Five Armenian billionaires, according to Forbes survey

Five Armenian billionaires, according to Forbes survey
13:27 • 10.03.11
Forbes Magazine has revealed its list of top billionaires for 2011. The rating list of the world's wealthiest men has this year hit an unprecedented record, with 1,210 billionaires whose total assets make $4.5 trillion. The sum is said to be exceeding essentially the Gross Domestic Product of Germany and nearly equaling that of Japan. Out of the 214 new billionaires appearing in this year's rating, most (108 people) are from countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China.The top three positions have remained unchanged compared to last year. The world's richest person is Mexican businessman Carlos Slim who this year increased his assets by $20.5 billion, twice as much as Armenia's total Gross Domestic Product, Capital Daily reported. Slim currently has estimated assets of $74 billion, according to Boston Daily. The second in the list is the founder of Microsoft Company, Bill Gates, with a net worth comprising $56 billion. Wren Buffett, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., holds on to the third place with $50 billion.There is an increased number of rich men from developing countries, particularly, the Asia-Pacific region, where billionaires' number has increased to 332 (more than the quarter of the billionaires worldwide). A leading country in the list, the United States, has this year weakened its positions, with the new names of wealthy people having increased by only 6% (compared to the 47% in China or 30% in Russia).Russia's richest man is Vladimir Lisin, the owner of the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant, who ranks 14th in the list, with total assets of $15.8 billion.Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the popular social networking website Facebook, has increased his assets to $13.5 billion, which is 3.4 times more compared to last year.American-Armenian tycoon Kirk Kerkorian remains the world's richest Armenian. The 93-year old has estimated assets of $3.5 billion. This year's rating also includes the names of four other Armenians, all representing Russia. Joint owners of RESO Garantia company, brothers Sergey and Nikolay Sarkisovs, and director and principal shareholder of Roosstrakh company Danil Khachaturov (each having $1.5 billion) appear in the 833rd place in the world and the 65th place in Russia. The founder of Tashir Group, Samvel Karapetyan, is the 879th wealthiest man on the global scale and the 72nd in Russia.Head of Troika Dialog Group Ruben Vardanyan is not included in the 2011 billionaires' list.
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