviction), the oldest trick in finance and, when delivered cleanly, one of the most effective.
The first clause does strategic work. "We're getting hurt" acknowledges the bleed without naming numbers, culprits, or mistakes. It signals realism, even humility, while keeping the details conveniently blurred. Then comes the pivot: "but I'm a long-term investor". The "but" is the spine of the sentence, turning damage into discipline. It’s also a subtle power move - long-term investing is coded as maturity, capital strength, and access to time, which is itself a luxury. If you can wait out a downturn, you’re implicitly telling everyone you’re not liquidity-constrained, not beholden to quarterly panic, not one of the forced sellers.
In context, that posture fits Al-Waleed’s public persona: the princely global dealmaker who wants to be read as steady, not reactive. It’s reassurance aimed at multiple audiences at once - partners, markets, even political stakeholders. The subtext is almost admonishing: yes, we’re taking hits, but if you interpret that as a reason to flee, you’re revealing you don’t belong in this class of capital.
The line also functions as narrative control. It converts a potentially embarrassing moment (losses) into a story about character (conviction), the oldest trick in finance and, when delivered cleanly, one of the most effective.
Quote Details
| Topic | Investment |
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