Source: Telegraph
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich loses over 9 billion
At the top of the list is Mikhail Prokhorov on $14.1 billion, while Oleg Deripaska, who was rated as Russia's richest man last year, is said to have lost $35.1 billion and fallen to eighth place. [LNB]Indeed, within the context of the Finans list, Abramovich's losses are not exceptional, particularly as the overall number of dollar billionaire Russians has more than halved from 101 in 2008 to 49 this year. [LNB]The combined fortunes of the richest 49 Russians was also said to have slid by 69 per cent to $151 billion, mirroring the 67 per cent decline in the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange or Micex Index. [LNB]However, Abramovich was still voted "the most interesting billionaire" by Finans readers, with 49 per cent of the vote. The financial crisis has also significantly affected Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov, whose wealth is said to have fallen from $13.3 billion to $4.5 billion. [LNB]Chelsea have consistently denied any correlation between Abramovich's financial situation and what chief executive Peter Kenyon has described as a "line by line" review of the club's business. However, Chelsea have set themselves the target of becoming financially self-sufficient on an annual basis from July. [LNB]The club's most recent financial figures, published on Friday, show that Chelsea lost £66 million last year and that Abramovich has ploughed more than £700 million into the club since 2003. [LNB]In a move that was regarded as a demonstration of his commitment, Abramovich converted more than half of that investment, some £369.9 million, into equity, with £339.8 million remaining as an interest-free loan. [LNB]However, Chelsea already say that any squad restructuring during the summer will be "predominantly funded" by sales. This follows around £25 million of player sales since spending £8 million on signing Deco from Barcelona last summer. [LNB]Russia rich list[LNB]$14.1bn Mikhail Prokhorov, down from $21.5bn $13.9bn Roman Abramovich, down from $23bn $7.7bn Vladimir Lisin, down from $22.2bn $7.6bn Vagit Alekperov, down from £13.5bn $7.5bn Suleiman Kerimov, down from $18bn $6.1bn Mikhail Fridman, down from $22.2bn $5bn Vladimir Potanin, down from $21.5bn $4.9bn Oleg Deripaska, down from $40bn $4.6bn Dmitri Ribolovyev, down from $11.7bn $4.5bn Alisher Usmanov, down from $13.3bnSource: Finans magazine [LNB]
