Russia's Richest Billionaires
Russia's top ten billionaires are all self-made businessmen who made their fortunes in the heady and sometimes chaotic business world that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Many state enterprises were privatized at that time and Russia was ripe for entrepreneurs snapping up formerly state-owned assets in metals, mining and the financial sector.
The top ten billionaires on this list all started their rise to wealth during the 1990s. Now, many are global names in the world of business, owning diverse interests from global mining companies and banks to basketball and football clubs.
Some of the men on this list are more obscure than others, lone players in business, others are business partners and associates. While some have been more "quiet" spenders, others have been more lavish with their wealth, buying yachts, multi-million dollar homes and hunting lodges as well as dating beautiful women.
This list was compiled for CNBC by research firm Wealth-X, which compiles intelligence on ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals.
Written by Holly Ellyatt, Images by Bianca Schlotterbeck.
Published on July 24, 2013.
Number 9: Alexey Mordashov
Net Worth: $10.1 billion
Chief Executive of Severstal
Billionaire Alexey Mordashov is nicknamed "the tank", according to the BBC, a moniker he may have earned from his relentless rise to power and wealth. Born in 1965, Mordashov is the son of mill workers and started his career at the Cherepovets Steel Mill in north-western Russia in 1988.
Mordashov made his fortune after the privatization of Cherepovets, in which he was a major shareholder, following the fall of the Soviet Union. Cherepovets was renamed "Severstal" and is now one of the largest steelmakers in Russia.
Mordashov was made chief financial officer of Severstal in 1992 and chief executive in 2006. He owns 82 percent of the company, according to the Financial Times. He is also the chairman of the World Steel Association and holds degrees from both the Leningrad Institute of Engineering and Economics and the Newcastle Business School of Northumbria University in the U.K.
Number 8: German Khan
Net Worth: $11.1 billion
Co-founder of Alfa Group
German Khan is the co-owner of one of Russia's largest privately owned investment groups, the Alfa Group Consortium, which he founded with Mikhail Fridman (who's higher up the list) and Alexei Kuzmichev. The three started commodities trading-outfit Alfa-Eco in 1989, before launching Alfa Bank, now Russia's largest private bank, two years later. The Alfa Group has since built up interests in commercial and investment banking, asset management, insurance, retail, telecommunications and water utilities.
The Alfa Group bought Tyumen Oil from the state in the late 1990s and merged it with BP's Russian assets, forming TNK-BP. The group later sold their share in the joint venture to Russian state oil firm Rosneft for $28 billion dollars.
Forbes notes that Khan is a Kiev native, who studied in Moscow. According to Wikileaks documents published by the Telegraph newspaper, the chief operating officer of TNK-BP, Tim Summers, reported that during a hunting trip at Khan's hunting lodge, Khan told him that 'The Godfather' film was his favorite movie and that he considered it his "manual for life."
Number 7: Vagit Alekperov
Net Worth: $12.1 billion
President of Lukoil
Alekperov is the head of Lukoil, Russia's largest independent energy company, and author of a book called "Oil of Russia: Past, Present and Future." The former oil rig worker graduated from an Oil and Chemistry Institute in Azerbaijan in 1974, and was previously the deputy minister in the Soviet Ministry of Oil and Gas.
According to Forbes, Alekperov willed his near-21 percent stake in Lukoil to his only son Yusuf in 2013, with the caveat that his son cannot sell it, meaning the Alekperov family will remain Lukoil's biggest shareholder.
ExxonMobil was the second-largest investor in the Alekperov until it sold out in 2010, according to Forbes. Alekperov bought some shares in Lukoil following the sale, which he sold for a 3 percent profit in 2011, earning him $350 million, said Forbes.
Number 6: Mikhail Prokhorov
Net Worth: $12.3 billion
Owner: Brooklyn Nets basketball team
Prokhorov has had a varied career as a "banker, athlete, metals mogul, playboy, investor, media player and politician", according to Forbes. He currently owns the New York-based Brooklyn Nets basketball team. He resigned as chairman of Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, to enter politics as well.
Prokhorov founded the political party Civic Platform in 2012 to support the "evolutionary development of the country". He garnered 8 percent of the national vote when he ran against President Vladimir Putin in the 2012 presidential race. Known to be good friends with rapper Jay-Z, Prokhorov followed his lead by rapping on television during his election campaign.
Born in Moscow 1965, Prokhorov stands at an impressive 6'4". In 2007 the French police suspected he was arranging prostitutes for guests of his at the Alpine ski resort of Courchevel and detained him, according to Reuters. He denied any wrongdoing and was later cleared.
Number 5: Vladimir Lisin
Net Worth: $12.4 billion
Co-Owner: Fletcher Group Holdings
In joint 5th place is steel baron Vladimir Lisin, who started his career as a mechanic in a Soviet coal mine, was ranked Russia's richest man in 2010 by business magazine Finans. A decline in steel prices has chipped away at his fortunes however, putting him in 5th place according to Wealth-X's research.
Lisin is the majority shareholder of Novolipetsk, one of the largest steel producers in Russia. However, his company, Fletcher Group Holdings, also invests in energy, oil and gas exploration, banking and real estate. Interestingly, given the recent furor over capital flight from Russia to Cyprus, the Fletcher Group has "a statutory seat and administrative office in Nicosia,Cyprus", according to its website.
Lisin also owns First Cargo Company, Russia's biggest railway operator, and has incorporated it into his transportation holding company, Universal Cargo Logistics Holding.
The 57-year-old is a keen hunter of deer and grouse and built one of Europe's largest shooting range complexes in Lisya Nora, near Moscow. Lisin has been president of the Russian Shooting Union since 2002.
Number 5: Vladimir Potanin
Net Worth: $12.4 billion
Chairman of Interros
In joint fifth place is Vladimir Potanin, founder of Interros, an investment company worth approximately $15 billion dollars with assets in metals and mining, real estate, tourism, infrastructure and media. Potanin is also chief executive of Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium, according to his own website.
Potanin graduated in 1983 with a degree in international economics. He spent the subsequent seven years working at the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, and served as first deputy prime minister between 1996 and 1997, following the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Potanin is also the founder of one of Russia's largest private philanthropic foundations, which he funds with his personal assets, according to the foundation's website. The Vladimir Potanin Foundation supports higher education and arts and cultural projects in Russia, and has an annual budget of about $10 million.
Number 4: Andrey Melnichenko
Net Worth: $13.6 billion
Chairman of EuroChem
Andrey Melnichenko, aged 41, made his fortune in coal and fertilizer, although he started out with a chain of currency exchange booths, according to Forbes magazine. He also co-founded MDM bank in 1993 at the tender age of 23, according to Euromoney. MDM went on to become one of Russia's largest banks.
He later sold his stake in MDM and acquired a holding in Eurochem, the largest producer of mineral fertilizers in Russia. In addition, Melnichenko runs SUEK, one of Russia's biggest coal producers, along with business partner, Sergei Popov.
As befits an oligarch, Melnichenko owns the world's 16th largest superyacht, which was named after his wife, the Serbian model Aleksandra Nikolic. The yacht is designed to look a submarine, and features three swimming pools that come complete with artificial currents. It is thought to have cost around $300 million and boasts a state-of-the-art security system. The master suite is bomb-proof, and is accessed by a spiral staircase lined with scalloped, silver-leaf walls and a $60,000 banister.
(Read More: The world'slargest yachts 2013)
Number 3: Leonid Mikhelson
Net Worth: $15.2 billion
Chairman of Sibur
Leonid Mikhelson is chief executive and a major shareholder of Novatek, Russia's largest gas producer, plus chairman of petrochemicals company, Sibur.
He began his career as a civil servant and foreman of a construction and assembling company in the Tyumen region, east of Moscow. In 1987, Mikhelson inherited the management of Novatek, which built pipelines, roads and industrial facilities at the time, according to Forbes.
Between 2010 and 2011, the married father-of-one bought a 57.5 percent stake in petrochemicals firm Sibur, which operates in 60 countries and employs 30,000 people. Bloomberg estimates the firm is worth over $12 billion.
Mikhelson's twenty-one-year-old daughter, Viktoria, topped CEO Magazine's list of Russia's richest heirs and heiresses in May, estimating her inheritance to be worth $13.7 billion.
Number 2: Mikhail Fridman
Net Worth: $16 billion
Co-founder of Alfa Group
Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman is the co-owner of the Alfa Group Consortium, referenced earlier. The 49 year-old father of two was born in the Ukraine and graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys in 1986. He was one of four oligarchs who jointly owned a 50 percent stake in oil exploration firm TNK-BP, the failed joint venture between BP and Alfa Access Renova, the other three being German Khan, Viktor Vekselberg and Len Blavatnik.
Both BP and Fridman and his partners sold their stakes in TNK-BP to oil giant Rosneft in 2013. However, Reuters reported in June that the Alfa Group would invest more than $20 billion in global oil and gas projects going forward.
Number 1: Alisher Usmanov
Net Worth: $19.9 billion
Co-Owner of USM Holdings
Russia's richest man, Alisher Usmanov, made his fortune in the unlikely business of plastic bags, according to Forbes magazine. A law graduate before switching to banking and business, Uzbek-born Usmanov reputedly identified a niche for plastic bags after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, when such consumer items were scarce. Usmanov invested in machinery to produce the plastic bags and quickly cornered the market, in which he amassed a small fortune, according to Forbes.
Later in the decade, Usmanov moved into the commodities sector, buying stakes in metals, mining and natural gas companies around the world. He is now co-owner of Metalloinvest, Russia's largest iron ore producer,and the fifth largest commercial iron ore producer in the world. In November 2012, Usmanov and his Metalloinvest partners created USM Holdings Limited, a joint company to manage their assets; Usmanov's stake is 60 percent, according to Bloomberg.
Usmanov has diversified into other sectors too. He owns stakes in telecommunications companies such as MegaFon, plus media and technology companies like Apple, in which he recently bought a $100 million stake. He is also the second-largest shareholder in U.K. football team, Arsenal, and made more than $1 billion selling off part of his stake in Facebook, which he bought in 2009.
As well as owning a large estate in one of the most prestigious parts of Moscow, Usmanov has a home in London, plus another in Surrey (an upmarket county south of London), which was formerly the home of oil baron J Paul Getty, according to Reuters. Usmanov is Muslim and is married to a Jewish former gymnast, Irina Viner, who is also from Uzbekistan, according to the Jewish Business News. The couple have no children together.