Russia’s 200 wealthiest worth some half trillion dollars – Forbes list

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Published time: April 19, 2012 08:04
Edited time: April 19, 2012 22:08

Alisher Usmanov (Reuters / Denis Sinyakov)

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Anya Fedorova, Neil Harvey, Prime Time Russia, Russian economy, Thabang Motsei

Russian metals mogul Alisher Usmanov has become the richest person in Russia thanks to a shrewd investment in Facebook, according to the Forbes list of 200 wealthiest people in the country.

With personal assets of $18.5 billion, the co-owner of the Metalinvest mining company knocked rival Vladimir Lisin, owner of the NLMK steel company, out of the top spot. Lisin, whose wealth is estimated at $15.9 billion, had topped the Forbes list for the last two years.

Severstal owner Alexey Mordashov was in third place with a fortune of $15.3 billion.

Usmanov’s wealth is believed to have been boosted by a 5.5% stake in Facebook, which has multiplied in value several times since 2010, when he purchased it through his Digital Sky Technologies Company (DST). The billionaire also owns stakes in Twitter Inc., Groupon Inc. and China’s internet portal Alibaba.
Just as Usmanov nicely upped his assets by $1.1 billion with his well-timed investment in internet companies, his arch-rivals Lisin and Mordashov lost $8.1 billion and $3.2 billion respectively, as the metal sector was blitzed by recession last year.

Vladimir Potanin, the president of Intrerros, took fourth place with $14.5 billion. He is followed by the head of Lukoil Vagit Alikperov ($13.5 billion) and Mikhail Fridman, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Alfa Group with $13.4 billion.

Former presidential candidate and ex-owner of ONEXIM Group Mikhail Prokhorov was in 7th – a step down from his enviable position as third richest last year. His wealth dropped from $18 to $13.2 billion.

The only lady on the list is Elena Baturina, owner of Inteco development company and wife of Moscow’s ex-mayor Yury Luzhkov. Her personal wealth is estimated around $1.1 billion.

The oldest Russian millionaire is Vladimir Tetukhin from the Avisma titanium monopoly, with $650 million, and the youngest, at just 16, is Deny Bazhaev – son of the late Zia Bazhaev, founder of Alliance Group, dealing in investment. He is the owner of around $750 million.

The total wealth of Russia’s 200 richest weighs in at $446.3 billion. 145 of them live in Moscow, and 13 in St. Petersburg.

Comments (9)

GoldMorgCom (unregistered) 07.06.2012 13:27

GoldMorg anti knows that the USA GoldMorgs in average own many times more and are the real doom against Russia and the peoples.

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Lena (unregistered) 23.04.2012 11:38

A Krasnodar official has lost 5.5 kg after having spent a month living only on the region’s minimum wage – 6,444 rubles. Dmitry Zhertovsky, head of economic issues for the Tbilissky district, attempted the foolhardy experiment in a bid to convince local businesses to raise pay to above the local minimal wage. Only 43 percent of employers increased pay packets to above the minimal wage set for 2011, which probably suggests more about tax evasion than actual wages, RIA reported Zhertovsky as saying, when he first announced his experiment just over a month ago. Zhertovsky survived on a diet of inexpensive vegetables, preserves and grains as well as chicken bouillon, instant noodles and the occasion pieces of chicken and frankfurters. He tried to stick to a daily food budget of 85 rubles. In total, he spent 2,193 rubles on food, averaging 73 rubles a day. The remaining portion of his minimum-wage packet was spent on utilities bills and non-food items. He did not budget any funds towards transport or clothing. At the end of the month he had 75 rubles and 3 kopeks. Previous attemptsInterfax reported that this was not the first time that someone has attempted to live on the minimum wage. At the beginning of 2011, Yekaterinburg student Vitaly Nikishin attempted to exist on the minimum food basket, which is used to calculate the minimum wage. After surviving 31 days on 2,632 rubles, he had lost 2.5 kg and was bed-ridden for the last three days. “On the basis of that you could say it’s not good for your health,” Interfax quoted Nikishin as saying at the time.A Moskovsky Komsomolets journalist at the beginning of 2011 attempted to live on a week’s Moscow region minimum wage – 1,500 rubles. After having spent 535 rubles on food and three days’ worth of metro and suburban train fees she was forced to become a fare evader or else face starvation. At the end of her experiment she concluded that you can survive if you buy no new clothes, don’t fall ill and don’t pay your bills.

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Kaela Creighton 21.04.2012 01:39

Don't feel bad. I hope we didn't upset you. Even though I envy your money and want to either beg or steal it from you, I realize that you still have feelings and that you might read this and kill us all. If it makes you feel any better and not just to spare my life, Bill Gates is all hideous. The pictures that Abramovich shows make him pretty attractive and so is P but Abramovich is better looking than P, oh I can't remember, the one that doesn't brush his teeth. Putin is still the most attractive, even though he's old.

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