Accumulated wealth of Russia's top 10 billionaires shrinks by $75 billion in 2022

The aggregated wealth of Russia’s richest billionaires have declined by $75.1 billion since the beginning of this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (BBI).

The BBI, an index daily updated according to changes in the stock markets, includes 500 of the richest people in the world with 23 Russians currently, whose total wealth as of December 1 equals $296.03 billion.

The richest of them is the major shareholder of “Nornikel” Vladimir Potanin, whose fortune increased by $92.6 million since the beginning of 2022 to reach $31 billion. He is only of two people on the list whose wealth has increased this year. 

Meanwhile, the wealth of Leonid Michelson who is the co-owner of “Novatek” and ranks second in the list decreased by $5.07 billion, down to $27.4 billion.

The third place goes to the CEO of the steel and mining company “Severstal” Alexey Mordashov, whose assets also decreased, by $7.79 billion down to $21 billion. He also owns 30% of the TUI Group, which is one of the world's largest travel and tourism companies.

Vladimir Lisin, the Chairman and majority shareholder at the “Novolipetsk” steel company made it to number four with a wealth of $20.8 billion, which has dropped by $7.22 billion since the beginning of the year.

Number five is the oil giant “Lukoil”s co-owner Vagit Alakbarov, who has left the board of directors and his position as the President of the company earlier this year after having expressed critical views on Vladimir Putin’s war efforts in Ukraine. Alakbarov’s losses, who is of Azerbaijani ethnicity, has amounted to $1.78bn since the beginning of this year, resulting in an overall wealth of $20 billion. Bloomberg recalculated his condition, however, taking into account his entire share in one of the world’s largest vertically integrated oil & gas companies, which resulted in an increase of $12 billion to his wealth.

The sixth place goes to Alisher Usmanov (“Metalloinvest”, “Megafon”), whose portfolio has decreased by $1.42 billion since the beginning of the year and is now estimated at $19.8 billion. His wife, Irina Viner-Usmanova is the Head Coach of Russia's national rhythmic gymnastics team and the President of the sport's Federation, which is one of the most important and promoted sports disciplines for the country. 

Gennady Timchenko, another co-owner and major shareholder of “Novatek” and also that of “Sibur”. He had previously sold part of his share in “Sibur” to Kirill Shamalov, the former son-in-law of President Putin, who in turn sold them to current number 2 in the list, Mikhelson. His wealth also decreased, by $8.48 billion and now amounts to $13.9 billion.

In eighth place is the former shareholder and founder of “EuroChem Group” and coal producer SUEK, Andrey Melnichenko. His fortune decreased by $3.69 billion, to $13.8 billion.

The ninth place was taken by Mikhail Prokhorov of the “Onexim” investment group. His fortune decreased from the beginning of 2022 by $627 million, to $13.3 billion. Due to his company’s investments in nanotechnology, Prokhorov has been appointed to the Russian government council for nanotechnology.

The top ten is closed by one of the co-founders of “Alpha Group” Mikhail Friedman, whose wealth decreased by $2.59 billion and amounted to $11.4 billion. His company owns one of Russia’s largest private banks, Alfa Bank, which has remained largely untouched by sanctions in the finance industry in comparison to all other major banks.

Caliber.Az reports, that the BBI is currently headed by the Head of Tesla, SpaceX and now Twitter Elon Musk with a total net worth of $189 billion, followed by Bernard Arnault ($167 billion), the Head of the luxury retail giant LVMH. The owner of India’s largest port operator, Gautam Adani, has a recorded net worth of $130 billion, ranking at the list’s number three.