According to the annual survey by Finans magazine, the number of Russian billionaires had grown to 101 from 61 a year earlier. Russia ranked second in the world by this measure after the United States (415 billionaires), ahead of Germany (60). The list was topped by 40-year-old metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, with a fortune estimated at $40 billion. Second place went to 41-year-old Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club, with $23 billion.
Economic Background
As the newspaper noted, Russian companies sold a record $33 billion worth of shares in 2007, while rising prices for oil, gas and coal ensured a flow of funds into the treasury. Analysts pointed out that big businessmen were diversifying assets away from traditional extractive industries into new areas such as car manufacturing and retail trade, against the backdrop of growing purchasing power among Russians.
According to the magazine, Deripaska became the richest man for the first time the previous year with $21.2 billion, but he rejected those figures at the time in an interview with The Guardian, saying he knew "a dozen people who should be above me." In February 2008, a representative of the businessman questioned the new data: "We don't understand their method of valuing the data. They haven't spoken to us about it. It is very different from our estimate, which is around $20 billion." However, Finans insisted that Deripaska's lead was indisputable and would last "a long time."
Belkovsky's Estimates and Putin's Reaction
The publication noted that Vladimir Putin was not on the list of Russia's richest people. In recent interviews with the press, political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky suggested that Putin's personal fortune was $40 billion. According to Belkovsky, Putin had secretly acquired large stakes in three Russian oil and gas companies. At an annual press conference the previous week, Putin rejected those reports, calling them "garbage dug out of someone's nose and smeared on paper."
The article also mentioned other figures on the list: Viktor Vekselberg (ninth place, $15.5 billion), known for buying the Fabergé egg collection for around $100 million, and Alisher Usmanov (12th place, $13.3 billion), a shareholder in London's Arsenal, who in September 2007 bought the art collection of the late cellist Mstislav Rostropovich for $40 million for a state museum. Boris Berezovsky, who lives in London, was ranked 80th with $1.3 billion, while Mikhail Khodorkovsky, convicted of fraud in 2005, did not make the list of the 500 richest people.
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