The fall in stock indices on the financial markets, provoked by tensions over a possible Russian attack on Ukraine, affected the fortunes of Russia's richest businessmen. A total of 104 Russian billionaires lost $27.9 billion in a month.
January 2022 was one of the worst months for the Russian stock market.
Over the past two years, it was January 2022 that showed the worst performance. Mass sales began on January 13th. After the Russian Foreign Ministry announced problems in negotiations with NATO on security guarantees, the Moscow Exchange index fell by more than 2%. After 5 days, the fall was already 6.5%. The last time the Moscow exchange index fell by more than 5% at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020.
On January 24, due to geopolitical risks and reports of a possible invasion of Russian troops into the territory of Ukraine, the Moscow Exchange index fell by 5.9%, thus it fell below 3300 points and returned to the levels of last year. The dollar exchange rate reached more than 79 rubles, the euro - 89 rubles.
This is evidenced by data from the Forbes Real-Time counter, which evaluates the change in the fortunes of the richest people in the world in real time. December 20, 2021 was chosen as the starting point. The following Russian entrepreneurs have lost the most this month:
- Leonid Mikhelson, main owner of "Novatek" and "Sibur": minus 2.1 billion dollars per month; his total fortune on the stock market - 25.5 billion dollars;
- Gennady Timchenko, member of the board of directors of Novatek and Sibur: minus $1.9 billion; total fortune - 22.8 billion dollars;
- Suleiman Kerimov, Member of the Federation Council, whose family controls the "Pole-minus": $ 1.8 billion; total fortune - $ 13.1 billion;
- Alexey Mordashov, main owner of Severstal: minus $1.7 billion; total fortune - $24.5 billion;
- Denis Sverdlov, founder of electric car manufacturer Arrival: minus $1.6 billion; total fortune - $1.9 billion;
- Andrey Melnichenko, owner of SUEK and Evrokhim: minus $1.5 billion; total fortune - $23.9 billion;
- Oleg Tinkov, TCS Group founder: minus $1.43 billion; total fortune - $5.4 billion;
- Viktor Rashnikov, Head of MMK: minus $1.3 billion; total fortune - $11.3 billion;
- Mikhail Fridman, co-owner of LetterOne and Alfa Group: minus $1.12 billion; total fortune - $13.9 billion;
- Vladimir Potanin, head and main owner of Norilsk Nickel: minus $1.1 billion; total fortune - $25.5 billion.
- Arkady Volozh, founder of "Yandex": lost 26% of the capital.
