The global market crash on Monday which followed the launch of a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia cost the richest businessmen in Russia around $15 billion in one day, RIA Novosti reports.
On Monday, global stock markets plunged drastically over panic selling triggered by fears over the double threat of the coronavirus outbreak and slump in oil prices in the wake of the failure to reach an agreement on crude production cuts under the OPEC+ deal.
The losses of Russia’s richest people over the 9 March international stock collapse exceeded $15 billion, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (BBI) reveals.
The rating is calculated in line with the value of shares in certain companies owned by the billionaires. The index currently contains the 500 wealthiest people in the world, including 24 Russians.
The list included the country’s wealthiest man Vladimir Potanin, one of the main owners of the mining and smelting company Norilsk Nickel, who lost $1.71 billion in the wake of the 9 March stock collapse. Even so, he retains leadership among Russian billionaires with a fortune of $24.6 billion.
Russia’s second-richest man Vagit Alekperov, head and co-owner of Lukoil, lost $1.9 billion, while the fortune of Russian billionaires Vladimir Lisin and Alexei Mordashov shrank by $1.05 billion and $994 million, respectively.
