I agree with Randy, compared to the family's other expenditures, the Sheikh's drag racing stuff was small pittance. They are on the hook for over $20 BILLION dollars for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the Sheikh's brother bought the soccer team Paris St. Germain for 100 million Euros in 2011, and has lost 10-12 million Euros every year since he has owned the team. Money is not the issue here ...
EDIT: (copied from his father's Wiki page, so yeah, they have ridiculous wealth)
The Qatar Investment Authority and its
subsidiaries have acquired many businesses abroad, including London's iconic department store
Harrods from entrepreneur
Mohammed Al-Fayed,
[35] Paris based department store
Printemps,
[36] French
football club Paris Saint-Germain F.C.,
[37] a former 10% stake in
Porsche,
[38] a 75% stake in
film studio Miramax which they acquired from
Disney,
[39] a 2% stake in
media conglomerate and
Universal Music Group parent company Vivendi,
[40] a $100 million USD investment in Chernin Group – whose founder
Peter Chernin was COO of
News Corp and President of
Fox,
[41] a 1% stake in
luxury goods manufacturer
Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy,
[42] a 6% stake in
Credit Suisse,
[43] a 12.6% stake in
Barclays[44] and several other major companies. They also backed
Glencore's $31 billion USD takeover bid for
Xstrata.
[45] Qatar is the largest property owner in London with their holdings including Europe's tallest building
The Shard,
Olympic Village and
Park Lane's InterContinental Hotel.
[46] They also own several hotels in
Cannes including the
Majestic Hotel,
Grand Hyatt Cannes Hôtel Martinez and
Carlton Hotel.
[47] QIA was considered to have one of the leading bids in the sales of both
Anschutz Entertainment Group[48] and
Hulu.
[49] As of May 2013, it was reported the Investment Authority was in talks to purchase
Neiman Marcus and
Bergdorf Goodman.
[50]
Sheikh Hamad is famous for helping to establish the first Arab international news network,
Al Jazeera, when he provided a loan of
QAR 500 million ($137 million) to sustain Al Jazeera through its first five years.
In October 2012, Hamad made a historic visit to Gaza and pledged US$400 million in humanitarian aid to
Hamas, to build infrastructure projects and hospitals.
[51]
