NEW YORK CITY, March 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has 32 billionaires on Forbes magazine's 2006 rankings, with the wealthiest of them at No. 11.
This year's list of the world's superrich, released by Forbes on Thursday, saw the number of billionaires rise by 102 to a record 793. Their combined wealth grew 18 percent, to $2.6 trillion.
Forbes editor Luisa Kroll attributed the fact to a surge in emerging markets. She said Russia's stock market had jumped 108 percent between February 2005 and February 2006, while India's market had risen by more than 54 percent over the same period and Brazil's had gained 38 percent. The U.S. stock market lagged behind with only a 1 percent increase, Kroll said.
However, the upper echelons of Forbes' annual survey of the world's top fortunes are still dominated by U.S. billionaires. Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates remained the world's richest man for the twelfth year running, with his net worth rising to $50 billion from $46.5 billion. Investor Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., again ranked second, although his fortune fell by $2 billion to $42 billion.
Twelve of Russia's super-rich made it into the top 100 this year.
Roman Abramovich, the governor of the Chukotka region who owns Britain's Chelsea football club, rose to No. 11 with a net worth of $18.2 billion, up from $14.7 billion last year.
Vagit Alekperov, the chief executive of oil giant Lukoil, ranked No. 37 with $11 billion.
Steel tycoon Vladimir Lisin was No. 41 with $10.7 billion.
Viktor Vekselberg, who co-owns the Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP and the aluminum major SUAL, placed 44th with $10 billion.
Mikhail Fridman, the chairman of investment giant Alfa Group, ranked No. 50 with $9.7 billion.
Aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska was at No. 62 with $7.8 billion, and steel magnate Alexei Mordashov No. 64 with $7.6 billion.
Suleiman Kerimov, owner of Nafta Moskva investment group, debuted at No. 72 with $7.1 billion. Kerimov, whose company has bought a $2 billion stake in Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom, is one of this year's four Russian newcomers on Forbes' "super-rich list."
Norilsk Nickel key shareholders Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov tied for 89th, with $6.4 billion each.
Vladimir Yevtushenkov, whose holdings range from microchip companies to toy retailers, arrived at No. 93 with $6.3 billion, followed by TNK-BP CEO German Khan, with a net worth of $6.1 billion.
The only Russian woman to appear on this year's list is Yelena Baturina, the owner of a booming construction business and wife of Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov. She ranked 335th with $2.3 billion.
