Wealth
Who Are the Russian Oligarchs?
Who are the Russian Oligarchs?
Russia’s richest individuals have lost more than $38 billion in 2022 because of Western sanctions on Russia in reprisal for the invasion of Ukraine.
Together, the top 10 Russian oligarchs have a net worth of $186 billion, equivalent to the market cap of large publicly-traded companies like McDonald’s and AMD.
But who are the Russian ultra-rich? In today’s graphic, we use data from Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index to show Russia’s richest individuals… and how much they’ve lost due to the war so far.
Metals, Art, Luxury, and Sports
The richest person in Russia, Vladimir Potanin, has a 35% stake in Moscow-listed Nornickel.
The company is the world’s biggest producer of palladium, a metal used in vehicle catalytic converters, and also the world’s largest producer of nickel, an essential metal for EV batteries and renewable energy.
Rank | Name | Net worth USD | $ YTD change* | Bloomberg List |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | Vladimir Potanin | $25.9B | -$5.00B | 53 |
#2 | Leonid Mikhelson | $22.6B | -$9.87B | 66 |
#3 | Alexey Mordashov | $22.5B | -$6.32B | 67 |
#4 | Vladimir Lisin | $21.6B | -$6.44B | 69 |
#5 | Alisher Usmanov | $19.0B | -$2.25B | 89 |
#6 | Andrey Melnichenko | $17.8B | +$0.35B | 99 |
#7 | Viktor Vekselberg | $16.7B | -$1.79B | 107 |
#8 | Roman Abramovich | $14.1B | -$3.90B | 132 |
#9 | Mikhail Prokhorov | $13.8B | -$0.23B | 138 |
#10 | Suleiman Kerimov | $11.8B | -$3.37B | 177 |
Total | $185.8B | -$38.8B |
*Based on Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of March 24, 2022
Former First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and a close associate to President Vladimir Putin, Potanin is a major benefactor of the arts. He recently stepped down from the board of the Guggenheim Museum, after 20 years as a trustee.
Arts and luxury are common among the Russian oligarchs.
The Russian ultra-rich are also among the biggest owners of private jets and superyachts—some of which are getting snagged by law enforcement as part of the sanctions designed to crack down on Russia.
The fifth-richest man in Russia, Alisher Usmanov, owns Dilbar, the largest motor yacht in the world by gross tonnage. The boat is 512-feet long and reportedly cost $800 million, employing 84 full-time crew members.
Named after Usmanov’s mother, the yacht was seized by German authorities who later discovered that it’s really owned by a Malta-based firm and registered in the Cayman Islands.
Besides art and luxury, the Russian oligarchs are also deeply involved with sports.
Roman Abramovich, once Russia’s richest man, is the departing owner of Chelsea Football Club, a London-based soccer team. He was sanctioned by the UK while trying to sell the club for $3.9B.
Besides Abramovich, Mikhail Prokhorov—founder of Onexim Group, a Moscow-based company with interests in banking, insurance, and real estate—owned the Brooklyn Nets basketball team and its home arena from 2009 to 2019.
The list also includes Vladimir Lisin, chairman of the steel group NLMK. A shooting sports enthusiast, he is the president of the European Shooting Confederation.
Fading Fortunes? Not so Fast
This is not the first time Russian oligarchs have faced tough economic sanctions. Since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, 20 Russian billionaires have been sanctioned by the EU, U.S., U.K., Switzerland, or Canada.
Most of them have real estate ownership in relatives’ names or have assets registered in tax havens like the British Virgin Islands or the Isle of Man.
For example, upon being hit by sanctions, steel baron Alexey Mordashov transferred his majority stake in gold miner Nordgold to his wife, Marina.
Despite the crash of the ruble and the tanking of the Moscow stock market, Russian oligarchs are still able to shield their money and assets in creative ways.
Money
Charted: Donald Trump’s Net Worth (2014-2024)
See how the Nasdaq debut of Trump Media & Technology Group has influenced Trump’s net worth, according to Forbes estimates.
Charted: Donald Trump’s Net Worth (2014-2024)
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
On March 26, 2024, Trump Media & Technology Group (Ticker: DJT) debuted on the Nasdaq exchange, climbing over 30% in its first two days of trading. This gave the company a valuation of $9.4 billion, greatly increasing Donald Trump’s net worth.
To put this increase into perspective, we’ve visualized the past 10 years of Trump’s wealth as measured by Forbes.
Trump’s Net Worth Jumps After Nasdaq Listing
The data we used to create this graphic can be found in the table below. As of April 1, 2024, Trump’s net worth was measured at $5.7 billion. Note that Forbes updates this value regularly.
Year | Net Worth ($B) |
---|---|
2014 | 3.9 |
2015 | 4.1 |
2016 | 4.5 |
2017 | 3.5 |
2018 | 3.1 |
2019 | 3.1 |
2020 | 2.1 |
2021 | 2.4 |
2022 | 3.0 |
2023 | 2.5 |
2024 (As of April 1) | 5.7 |
It’s safe to say that going forward, Trump’s net worth will be largely influenced by the value of his stake in Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). SEC filings have revealed that the former president has a stake of at least 58.1% in the company.
What is Trump Media & Technology Group?
TMTG is a media company founded in 2021 by Trump, debuting on the Nasdaq as a public company after merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Also known as “blank check companies”, SPACs are shell corporations listed on a stock exchange that acquire a private company with the purpose of making it public (without going through an IPO).
TMTG released its X (formerly Twitter) competitor, Truth Social, in Feb 2022. According to estimates from SimilarWeb, the platform had around 5 million monthly users as of Feb 2024.
DJT Slips After Reporting Weak Financials
After its hot debut on the Nasdaq, DJT shares have stumbled, falling by more than 20% on April 1. This is due to recent disclosures which revealed that the company lost over $58 million in 2023.
Revenue in 2023 was $4.1 million, which is higher than the $1.5 million generated in 2022.
Learn More About the World’s Wealthiest Individuals
If you found this post interesting, check out our annual list of the world’s richest people, or this graphic ranking the world’s richest monarchs.
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