In 2007 Saeed Abdel Ghaffar Khouri an extremely wealthy Middle Eastern 25 year old businessman paid $52 million dirhams to own License Plate #1 in his country. Thats $14 million U.S. dollars.
The plate was officially assigned the first license plate number for the entire country in Abu Dhabi.
The auction was was held in Abu Dhabi Emirates Palace Hotel. Over 500 people attended the auction many of them also bidding for the plate. Saeed the winner of the auction said he would have paid up to $100 million dirhams or just over $25 million U.S. dollars to win the license plate with the coveted number 1.
Saeed placed the historic license plate on one of his montage of vehicles none other than a Lamborghini (image on top right hand side). He intends to leave it there as he has no plans of selling it anytime soon.
When interviewed relatives accompanying the winner said they wanted to be # 1. Adding, “Who Doesn’t Want to Be the Best in the World.”
The previous record for the highest price paid for a license plate was broken by Saeed’s cousin Talal Ali Mohammad Khouri who won Plate # 5 for approximately $7 million U.S. dollars in September of 2008.
At the end of the auction a total of 90 license plates were sold in the auction. These included # 100, 1111 and 2001 for a total realizing over $20 million U.S dollars.
The Abu Dhabi Family is part of a large Investment Fund worth almost 1 Trillion U.S. Dollars earning most of its money in running one of the Worlds largest oil reserves.
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