Russia Has New Richest Man

Finance magazine published the annual list of Russian billionaires. The list includes the names of 500 individuals, whose fortune is evaluated at not less than 3.3 billion rubles. There are 77 dollar billionaires in Russia today, which marked a considerable increase in comparison with the beginning of 2009, when the economic crisis caused financial damage to many Russian billionaires.

Photo: Russia Has New Richest Man

Last year, the list was topped by entrepreneurs like Mikhail Prokhorov, who sold their businesses in whole on in parts before the economic crisis reached its peak. Others faced significant underestimations of their assets on the stock market.

Market quotations are the basic tool to measure wealthy people’s fortune. Bailout programs conducted in world’s major countries have taken their toll, experts of the magazine believe. Prices have started to grow again, and those who invested their capitals in unusually cheap stocks may now enjoy very good profits again.

Roman Abramovich, the former governor of Chukotka and the owner of Chelsea Football Club, came in third with $17 billion. His capital will let him maintain the club for at least 100 years, Pravda.Ru reports.

Senator Suleiman Kerimov, the owner of Nafta Moskva investment group, is fourth with $14.5 billion, followed by TNK-BP interim CEO Mikhail Fridman ($14.3 billion), RusAL CEO and owner Oleg Deripaska ($13.8 billion) and mining magnate Alisher Usmanov ($12.4 billion).

LUKoil CEO Vagit Alekperov ($10.65), as well as Severstal CEO Alexei Mordashov ($10 billion) and Interros holding chairman Vladimir Potanin ($9.95 billion) have also made it into the top ten, RIA Novosti reports.

The recession in the Russian economy is not over yet, but it was not an obstacle for Russian entrepreneurs to double their total capital to $139.3 billion vs. $75.9 billion in 2009. For comparison: the income of Russia’s federal budget in 2010 is expected to make up approximately $216 billion.

As for the names, the list has a new winter this year. Russia’s richest man is Vladimir Lisin, a non-public Russian entrepreneur, the chairman of board of director of Novolipetsk Steel. Lisin owns the fortune worth $18.8 billion, which puts him ahead of last year’s winner Mikhail Prokhorov, the president of Onexim Group, with $17.85 billion.

As of 2007, Lisin was ranked fifth in Russia and 93^rd in the world in 2008.

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