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A record number of billionaires now call Russia home – 114 of them, according to an annual list of the 500 richest Russians published Monday by the Moscow-based Finans magazine.
Oleg Deripaska. (Photoshot/Newscom)
4. Oleg Deripaska – $19-billion
Russia's youngest billionaire, Mr. Deripaska, educated as a physicist, got rich in the 1990s by climbing to the top in Russia's cutthroat aluminum industry. Critics say it didn't hurt that he was married to the daughter of former President Boris Yeltsin's chief of staff. But he is also rumored to be very close to Prime Minister Putin.
He created a stir in 2007 by telling the Financial Times that he would gladly turn over all his property to the state if ordered to do so. Deripaska is CEO of RUSAL, the Russian aluminum giant, and is sole owner of Basic Element, a diversified investment company with assets around the world in energy, aviation, financial services, and construction. He reportedly owns a posh mansion on London's Belgrave Square. He moved up from No. 6 in last year's rankings.
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