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Friday, March 7, 2008

Billionares in Russia

Boosted by soaring oil and commodity prices, the ranks of the country's billionaires have swollen to 87, up from 53 a year ago,
according to Forbes' new world rich list, released Thursday. Forbes' richest Russian, Oleg Deripaska, the majority owner of aluminum giant United Company RusAl, stormed up from 40th to 9th on the list with an estimated fortune of $28 billion -- leaving Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, the former No. 1, trailing in his wake.


With 19 of the global top 100, Russia also now boasts more billionaires than any other country apart from the United States. The 87 Russians on the list have a combined wealth of just over $470 billion -- or more than twice the country's GDP when Putin came to power in 2000. The Russian billionaires are also the youngest from any major economy, with an average age of 46, compared with a global average of 61.


Deripaska broke into the world top 10 for the first time on the strength of his Russian Aluminum merging with two other companies to create the world's top producer of primary aluminum.

Read the Full Story [Here]


The results of this list show that while Russia economy suffers there are some that are rich beyond imagination. The break between the lower class and higher class is extremely large and there is very little of a middle class. The primary way the billionares have gain their money are by milking the country of its natural resources such as; oil and alluminum. Instead of paying their workers decent or regualar wages, they cut their pay to hold on to their newly gained profit.
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