Last week, Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon were in news for being the richest in the world. For sometime on Thursday, Bezos had overpowered Gates to become World’s richest man, but as the share prices dropped, Gates once again occupied the top position. Forget both of them, the real leader is Vladimir Putin, the Russian President.
Yes, fresh reports have surfaced, which claim that Putin’s worth (Unofficial wealth) is more than the combined net worth of Gates and Bezos. This has been stated by a US financier Bill Browder.
According to reports, Browder, the founder of US based Hermitage Capital Management, said that the total net worth of Vladimir Putin is $200 billion. So, if we consider net worth of Gates and Bezos to be an average of $90 billion each, Vladimir’s wealth surpasses the total i.e. $180 billion. The only difference is that this is Putin’s unofficial wealth i.e. he never declared it.
Browder says that he has complete knowledge about Russian President’s wealth as he was a shareholder in Surgutneftegas, Gazprom and other state-run enterprises in Russia. He adds that Putin has made a deal with some Russian businessman in 1990s, which had made him the “Richest” man in the world.
Browder was quoted saying,
“I estimate that [Putin] has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten gains. He keeps his money in the West and all of his money in the West is potentially exposed to asset freezes and confiscation.”
He continues,
“There are approximately 10,000 officials in Russia working for Putin who are given instructions to kill, torture, kidnap, extort money from people and seize their property”
On top of that, there have been many debates surrounding his personal fortune. Reports further say,
“According to Mr Putin’s official asset form – a mandatory public disclosure for all Russian government officials – he earns $133,000 a year and has a modest apartment in Moscow.”
Who do you think is the richest man now? We would love to hear it out from you.