Potanin Vladimir is a billionaire businessman from Russia. The controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in the early to mid-1990s was a significant factor in his wealth accumulation.
Vladimir Potanin was one of 210 people closely associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin who was included on the US Treasury’s “Putin list” in January 2018. In June 2022, the UK imposed sanctions on Potanin as one of the most prominent oligarchs in “President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.”
Vladimir Potanin’s Net Worth and Wealth:
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of August 2022, he was the wealthiest man in Russia and the 38th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $24.4 billion. Mikhail Prokhorov was his business partner for a long time until they decided to split up in 2007. After that, they agreed on how to divide their assets and put them in Folletina Trading, a holding company.
During Russia’s privatization in 1995, Vladimir Potanin bought a stake in Norilsk Nickel; He now controls slightly more than a third of the company. Potanin maintains connections to President Vladimir Putin and served as Boris Yeltsin’s deputy prime minister.
Rosa Khutor, a ski resort, snowboard park, and freestyle skiing center for the Olympics in 2014, cost Potanin $2.5 billion to develop; he still owns something in it. For the massive oil spill in the Arctic, Norilsk Nickel received a $2 billion fine in February 2021. The company estimated the cost to be only $300 million, disputing the figure.
Career Life:
- Vladimir Potanin served as the Russian Federation’s First Deputy Prime Minister from 1996 to 1997. Potanin has been the Interros Company’s President and Chairman of the Board of Directors since August 1998.
- His Interros controls the Russian nickel giant Norilsk Nickel, which is owned by Oleg Deripaska’s RUSAL, Abram Reznikov’s Alamak Espana Trade, and Alisher Usmanov’s Metalloinvest. His Interros owns 30% of the company.
- He is in charge of the National Council on Corporate Governance, whose primary objective is to improve Russia’s legislative regulations and incorporate professional and ethical corporate governance standards into the operations of Russian businesses to improve their reputation and attract investors. He has also served on the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s Board of Trustees since December 2001.
- For his contributions to culture, he was given the honor of being made an Officer of the prestigious Order of Arts and Literature in 2007. The award was given by the French Ministry of Culture and Communications.
Vladimir Potanin resigned from the board of the Guggenheim Museum Foundation, where he had served for two decades, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The U.K. Court of Appeal allowed Potanin’s ex-wife Natalia to file her $6 billion divorce claim in London in May 2021, overturning a lower court’s decision.
The controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in the early to mid-1990s was a major source of Potanin’s wealth. He is one of Russia’s wealthiest men. He currently owns shares in Petrovax Pharm, a pharmaceutical company, and Rosa Khutor, a ski resort near Sochi.
Vladimir Potanin has a net worth of about $35 billion as of October 2022.