Russia’s Ultra-Wealthy Get Stung in Crisis

From the Associated Press:

Russia’s super-rich are also super-losers in the financial crisis, according to the business magazine Finans, which said Monday the top 10 wealthiest Russians lost about two-thirds of their fortunes over the past year.

The magazine’s annual list of Russia’s richest shows them suffering breathtaking losses as the country faces its worst financial crisis in a decade. Oleg Deripaska, who had topped Finans’ list in the previous two years, fell to eighth place after losing some 85 percent of his wealth — down to $4.9 billion from $40 billion, Finans estimated. (…)

Finans, which publishes its rich list two months ahead of the better-known U.S. Forbes list of billionaires, said the list had halved from last year, when they counted 101 billionaires. Last year, Forbes confirmed Deripaska as Russia’s richest man.