Forbes ranking of the richest people. The richest people in the world. Leonid Michelson. Wealth: $14.4 billion

26.02.2022

American Forbes on Tuesday, March 1, published the annual, anniversary - 30th in a row - rating of world billionaires. The list includes 77 representatives of Russia, 11 less than a year earlier: big business continues to suffer losses due to the economic crisis, the collapse of oil prices and the sanctions war with the West. Leonid Mikhelson, co-owner of Novatek and Sibur, headed the Russian part of the rating - for the first time in history. Read more about the ten richest Russians and four newcomers from Russia on the list - in our gallery.

1. Leonid Mikhelson

Wealth: $14.4 billion

YoY change: + $2.7 billion

Place in the world ranking: 60 Leonid Mikhelson is the main shareholder of the largest independent gas producer in Russia, Novatek, and the petrochemical holding Sibur. He also owns a minority stake in Promsvyazbank. Mikhelson's partner in Novatek and Sibur is Gennady Timchenko. Another co-owner of the petrochemical holding is Kirill Shamalov, who is referred to by the media as the alleged husband of Katerina Tikhonova, the alleged daughter of Vladimir Putin. Shamalov acquired a stake in Sibur from Timchenko after American sanctions were imposed against a longtime acquaintance of the Russian president. At the end of 2015, the Chinese Sinopec acquired 10% of Sibur for $1.3 billion. Mikhelson is an avid art collector and sponsors exhibitions in Russia and the United States. His father was the director of the construction trust "Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy" - the largest in the system of the Ministry of Construction of the Oil and Gas Industry of the USSR.

2. Mikhail Fridman

Wealth: $13.3 billion

Change for the year: - $1.3 billion

Place in the world ranking: 63 Together with his longtime business partners German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev, since his student days, he controls Alfa Group, Russia's largest financial and industrial investment group. In 2013, the state-owned Rosneft bought 50% of oil TNK-BP, which billionaires owned on a parity basis with British BP, from Mikhail Fridman, Viktor Vekselberg and Leonard Blavatnik for $28 billion. Fridman earned $5.1 billion from the deal. In 2013, this money was partly used to launch a new Alfa structure - the LetterOne Holdings S.A. (L1) holding, on whose balance sheet the foreign assets of the investment group turned out and which was entrusted with control over M&A transactions abroad. In particular, in 2015 L1 acquired the German oil and gas company Dea RWE for $5.7 billion Among the largest projects of Alfa is the second largest Russian retailer X5, shares in the telecommunications holdings VimpelCom and Turkcell. A native of Ukraine, Friedman moved to Moscow as a young man to attend university. In 1989, together with Khan and Kuzmichev, he founded the Alfa-Eco company, which laid the foundation for the construction of one of the main business empires in Russia. Two years later, the partners created Alfa-Bank, now the largest private bank in the country.

3. Alisher Usmanov

Wealth: $12.5 billion

Change for the year: - $1.9 billion

World Ranking: 73 Alisher Usmanov, who topped Russia's Forbes list for several consecutive years, runs one of the country's most sprawling business empires. Among its assets are the metallurgical holding Metalloinvest, Russia's second largest mobile operator Megafon, and the publishing house Kommersant. In 2014, the billionaire sold 12% of the USM Holdings management holding to his longtime junior business partners and key top managers. Usmanov is a member of a number of important lobbying organizations, including the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. In 2013, he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree. One of the early investors of Facebook, three years ago, the businessman sold all the shares of the social network and focused on Chinese assets - he has a stake in the Alibaba online retailer, Usmanov invested $ 500 million in smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi. The billionaire is also a co-owner of the London football club Arsenal. In 2015, Usmanov more often appeared in the headlines in connection with his public initiatives: he borrowed 1 billion rubles from the Russian Football Union to help the organization pay off Italian coach Fabio Capello.

4. Vladimir Potanin

Wealth: $12.1 billion

Change for the year: - $3.3 billion

Place in the world ranking: 78 Last year's leader of the Russian Forbes list, Vladimir Potanin, a former employee of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, met his future partner Mikhail Prokhorov in 1991, then head of the Soviet International Bank for Economic Cooperation (IBEC). In 1993, the partners created Oneximbank, which lured IBEC to serve its clients. Oneximbank has become a platform for the construction of the Interros holding. At the loans-for-shares auctions, the tandem of billionaires gained control of the metallurgical giant MMC Norilsk Nickel and the Sidanco oil company. In 2007, Potanin and Prokhorov decided to split the business. Potanin, a former deputy prime minister in Viktor Chernomyrdin's government and George Soros' investment partner in Svyazinvest, has concentrated his assets in Interros. With the support of the state, the billionaire became the largest private investor in the Winter Olympics in Sochi - he built the Rosa Khutor ski resort. In May 2014, Potanin divorced his wife Natalia and married a second time to a subordinate named Ekaterina, the couple already had a child. Natalia filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband - she demands 50% of the billionaire's assets. In the fall of 2015, the Moscow City Court dismissed the claim, Natalia challenged this decision on appeal. The litigation continues.

5. Gennady Timchenko

Wealth: $11.4 billion

YoY change: + $0.7 billion

Place in the world ranking: 85 Co-founder of Gunvor Group, one of the world's largest commodity traders, Gennady Timchenko sold 43% of the company's shares to another of its founders Torbjorn Tornkvist in March 2014, the day before he was on the US sanctions list - according to the authorities USA, the billionaire is in the inner circle of Vladimir Putin. Timchenko, in response to Washington's actions, only stated that "everything in this life has to be paid for, including friendship with the president." In 2015, he continued the sale of assets, including shares in the construction companies SK Most and ARKS and the Sogaz insurance holding. Timchenko's assets today are shares in the Sibur petrochemical holding, the Transoil railway operator and the Stroytransgaz construction group. The businessman also chairs the board of directors of the Continental Hockey League and is president of the St. Petersburg hockey club SKA, winner of the 2015 Gagarin Cup.

6. Alexey Mordashov

Wealth: $10.9 billion

Change for the year: - $2.1 billion

Place in the world ranking: 93 Alexey Mordashov, the main owner of the metallurgical giant Severstal, left the post of the company's CEO in 2015 after nineteen years at the helm. He also guaranteed Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would refrain from short-sighted investments (against the backdrop of the sale of Severstal's North American assets). In addition to the steel industry, Mordashov's business empire extends to tourism (operator TUI), gold mining (Nordgold), heavy engineering ("Power Machines"). A hereditary metallurgist, he literally grew up at the enterprise, quickly built a career and became a financial director, and then bought up shares and became the main owner of Severstal himself. Mordashov is a member of the boards of trustees of the Bolshoi Theatre, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Valaam Monastery and the National Chess Federation. He speaks fluent German and is interested in poetry, art and winter sports.

7. Viktor Vekselberg

Wealth: $10.5 billion

Change for the year: - $3.7 billion

Place in the world ranking: 98 The Russian authorities entrusted Viktor Vekselberg with one of the most ambitious projects - the innovation city of Skolkovo: the billionaire heads the fund of the same name, which oversees the development of the national analogue of Silicon Valley. Since 2010, the fund has issued grants, including to Vekselberg structures, including $13 million for Hevel, an innovative energy company. In 2013, the businessman, together with billionaire partners Mikhail Fridman and Leonard Blavatnik, sold a 50% stake in TNK-BP to the state-owned Rosneft for $28 billion and received $7 billion from the deal. Bickenbach. In 2014, the entrepreneur also acquired Octo Telematics, an Italian manufacturer of software for insurers. Vekselberg has a 6.2% stake in Bank of Cyprus. His industrial conglomerate Renova is a strategic investor in the Swiss market. Among the main assets are shares in the industrial groups Oerlikon and Sulzer. In 2015, Vekselberg spent nearly $1 billion to double his stake in Sulzer to 63%. A native of Ukraine, the future billionaire earned his first money selling scrap metal. In the 1990s, he founded the holding company SUAL. In 2007, SUAL merged assets with the Rusal group and mining Glencore - this is how the world's largest aluminum producer UC Rusal was born, where the billionaire retains a minority stake. In addition, Vekselberg has stakes in petrochemical, consumer and telecommunications businesses. He owns a large collection of art, including nine Faberge Easter eggs, which the billionaire bought from the Forbes family for $100 million. In November 2013, Vekselberg opened a private museum in St. Petersburg, where he exhibited his treasures. In February 2014, the businessman presented a three-room apartment in the Azimut Hotel he built in Sochi to Olympic figure skating champions Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov. Athletes will need their own housing in the capital of the 2014 Games in order to realize the dream of creating a children's school, the philanthropist reasoned. In 2015, Renova handed over Azimuth to the All-Russian Children's Center.

8. Vladimir Lisin

Wealth: $9.3 billion

Change for the year: - $2.3 billion

Place in the world ranking: 116 Vladimir Lisin made a fortune in steel and freight. He began his career as an electrician in the Yuzhkuzbassugol association. After graduating from the institute, he worked at metallurgical enterprises, went from assistant to a steelmaker to deputy general director of the Karaganda Metallurgical Plant. In 1991, together with his leader, who became the Minister of Metallurgy, the future billionaire moved to Moscow. He soon became a partner in the Trans-World Group, which grew within a few years into Russia's leading exporter of aluminum and steel. By that time, Lisin had accumulated rich experience in the management of metallurgical production, so that during the division of assets in 2000, he naturally received ownership of the industry giant, the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works. The billionaire also controls the logistics holding UCL, which owns Freight One. His most famous hobby outside of business is shooting: Lisin built Europe's largest shooting complex, Lisya Nora, in the Moscow region. In January 2016, the billionaire lashed out at the Russian defense industry for lack of competencies in the production of sporting firearms.

9. Vagit Alekperov

Wealth: $8.9 billion

Change for the year: - $3.3 billion

World ranking: 124 Vagit Alekperov heads Lukoil, the largest independent oil producer in Russia, which is exploring the West Qurna-2 field in Iraq, one of the most promising in the world. In 2016, the company plans to invest $1.5 billion in the development of its projects Alekperov is not considered the closest associate of Vladimir Putin, but this did not save Lukoil from US sanctions - restrictions against the company were introduced in September 2014. The main owner of the company plans to transfer the share by inheritance to his son Yusuf - on the condition that he does not sell the asset and the family remains the largest co-owner of the oil giant. Having passed all the career steps in the oil industry, at the sunset of the USSR, the future billionaire even managed to work as an industry minister. In 1991, he privatized three major fields and founded Lukoil. Alekperov is the author of the book "Russian Oil: Past, Present and Future" and the founder of the fund for regional social programs "Our Future", which actively supports social entrepreneurship.

10. Herman Khan Worth: $8.7 billion

YoY change: + $0.8 billion

Place in the world ranking: 128 German Khan, together with Mikhail Fridman and Alexei Kuzmichev, owns Alfa Group, the largest private financial and industrial group in Russia. He worked for a long time as the executive director of the oil company TNK-BP, which he left in March 2013 after the state-owned Rosneft bought out a 50% stake in Alfa and its partners for $28 billion. Khan earned $3.3 billion from the deal. In 2013, together with other Alfa members, he used part of the funds to create LetterOne Holdings SA (L1), which specializes in investments in foreign assets (for example, the German oil and gas company DEA). Khan joined the board of directors of L1. The company's head office is located in London - in the same place in 2010, the billionaire bought a mansion worth $ 91 million. A native of Kyiv, he moved to Moscow with admission to the university. Together with Fridman and Kuzmichev, Khan founded the Alfa-Eco trader in 1989. Two years later, the partners created Alfa-Bank, now the largest private bank in Russia. In the late 1990s, Alfa gained control of TNK and entered into a joint venture with British BP. Other assets of the group include mobile operator VimpelCom and retailer X5 Retail Group.

Wealth: $1.2 billion

Leonid Boguslavsky has been in the IT business since the mid-1980s. In the early 1990s, he managed to be Boris Berezovsky's partner at LogoVAZ and the Russian representative of the Oracle software corporation. In 1993, the businessman exchanged a stake in LogoVAZ for a subsidiary of the company, the LVZ system integrator. Four years later, Boguslavsky sold LVZ to the auditor PriceWaterhouseCoopers for $10 million. The entrepreneur made the bulk of his fortune on successful venture investments, the most successful of which, in the Russian search giant Yandex, was made in the early 2000s. Boguslavsky invests through Ru-Net and RTP Ventures funds. Among his latest investments are the German Delivery Hero, the American DataDog and FreeCharge, and the Indian SnapDeal.

Newcomer: Kirill Shamalov

Wealth: $1.2 billion

Kirill Shamalov is the youngest son of an old acquaintance of Vladimir Putin, co-owner of Rossiya Bank Nikolai Shamalov. According to media reports, he is allegedly the husband of Katerina Tikhonova, the alleged daughter of the President of Russia. Shamalov Jr. is a graduate of St. Petersburg State University. At the age of 26, he became vice president of the Sibur petrochemical holding. In 2014, the entrepreneur acquired 17% of Sibur from another longtime acquaintance of Putin, billionaire Gennady Timchenko. In total, today Kirill Shamalov owns 21.3% of the holding - he is the second co-owner of Sibur after Leonid Mikhelson. In December 2015, the Chinese state company Sinopec acquired 10% of Sibur for $1.339 billion.

10. German Borisovich Khan

The fortune of German Borisovich is estimated at 8.7 billion dollars. This year, the value of his assets has decreased by 800 million. In the world, the tenth representative of the Russian Federation occupies 128th place. Co-owner of a well-known financial and industrial group with a turnover of 2.8 billion dollars. He also manages L1 Energy. This is a company that invests in the oil and gas industry.

Over the past ten years, constantly being in the top 15 richest people in Russia. Married, has two sons and daughters.

9.

The value of assets in his personal possession is estimated at 8.9 billion. Among the world leaders in terms of earned funds, he is in 124th place.

This year, the oligarch has lost three positions. Previously, the state was estimated at 12.2 billion, which made it possible to take sixth place in the ranking. Co-owner of the well-known company Lukoil, as well as its president. In addition, one of the board members of the Skolkovo Innovation Center Foundation. Three years earlier, he owned assets with a total value of 27.8 billion, which allowed him to improve his position in the ratings. The owner of various awards from the Government of the Russian Federation.

8.

The total value of assets held in journalistic data is 9.3 billion. In the world list, he was given 116th position. The current year allowed to enter the rating of the richest people in Russia 2016 Forbes. Vladimir Sergeevich managed to get through thanks to his assets, including one of the metallurgical plants, and the second asset is a well-known holding uniting transport companies.
For two years in a row, in 2010-2011, he appeared in Forbes magazine as the richest man in Russia. He is married and has three sons. He actively collects Kasli iron castings.

7.

Vekselberg deserved the seventh position in the list of the richest people in Russia in 2016. The total value of wealth, according to journalists, is 10.5 billion. This amount allowed him to enter the top 100 richest people in the world and take 98th position.

Under his control is the Skolkovo Foundation. Additionally, he is a key figure in a group of companies called Renova. Previously, he sold shares of one of his companies at an affordable price. This sale made him the richest man in Russia. At that time, according to one of the magazines, his capital was 18 billion. Now he lives in Russia.

6.

He was already included in the list of the richest people in Russia in 2016. Among the world's rich, it ranks 93rd. The oligarch's assets are estimated at 10.9 billion. Under his leadership is the Severstal company, and also manages the large Sever Group company. Owns a 26% stake in a well-known travel company from Germany TUI Group. He is fluent in both English and German.

In his early years, he managed 22.1 billion, which made it possible to be at the top of various lists. For his services he received a large number of orders, thanks and other awards.

5.

Under his management is 11.4 billion. Thanks to the ability to properly invest and accumulate capital, the last five years have allowed him to increase the value of assets five times.

On the world stage, it takes 85th place. Under his control is the Volga Group holding, which unites various companies. He also owns a 23% stake in the well-known gas production company Novatek.

4.

His capital is estimated at 12.1 billion, respectively, a place in the rating is secured. Among the world leaders in wealth, it ranks 78th. Compared to previous years, its assets have decreased in value by approximately $3.3 billion.
Under his control is the company Interros, which carries out private investments. Additionally, Norilsk Nickel is listed as an asset. Earlier, his fortune was estimated at 15.4 billion. This figure allowed Vladimir Olegovich to become the richest representative of Russia in the Forbes world lists.

He worked in the Government of the Russian Federation, and is also involved in charity work and public projects. Over the years, he received many orders and awards.

3.

The three leaders of the rating are opened by the famous businessman Usmanov Alisher Burkhanovich, whose journalists counted 12.5 billion. Among the richest people in the world, he is on the 73rd line. The main source of income is metallurgy, where Metalloinvest holding is the main asset, as well as modern technologies with the mail.ru Group asset. In addition, a large number of publishing houses, TV channels, and radio stations are owned.
For three consecutive years from 2012 to 2014, Alisher Usmanov was the richest businessman in Russia. The assets, which include products of modern technology, allowed him to increase capital and stay at the top of the ratings of the richest people for such a long time.

2.

One of the co-owners of the well-known holding Alfa Group. The holding includes a variety of companies from different industries. A year earlier, the value of assets decreased by 1.3 billion. This is what made it impossible to reach the first position among the richest people in the Russian Federation. Actively participates in both social and political activities. Constantly supports the European Jewish Foundation, which provides support to the Jewish population of Europe.

1. Mikhelson Leonid Viktorovich

Forbes magazine put Mikhelson Leonid Viktorovich in the first place of leadership in this top. The official fortune of the oligarch is estimated at 14.4 billion. The last five years of vigorous activity and investing in various assets have made it possible to increase capital by more than 10 billion. Among the world's billionaires, he is in 60th place.

The main asset is the Novatek company, where he is the main shareholder, as well as the Sibur holding, which operates in the petrochemical industry. Additionally, he has shares in Promsvyazbank. He was awarded various orders and medals.

The list includes 1810 people. Their combined wealth is $6.48 trillion, $570 billion less than a year earlier.

We present the lists of the 10 richest people in the world and the 10 wealthiest Russians.

Forbes World Ranking 2016

1. Bill Gates. Wealth: $75 billion

Change for the year: -$4.2 billion

states: Microsoft

Age: 60

Country: USA

Bill Gates is back at the top of the Forbes world list for the 17th time in 22 years. Gates' 20% net worth this year has earned him a 3% stake in Microsoft, which he owns. His other investments include investments in the Canadian National Railway, the American engineering company Deere & Co., the waste management company Republic Services, and Ecolab.

2. Amancio Ortega. Net worth: $67 billion

YoY change: +$2.5 billion

States: Zara

Age: 79

Country: Spain

Amancio Ortega is the richest man in Europe and the richest retailer in the world. Between 2009 and 2014, Ortega became $45 billion richer thanks to the rapid growth in the value of shares of his asset management company, Inditex. The founder of Zara has received billions of dollars of investments over the years, but most of the funds were spent not on expensive purchases, but returned to the business.

3. Warren Buffett. Wealth: $60.8 billion

Change for the year: -$11.9 billion

States: Berkshire Hathaway

Age: 85

Country: USA

In 2015, Buffett's investment empire Berkshire Hathaway made the biggest deal in its history to buy steelmaker Precision Castparts. An investment holding bought it for $37 billion. Berkshire Hathaway, the fifth-largest corporation in the US, owns Geico, Dairy Queen and Fruit of the Loom, and invests in Wells Fargo, IBM and Coca-Cola. By 2015, the once humble enterprise had grown into the world's fourth-largest corporation by market capitalization, worth $335 billion.

4. Carlos Slim Elu. Wealth: $50 billion

Change for the year: -$27.1 billion

states: telecommunications

Age: 76

Country: Mexico

Elu is the owner of television cameraman America Movil and the largest shareholder in The New York Times publishing house. In January 2015, he increased his stake in the influential publishing house to 17% and retained options for further growth. The billionaire controls industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso, financial Grupo Financiero Inbursa and infrastructure Ideal.

5. Jeff Bezos Wealth: $45.2 billion

YoY change: +$10.4 billion

States: Amazon.com

Age: 52

Country: USA

Jeff Bezos successfully manages three companies. In November 2015, his aerospace company Blue Origin successfully performed a controlled landing of a reusable BE-3 rocket. Amazon earned a record $107 billion in 2015. Basos also owns the American publishing house The Washington Post.

6. Mark Zuckerberg Wealth: $44.6 billion

YoY change: +$11.2 billion

States: Facebook

Age: 31

Country: USA

2015 was the best year for Zuckerberg. The rising price of Facebook brought him an additional $ 11.2 billion to last year's fortune. Facebook's revenue continues to grow, in addition, Zuckerberg is betting on Oculus Rift virtual reality helmets, although the gadget itself is still at the prototype stage. And WhatsApp, bought in 2014 for a record $19 billion, grew by another 1 billion users in February alone.

7. Larry Ellison. Wealth: $43.6 billion

Change for the year: -$10.7 billion

states: Oracle

Age: 71

Country: USA

Larry Ellison stepped down as CEO of Oracle in 2014, leaving behind the positions of director of technology development and chairman of the board of directors. A talented software developer, at the dawn of his career he managed to work for the CIA, after which he founded Oracle in 1977. In 2015, Ellison announced that Oracle would develop cloud software and soon become a competitor to Amazon in this area.

8. Michael Bloomberg Net worth: $40 billion

YoY change: +$4.5 billion

states: Bloomberg L.P.

Age: 74

Country: USA

Bloomberg returned to business in 2015 as CEO of Bloomberg LP, a financial information agency he founded. He intends to breathe new life into the companies that bear his name. First of all, the billionaire reduced staff. The remaining journalists now work more on their profile - on financial and business news.

9-10. Charles Koh. Wealth: $39.6 billion

Change for the year: -$3.3 billion

Age: 80

Country: USA

Brothers Charles and David Kohey are among the most influential figures in American business, philanthropy and politics. The Kochs jointly own the $115 billion family holding Koch Industries. The diversified holding is involved in pipeline construction, oil refining, construction materials, paper towels and cups, and a host of other commodities. Charles Koch has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Koch Industries since 1967. overseeing the intensive growth of the business.

9-10. David Koch

Wealth: $39.6 billion

Change for the year: -$3.3 billion

states: diversified/diverse

Age: 75

Country: USA

David Koch, on an equal footing with his older brother Charles, owns the diversified holding Koch Industries, the second largest private US company after Cargill, worth about $100 billion.

Russian rating Forbes 2016

1. Leonid Mikhelson. Wealth: $14.4 billion

YoY change: + $2.7 billion

2. Mikhail Fridman. Wealth: $13.3 billion

Change for the year: - $1.3 billion

Together with his longtime student business partners German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev, he controls Alfa Group, Russia's largest financial and industrial investment group. Alfa's largest projects include the second largest Russian retailer X5, shares in the telecommunications holdings VimpelCom and Turkcell.

3. Alisher Usmanov. Wealth: $12.5 billion

Change for the year: - $1.9 billion

4. Vladimir Potanin. Wealth: $12.1 billion

Change for the year: - $ 3.3 billion

Vladimir Potanin, the leader of the Russian Forbes list last year, is the owner and president of the management company Interros, one of the largest in Russia (owns stakes in MMC Norilsk Nickel, the ProfEstate group, the ProfMedia holding and the Rosa Khutor company), general director of MMC Norilsk Nickel.

5. Gennady Timchenko. Wealth: $11.4 billion

YoY change: + $0.7 billion

Timchenko's assets today are shares in the Sibur petrochemical holding, the Transoil railway operator and the Stroytransgaz construction group. The businessman also chairs the board of directors of the Continental Hockey League and is president of the St. Petersburg hockey club SKA, winner of the 2015 Gagarin Cup.

6. Alexey Mordashov. Wealth: $10.9 billion

Change for the year: - $ 2.1 billion

Alexey Mordashov, the main owner of the metallurgical giant Severstal, left the post of the company's CEO in 2015 after standing at the helm for 19 years. In addition to the steel industry, Mordashov's business empire extends to tourism (operator TUI), gold mining (Nordgold), heavy engineering ("Power Machines").

7. Viktor Vekselberg. Wealth: $10.5 billion

Change for the year: - $ 3.7 billion

The Russian authorities entrusted Viktor Vekselberg with one of the most ambitious projects - the innovation city of Skolkovo: the billionaire heads the fund of the same name, which oversees the development of the national analogue of Silicon Valley. Vekselberg has a 6.2% stake in Bank of Cyprus. His industrial conglomerate Renova is a strategic investor in the Swiss market. Among the main assets are shares in the industrial groups Oerlikon and Sulzer. In 2015, Vekselberg spent nearly $1 billion to double his stake in Sulzer to 63%.

8. Vladimir Lisin. Wealth: $9.3 billion

Change for the year: - $ 2.3 billion

Vladimir Lisin made a fortune in steel and freight. The billionaire controls the logistics holding UCL, which owns Freight One. In the 1990s, he became a partner in the Trans-World Group, which in a few years grew into a leading Russian exporter of aluminum and steel. During the division of assets in 2000, he naturally received ownership of the giant of the industry - the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works.

9. Vagit Alekperov. Wealth: $8.9 billion

Change for the year: - $ 3.3 billion

10. German Khan. Wealth: $8.7 billion

YoY change: + $0.8 billion

American Forbes on Tuesday, March 1, published the annual, 30th in a row - anniversary - rating of world billionaires. The list includes 77 representatives of Russia, 11 less than a year earlier: big business continues to suffer losses due to the economic crisis, the collapse of oil prices and the sanctions war with the West. Leonid Mikhelson, co-owner of Novatek and Sibur, headed the Russian part of the rating - for the first time in history. Read more about the ten richest Russians and four newcomers from Russia in the list - further.

1. Leonid Mikhelson
Wealth: $14.4 billion
YoY change: + $2.7 billion
Place in the world ranking: 60

Leonid Mikhelson is the main shareholder of Russia's largest independent gas producer Novatek and the petrochemical holding Sibur. He also owns a minority stake in Promsvyazbank. Mikhelson's partner in Novatek and Sibur is Gennady Timchenko. Another co-owner of the petrochemical holding is Kirill Shamalov, who is referred to by the media as the alleged husband of Katerina Tikhonova, the alleged daughter of Vladimir Putin. Shamalov acquired a stake in Sibur from Timchenko after American sanctions were imposed against a longtime acquaintance of the Russian president. At the end of 2015, the Chinese Sinopec bought 10% of Sibur for $1.3 billion. Mikhelson is an avid art collector and sponsors exhibitions in Russia and the United States. His father was the director of the construction trust Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy - the largest in the system of the Ministry of Construction of the Oil and Gas Industry of the USSR.

2. Mikhail Fridman
Wealth: $13.3 billion
Change for the year: - $1.3 billion
Place in the world ranking: 63

Together with his longtime student business partners German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev, he controls Alfa Group, Russia's largest financial and industrial investment group. In 2013, the state-owned Rosneft bought 50% of oil TNK-BP, which billionaires owned on a parity basis with British BP, from Mikhail Fridman, Viktor Vekselberg and Leonard Blavatnik for $28 billion. Friedman earned $5.1 billion from the deal. In 2013, this money was partly used to launch a new Alfa structure - LetterOne Holdings S.A. (L1), on the balance sheet of which were the foreign assets of the investment group and who was entrusted with control over M&A transactions abroad. In particular, in 2015 L1 acquired the German oil and gas company Dea RWE for $5.7 billion. Among the largest projects of Alfa are the second largest Russian retailer X5, shares in the telecommunications holdings VimpelCom and Turkcell. A native of Ukraine, Friedman moved to Moscow as a young man to attend university. In 1989, together with Khan and Kuzmichev, he founded the Alfa-Eco company, which laid the foundation for the construction of one of the main business empires in Russia. Two years later, the partners created Alfa-Bank, now the largest private bank in the country.

3. Alisher Usmanov
Wealth: $12.5 billion
Change for the year: – $1.9 billion
Place in the world ranking: 73

Alisher Usmanov, who topped Russia's Forbes list for several consecutive years, runs one of the country's most sprawling business empires. Among its assets are the metallurgical holding Metalloinvest, Russia's second largest mobile operator Megafon, and the publishing house Kommersant. In 2014, the billionaire sold 12% of the USM Holdings management holding to his longtime junior business partners and key top managers. Usmanov is a member of a number of important lobbying organizations, including the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. In 2013, he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree. One of the early investors of Facebook, three years ago, the businessman sold all the shares of the social network and focused on Chinese assets - he has a stake in the Alibaba online retailer, Usmanov invested $ 500 million in smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi. The billionaire is also a co-owner of the London football club Arsenal. In 2015, Usmanov made more headlines for his public initiatives: he loaned 1 billion rubles to the Russian Football Union to help the organization pay off Italian coach Fabio Capello.

4. Vladimir Potanin
Wealth: $12.1 billion
Change for the year: – $3.3 billion
Place in the world ranking: 78

Last year, the leader of the Russian Forbes list, Vladimir Potanin, a former employee of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, in 1991 met his future partner Mikhail Prokhorov, then head of the Soviet International Bank for Economic Cooperation (IBEC). In 1993, the partners created Oneximbank, which lured IBEC to serve its clients. Oneximbank has become a platform for the construction of the Interros holding. At the loans-for-shares auctions, the tandem of billionaires gained control of the metallurgical giant MMC Norilsk Nickel and the Sidanco oil company. In 2007, Potanin and Prokhorov decided to split the business. Potanin, a former deputy prime minister in Viktor Chernomyrdin's government and George Soros' investment partner in Svyazinvest, has concentrated his assets in Interros. With state support, the billionaire became the largest private investor in the Winter Olympics in Sochi - he built the Rosa Khutor ski resort. In May 2014, Potanin divorced his wife Natalia and married a second time to a subordinate named Ekaterina, the couple already had a child. Natalia filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband - she demands 50% of the billionaire's assets. In the fall of 2015, the Moscow City Court dismissed the claim, Natalia challenged this decision on appeal. The litigation continues.

5. Gennady Timchenko
Wealth: $11.4 billion
YoY change: + $0.7 billion
Place in the world ranking: 85

The co-founder of Gunvor Group, one of the world's largest commodity traders, Gennady Timchenko sold a 43% stake in the company to another of its founders, Torbjorn Tornquist, in March 2014, the day before he was on the US sanctions list - according to US authorities, the billionaire is included in the near circle of Vladimir Putin. Timchenko, in response to Washington's actions, only stated that "everything in this life has to be paid for, including friendship with the president." In 2015, he continued the sale of assets, including shares in the construction companies SK Most and ARKS and the Sogaz insurance holding. Timchenko's assets today are shares in the Sibur petrochemical holding, the Transoil railway operator and the Stroytransgaz construction group. The businessman also chairs the board of directors of the Continental Hockey League and is president of the St. Petersburg hockey club SKA, winner of the 2015 Gagarin Cup.

6. Alexey Mordashov
Wealth: $10.9 billion
Change for the year: – $2.1 billion
Place in the world ranking: 93

Alexey Mordashov, the main owner of the metallurgical giant Severstal, left the post of the company's CEO in 2015 after standing at the helm for 19 years. He also guaranteed Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would refrain from short-sighted investments (against the backdrop of the sale of Severstal's North American assets). In addition to the steel industry, Mordashov's business empire extends to tourism (operator TUI), gold mining (Nordgold), heavy engineering ("Power Machines"). A hereditary metallurgist, he literally grew up at the enterprise, quickly built a career and became a financial director, and then bought up shares and became the main owner of Severstal himself. Mordashov is a member of the boards of trustees of the Bolshoi Theatre, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Valaam Monastery and the National Chess Federation. He speaks fluent German and is interested in poetry, art and winter sports.

7. Viktor Vekselberg
Wealth: $10.5 billion
Change for the year: – $3.7 billion
Place in the world ranking: 98

The Russian authorities entrusted Viktor Vekselberg with one of the most ambitious projects - the innovation city of Skolkovo: the billionaire heads the fund of the same name, which oversees the development of the national analogue of Silicon Valley. Since 2010, the fund has issued grants to Vekselberg structures, including $13 million for Hevel, an innovative energy company. In 2013, the businessman, together with billionaire partners Mikhail Fridman and Leonard Blavatnik, sold a 50% stake in TNK-BP to the state-owned Rosneft for $28 billion and received $7 billion from the deal. He spent part of the funds to buy 25% in the Swiss steel company Schmolz +Bickenbach. In 2014, the entrepreneur also acquired Octo Telematics, an Italian manufacturer of software for insurers. Vekselberg has a 6.2% stake in Bank of Cyprus. His industrial conglomerate Renova is a strategic investor in the Swiss market. Among the main assets are shares in the industrial groups Oerlikon and Sulzer. In 2015, Vekselberg spent nearly $1 billion to double his stake in Sulzer to 63%. A native of Ukraine, the future billionaire earned his first money selling scrap metal. In the 1990s, he founded the holding company SUAL. In 2007, SUAL merged assets with the Rusal group and mining Glencore - this is how the world's largest aluminum producer UC Rusal was born, where the billionaire retains a minority stake. In addition, Vekselberg has stakes in petrochemical, consumer and telecommunications businesses. He owns a large collection of art, including nine Faberge Easter eggs, which the billionaire bought from the Forbes family for $100 million. In November 2013, Vekselberg opened a private museum in St. Petersburg, where he exhibited his treasures. In February 2014, the businessman presented a three-room apartment in the Azimut Hotel he built in Sochi to Olympic figure skating champions Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov. Athletes will need their own housing in the capital of the 2014 Games in order to realize the dream of creating a children's school, the philanthropist reasoned. In 2015, Renova handed over Azimuth to the All-Russian Children's Center.

8. Vladimir Lisin
Wealth: $9.3 billion
Change for the year: – $2.3 billion
Place in the world ranking: 116

Vladimir Lisin made a fortune in steel and freight. He began his career as an electrician in the Yuzhkuzbassugol association. After graduating from the institute, he worked at metallurgical enterprises, went from assistant to a steelmaker to deputy general director of the Karaganda Metallurgical Plant. In 1991, together with his leader, who became the Minister of Metallurgy, the future billionaire moved to Moscow. He soon became a partner in the Trans-World Group, which grew within a few years into Russia's leading exporter of aluminum and steel. By that time, Lisin had accumulated rich experience in the management of metallurgical production, so that during the division of assets in 2000, he naturally received ownership of the industry giant, the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works. The billionaire also controls the logistics holding UCL, which owns Freight One. His most famous hobby outside of business is shooting: Lisin built Europe's largest shooting complex, Lisya Nora, in the Moscow region. In January 2016, the billionaire lashed out at the Russian defense industry for incompetence in the production of sporting firearms.

9. Vagit Alekperov
Wealth: $8.9 billion
Change for the year: – $3.3 billion
Place in the world ranking: 124

Vagit Alekperov heads Lukoil, Russia's largest independent oil producer, which is exploring the West Qurna-2 field in Iraq, one of the most promising in the world. In 2016, the company plans to invest $1.5 billion in the development of its projects. Alekperov is not considered the closest associate of Vladimir Putin, but this did not save Lukoil from US sanctions - restrictions against the company were introduced in September 2014. The main owner of the company plans to transfer the share by inheritance to his son Yusuf - on the condition that he does not sell the asset and the family remains the largest co-owner of the oil giant. Having passed all the career steps in the oil industry, at the sunset of the USSR, the future billionaire even managed to work as an industry minister. In 1991, he privatized three large fields and created Lukoil. Alekperov is the author of the book Russian Oil: Past, Present and Future and founder of the Our Future Fund for Regional Social Programs, which actively supports social entrepreneurship.

10. German Khan
Wealth: $8.7 billion
YoY change: + $0.8 billion
Place in the world ranking: 128

German Khan, together with Mikhail Fridman and Alexei Kuzmichev, owns Alfa Group, the largest private financial and industrial group in Russia. He worked for a long time as the executive director of the oil company TNK-BP, which he left in March 2013, after the state-owned Rosneft bought a 50% stake in Alfa and its partners for $28 billion. Khan earned $3.3 billion from the deal. In 2013, together with other Alfa members, he used part of the funds to create LetterOne Holdings S.A. (L1), which specializes in investments in foreign assets (for example, the German oil and gas company DEA was acquired for €5.1 billion). Khan joined the board of directors of L1. The company is headquartered in London, where in 2010 the billionaire bought a mansion worth $91 million. A native of Kyiv, he moved to Moscow, having entered the university. Together with Fridman and Kuzmichev, Khan founded the Alfa-Eco trader in 1989. Two years later, the partners created Alfa-Bank, now the largest private bank in Russia. In the late 1990s, Alfa gained control of TNK and entered into a joint venture with British BP. Other assets of the group include mobile operator VimpelCom and retailer X5 Retail Group.

Newcomer: Mikail Shishkhanov
Wealth: $1.6 billion
Place in the world ranking: 1110

In 1992, as a student at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Mikail Shishkhanov began working for the BIN Group, founded by his uncle, billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev. Since 1994 he has been working at Binbank, today he is in the status of its head. He also oversees the group's construction assets. Under the leadership of Shishkhanov, BIN pulled off a series of transactions in the financial sector in 2015, including buying MDM Bank from billionaire Sergei Popov and a non-state pension fund from Raiffeisenbank.

Newcomer: Sait-Salam Gutseriev

In 1999-2008, State Duma deputy, Sait-Salam Gutseriev, since 1993, has been working in senior positions in the BIN Group, founded by his older brother Mikhail Gutseriev. In the group, he is a junior business partner. Sait-Salam oversees BIN development projects, in particular, manages the National and Sheraton hotels in the center of Moscow. The group's rental income in 2015 was $430 million.

Newcomer: Leonid Boguslavsky
Wealth: $1.2 billion

Leonid Boguslavsky has been in the IT business since the mid-1980s. In the early 1990s, he managed to be a partner of Boris Berezovsky in the LogoVAZ company and a Russian representative of the Oracle software corporation. In 1992, the businessman exchanged a stake in LogoVAZ for a subsidiary of the company, the LVS system integrator. Four years later, Boguslavsky sold LVS to the auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers for $10 million. The entrepreneur made the bulk of his fortune on successful venture investments, the most successful of which, in the Russian search giant Yandex, was made in the early 2000s. Boguslavsky invests through ru-Net and RTP Ventures funds. Among his latest investments are the German Delivery Hero, the American DataDog, the Indian SnapDeal and FreeCharge.

Newcomer: Kirill Shamalov
Wealth: $1.2 billion
Place in the world ranking: 1466

Every year, Forbes magazine, which is responsible for educating the electorate in terms of finance and economics, compiles lists of the wealthiest people in different countries. Let's get acquainted with the list richest people in Russia in 2016 according to Forbes.

1. Leonid Mikhelson

Leonid Mikhelson is the richest person in Russia in the Forbes ranking for 2016. The sixty-one-year-old entrepreneur joined the engineering business by inheritance from his father, who was once engaged in the construction of an oil pipeline. After graduating from the institute, the future billionaire began to work on the path of gas. Starting as an engineer, he soon became the head of the trust founded by his father, which was one of the first in the region to go through the process of corporatization and transfer entirely to private hands. Subsequently, the gas company was renamed into Novatek OJSC, where Mikhelson is to this day the largest shareholder and chairman of the board. In addition to Novatek, he holds the post of chairman of the board of directors in the Sibur petrochemical holding. He organized a foundation representing the interests of contemporary Russian art in the West, was awarded a couple of significant awards from the state. Leonid Mikhelson's fortune is $14.4 billion.

2. Mikhail Fridman

The second place in the ranking of the richest people in Russia in 2016 according to Forbes was taken by Mikhail Fridman with a fortune of 13.3 billion US dollars. Having exchanged half a century, Friedman currently lives in the capital of Great Britain, has dual citizenship - Russian and Israeli. In his hypothetical work book, participation in the board of such conglomerates as Alfa Group and VimpelCom can be entered, has weight in the Russian Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists and the Russian Jewish Congress. Although Mikhail was born into an engineering family, and also graduated from the Institute of Steel and Alloys, he won his first financial victories on a different front. The window cleaning company gave Friedman the first big profits, which later became the basis of his future fortune. While trading in computer equipment, photographic materials and other goods, he nevertheless found out for himself that working in the oil business would bring big profits. Most of the enterprises organized by him have the prefix "Alpha", which, as it were, indicates the importance of Friedman in the circles in which he rotates.

3. Alisher Usmanov

In his sixty-two years, this richest entrepreneur in Russia has managed to do a lot, for which in 2013 he was included in the list of fifty most influential people in the world. Winner of several state awards, philanthropist and big businessman Alisher Usmanov ranks third among the richest people in Russia with 12.5 billion US dollars. Since childhood, he had a sense of purpose, which led him, in the end, to the first places in various significant lists. He worked in senior positions in many banks and financial companies, was related to the gas and mining and metallurgical business, mobile operators and the Internet business. Alisher Usmanov helps the development of Russian sports and spends hundreds of millions of dollars each for charity. It is related to the gratuitous return to Russia of some valuable collections of art objects.

4. Vladimir Potanin

Vladimir Potanin is in fourth place in the Forbes ranking of the richest billionaires in Russia this year. The fortune is $ 12.1 billion. This person was related not only to business and entrepreneurship. At one time, he managed to work in the government of the Russian Federation. He most likely developed his skills while working in the foreign trade system of the Soviet Union, from where he moved into private business. Private investment and mining metallurgy became a natural result of Potanin's many years of practice on the waves of entrepreneurship. At one time, he managed to obtain controlling stakes in the companies Svyazinvest and Norilsk Nickel, through participation in financial transactions through banking structures. Not the last place in Potanin's life is occupied by charity and social activities. He has weight in the Russian Geographical Society, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Union of Industrialists. He has an impressive list of state awards.

With $11.4 billion, Gennady Timchenko is ranked 5th in the Forbes magazine ranking. Russian-Finnish entrepreneur, born in Leninakan, but currently holding Russian and Finnish citizenship. The activities of the sixty-three-year-old businessman range from hockey, to Russian-Chinese business relations, from investments in transport structures and energy, to participation in the board of trustees of a geographical society. The personality is quite multifaceted. Gennady Timchenko started his activities in foreign trade, and in the early 90s of the XX century he settled in Finland, where he settled in senior positions in Finnish companies. At the moment, he has shares in companies dealing with gas, oil, coal, as well as some investments in the insurance, banking business and other financially profitable organizations. He is intensively engaged in social activities and charity, he is seen in friendly relations with the current Russian president.

6. Alexey Mordashov

Like most of his colleagues on the list, Mordashev began with an institute engineering education, but with the goal of achieving some heights, unlike most engineers, he was able to find his own path to entrepreneurial activity. The beginning of financial success can be considered the assumption of the position of financial director of a metallurgical plant in the city of Cherepovets, later renamed Severstal OJSC. Having received good financial support in the field of metallurgy, Mordashev began to establish international relations, as a result of which he flickers in ties with Siemens and the World Steel Association. The owner of more than a dozen government awards and a fortune of $10.9 billion.

Seventh in the list of the richest businessmen in Russia is Viktor Vekselberg with a fortune of $ 10.5 billion. Over his sixty years, he managed to join science as a simple researcher and even head of a laboratory, which is why he is currently the president of the Skolkovo Foundation. In the nineties of the XX century, Viktor Vekselberg held senior positions at enterprises related to the Russian aluminum production, and was also seen in oil refining companies. He is one of the ardent supporters of investing in the economy of the Russian Federation on a long-term basis. He is the founder of the Link of Times Foundation, which plays an important role in the return of many cultural values to their historical homeland. Viktor Vekselberg has a significant role in the Union of Industrialists of Russia, and is also the recognized leader of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.

8. Vladimir Lisin

Sixty-year-old entrepreneur Vladimir Lisin boasts an impressive list of diplomas from a variety of educational backgrounds, and, thanks to a net worth of $9.3 billion, is one of the richest people. He started as a simple locksmith, who later worked his way up to the first lines of various financial ratings. Lisin's main sources of income at the moment are participation in the metallurgical industry and transport logistics. He was seen in banking and participation in the management of shipbuilding companies. Doctor of Science and honorary metallurgist, is the author of more than four dozen public publications, including ten books and several patents for inventions. In connection with his passion for shooting sports, Vladimir Lisin allows himself to give up entrepreneurial affairs and act as a commentator on the Match! Arena".

The main activity of this rich man in Russia is oil structures, which was most likely the result of heredity - Vagit Alekperov's father was an oilman. He started as a simple oil production operator, and therefore knows the activity, which is called “from the inside”. Climbing up the career ladder from operator, senior engineer, to the highest managerial levels, he managed to get to the ministerial chair. Working all his life in the field of oil production, and holding not the last positions in such organizations as Surgutneftegaz, Bashneft and Lukoil, the billionaire allowed himself to devote time to social activities, for which he was repeatedly awarded by the government, as well as scientific activities - on he is currently an honorary professor and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Alekperov's fortune is measured by 8.9 billion dollars.

The last place among the 10 richest people in Russia in 2016 according to Forbes was German Khan, with a fortune of $ 8.7 billion. This billionaire, before becoming a major investment entrepreneur, managed to get acquainted with the work of a locksmith and tailoring. Later he worked on the wave of wholesale trade, after which he got to the oil companies, as deputy chairman of the board. Having completed several major transactions for the reorganization of large oil conglomerates, he currently oversees international investment projects from the Alfa Group company that support the oil and gas sector. In addition to the oil industry, he is well versed in the banking sector, in connection with which he is a member of the Supervisory Board responsible for financial operations in the Alfa group of companies.