Russia’s Oligarchs Got Hurt Badly by the 2008 Recession

I decided to take upon the Forbes method of reckoning the economic consequences of the 2008 recession. According to the Forbes, total net worth of Russia's billionaires dropped from $471.4 billion in 2008 to $92.6 billion in 2009, as shown in Table 1. In other words, the fortunes of the Russian riches shrank five times or by 80%. So on average the Russian billionaires lost almost half of their wealth. If the average "Abramovich" had $5.4 billion in his pocket in 2008, then he had only around $3 billion a year later. The Forbes' World's Billionaire List featured almost 90 Russians in 2008. Now the Forbes' list has only 28 of them.

Btw, according to the Economist, Russia's GDP shrank by almost 11% in the Q2 of 2009 as compared to the Q2 of 2008. Russia's GDP was $2,266 trillion in 2008. So Russia's economy lost around $250 billion, while Russia's oligarchs lost about $378.8 billion. Thus, Russia's oligarchs lost more than Russia's economy, ha?

Table 1. The Forbes' List of Russia's Billionaires, 2008-2009.

Year	2008	2009	Abs. ∆	% ∆
Total Net Worth ($ bil)	471.4	92.6	5.1	80.4
Number of billionaires
Russian citizen	87	31	2.81	64.4
Russian resident	81	28	2.89	65.4
Foreign resident	6	3	2	50

British American Tobacco Will Advise Ukraine’s President on FDI

According to the Presidential Decree #613, President Yushchenko appointed several foreign CEOs to the Presidential Committee on Foreign Direct Investments. Now the FDI committee includes CEOs of several foreign companies such as British-American Tobacco, Siemens AG, ArcellorMittal, Hungary's OTP Bank, and Austria's Raiffeisen Bank. In other words, President Yushchenko's advisers will represent tobacco, steel, electronics, and banking industries. Lakshmi Mittal, a 58-year-old CEO of ArcellorMittal, is the most interesting choice among all new advisers. One, Mr. Mittal is extremely rich. The Forbes places Mr. Mittal with $19.3 billion in net worth on the eighth place in the World's Billionaires List. Two, Mr. Mittal represents British-Indian steel company that is the major rival of Ukraine's steel tycoons such as Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk.

Ukraine’s List of Billionaires Got Much Shorter

The 2008 recession hit Ukraine pretty well. Almost 40% of small-scale firms filed for bankruptcy. Ukraine's GDP shrank by 18%. Industrial output dropped by almost 30%. A 4% growth of agro-producing output is one of the few bright spots in a dismal picture of Ukraine's economy.

According to the Forbes, the Ukrainian billionaires also got hit by the 2008 recession really hard. Ukraine had seven billionaires listed on the Forbes's World's Billionaire List in 2008. Now there are only four billionaires on the Forbes' list. Approximately, a net worth of Ukraine's top CEOs dropped more than by three-fourths. It's just crazy. Moreover, Rinat Akhmetov, who was the richest CEO all those years before the recession, had to step down from the first place.

Btw, I wonder how the 2008 recession will affect the 2009 presidential campaign in Ukraine. Will it be the cheapest campaign in the modern history of Ukraine?

Table 1. Forbes' List of Ukraine's Billionaires, 2006-2009.

Year   Name, Corporation	2006	2008	2009
	Net Worth (USD bln) & Forbes' World Rank (#)
Ihor Kolomyisky, CEO Privat	n/a	4.2 (#253)	1.2 (#601)
Sergei Taratuta, CEO ISD	1.2 (#645)	2.7 (#428)	n/a
Rinat Akhmetov, CEO SCM	1.7 (#451)	7.3 (#127)	1.8 (#397)
Viktor Pinchuk, CEO Interpipe	1.2 (#645)	5.0 (#203)	2.6 (#246)
Henadyi Boholubov, CEO Privat	n/a	4.0 (#260)	1.2 (#647)
Konstantine Zhivago, CEO F&C	n/a	3.4 (#327)	n/a
Vitaly Haydook, CEO ISD	n/a	2.7 (#428)	n/a
Total Net Worth	4.1	29.3	5.6

Political and Economic Events around the Grand Opening of the DONBASS ARENA

1. Ukraine opens the largest soccer stadium in Eastern Europe – DONBASS ARENA. A new stadium has 50,000 seats. It is the first stadium with a five-star UEFA ELITE rating built in Eastern Europe. Around $400 mln were spent on its construction.
   
2. BEYONCE performed at the DONBASS ARENA opening ceremony. President of FC SHAKTAR (eng. Coal-miner) and member of POR party, Rinat Akhmetov, said that Beyonce received $2 mln for her performance.
   
3. Donbass region demonstrates its support of POR party once again. President Yushchenko got booed at the opening ceremony of DONBASS ARENA. Prime-minister Tymoshenko who was at the opening ceremony refused to make a speech after she saw how the audience "welcomed" President Yushchenko.
   
4. The grand opening of DONBASS ARENA was so grandiose that it almost looked like the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (video 1, video 2).