Either there is less and less money in the world of capital, or it is now somehow distributed more evenly. At the end
of the 1990s, the Forbes list was headed by the richest of programmers, Bill Gates, whose fortune was approaching $100 billion. Now he is first again - for a year already, but he has grown considerably poorer - only $40.7 billion. On the other hand, earlier William Henry Gates III was in the stratosphere, while ordinary billionaires modestly crowded far behind. Now they are nipping at the heels of the leader: the 'eternally second' Warren Buffett is only $10 billion behind the creator of Windows. True, he, too, has grown poorer - last year Forbes estimated him at $35 billion, and now Mr. Buffett is worth just over thirty. But these losses seem like minor troubles against the backdrop of giant fortunes that have already vanished into oblivion in the 21st century. Take the famous German media magnate Leo Kirch, whose assets three years ago amounted to $11.5 billion, now a complete bankrupt. Over the past year he lost his last billion and slid to a sad zero. And in total, 67 people were struck off the billionaire list, with five of them, according to Forbes, having nothing left at all.
Against the background of this crisis of fat wallets, Russia looks like the only island where billionaires are living high on the hog: Forbes counted as many as 17 super-rich people in this country. This is the fourth result in the world - ahead are only the USA, Germany, and Japan. But Russia has already outpaced Canada - there are only fifteen billionaires there. Among Russian rich men, the majority are 'raw-material tycoons' whose billions are created on oil or metal. And the total fortune of the 17 Russian rich men is $36.6 billion. For comparison: revenues of the Russian state budget this year should amount to about $76 billion, and the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of Russia on February 21 were $52.7 billion. The conditional 'pool of Russian billionaires' has very little left to reach federal volumes.
But Forbes particularly noted the resilience of Russian oligarchs to the crisis of fat wallets. While the Gateses and Kirches of developed countries lose billions, most Russian magnates are only increasing their fortunes. According to the magazine, the world's most successful billionaires were three Russians whose fortunes doubled over the year: Mikhail Khodorkovsky from Yukos ($8 billion), owner of Sibneft Roman Abramovich ($5.7 billion), and Mikhail Fridman from Alfa Group ($4.3 billion). However, we should note that these figures may not quite adequately reflect reality - the transparency of Russian capital still leaves much to be desired.
The wealth of Russian oilmen is already quite comparable to the fabulous treasuries of Arab sheikhs. But still, even the richest of our neighbors - Mr. Khodorkovsky - would find it difficult to compete with Saudi King Fahd. The royal treasury is estimated at $20 billion, and His Majesty is the richest head of state. The second place among the world's rulers is taken by the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah - $11 billion. The 'bronze' is shared by the prince of tiny Liechtenstein Hans-Adam II and the 'great and terrible' Saddam Hussein - $2 billion each. But the legendary wealth of the British crown did not reach a billion: Elizabeth II is just a multimillionaire - $525 million.