LIFE+STYLE-WORLD BILLIONAIRES: PETALING JAYA – Robert Kuok is 96th richest man in world: Forbes 2018 Billionaires List

PETALING JAYA: Tycoon in the news Robert Kuok is still in the top 100 of Forbes’ rich list. The Malaysian magnate is the 96th richest man in the world, according to Forbes 2018 Billionaires List.

Kuok’s fortune last year was rated at US$14.5 billion (RM56.5 billion), making him Malaysia’s richest man.

Kuok came under severe criticism from Umno supreme council members and ministers including Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz, Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said for allegedly funding DAP and news portal The Malaysian Insight.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Vladimir Lisin, controlling shareholder of Russian steel producer NLMK, displaced natural gas magnate Leonid Mikhelson at the top of Russia’s rich list for 2018, Forbes magazine, which compiles the list.

Another steel tycoon, Alexei Mordashov, who controls NLMK’s leading competitor Severstal, retained his grip on second place. Like Lisin, his fortunes were buoyed by rising global steel prices.

Of the 2,208 billionaires included by Forbes in its global rankings this year, 102 are Russian, of whom one is a woman.

Lisin, 61, is in first place and 57th worldwide, having seen his net worth increase by US$3 billion to an estimated US$19.1 billion as of this year, the magazine said.

Mordashov, 52, in close second with an estimated personal fortune of US$18.7 billion, has enjoyed an increase of US$1.2 billion since last year’s Forbes list, placing him 60th globally.

Mikhelson, head of natural gas company Novatek, was pushed into third place in the Forbes list of Russian billionaires.

Earlier this year, the US Treasury Department published a list of 96 “oligarchs” deemed close to the Kremlin that bore a close resemblance to the Forbes rankings for 2017.

The list was published as required by a package of sanctions legislation that US President Donald Trump signed into law last year.

Those included on the US list were not immediately subject to sanctions, but the publication cast a shadow of uncertainty over them and President Vladimir Putin labelled the list an “unfriendly act”. /  The SUN Daily /  Posted on 7 March 2018 – 11:08am
Last updated on 7 March 2018 – 11:49am