If you don't count the United States' young business moguls, Roman Abramovich, age 36, is the richest man under 40 in the world.
According to Fortune magazine's annual "40 Under 40" survey, due to hit newsstands Monday, young Russian billionaires account for a healthy half of the top 10.
Fortune puts Abramovich's personal wealth at $8.3 billion. Earlier this year, rival list maker Forbes estimated the oil and metals tycoon, who is also governor of Chukotka, to be worth $5.7 billion. Abramovich's wealth is concentrated in the interests he has in oil major Sibneft and Russian Aluminum through his Millhouse Capital holding.
Britain has the most businessmen on the list with eight, but the combined wealth of Russia's seven tycoons comes to $17.6 billion, far outstripping the Britons' $4.4 billion.
Russia's entries include all the usual suspects: Abramovich is followed by Alfa Group's Mikhail Fridman at No. 3, Norilsk Nickel's Mikhail Prokhorov at No. 6, Oleg Deripaska of Base Element at No. 7, Eugene Shvidler of Sibneft at No. 8, MDM Group's Andrei Melnichenko at No. 15 and finally Alexei Mordashov of Severstal at No. 38.
Fortune's first "40 Under 40" survey published last year saw just five Russians on the list. Abramovich and Fridman were both in the top 10, while Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, then aged 39, took the top spot with an estimated fortune of $7.2 billion.
Fortune's ranking of the young and the rich, all of whom have upward of $207 million to their names -- last year the floor was lower, at $130 million -- was by the magazine's own admission a "blurry snapshot."
"Heirs and heiresses account for more than half of the list," Fortune said in a statement, distinguishing the international list from the U.S. list, where family legacies are ignored. The editors added, though, that "to be included ... you [the old money elite] can't just sit on your assets."
While the Russian players for the most part owe their wealth to the privatizations of the mid-1990s, the international entries are a varied bunch.
Britain's richest are led by No. 11 Jonathan Harmsworth, worth $975 million by Fortune's estimates, and the owner of family media conglomerate Daily Mail & General Trust.
Pre-pubescent wizard Harry Potter brought author J.K Rowling her $453 million fortune, ranking her 24th overall. Rowling and a Swiss woman were the list's only two representatives of the fairer sex.
Mark Shuttleworth, owner of venture capital firm Here Be Dragons, ranked No. 34 with $269 million. Shuttleworth in April last year spent some $20 million to become the second space tourist to fly from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome to the international space station. He is a South African citizen, but resides in London. Since the list recognizes country of residence, not country of origin, Shuttleworth's assets counted toward Britain's total.
Europe dominated the ranking with 24 businessmen, but another country making the transition from communism, China, had the third-highest magnate pool with six entries.
"It may come as a surprise that five of the 10 richest people on this year's '40 Under 40' list made their fortunes in a country that spent most of the last century under communist rule," said Paola Hjelt, a New York-based reporter with Fortune, commenting on Russia's dominance of the top 10.
Not everyone agreed, however.
"Its not surprising at all," said James Fenkner, head of research at Troika Dialog. "There was such a concentration of ownership [in Russia] and the privatization process was one that benefited insider dealings.
"So there's a British millionaire in there for selling a fantasy story and there's a Russian billionaire in there for selling another kind of fantasy," Fenkner said.
"It worries me, though. There are a number of anecdotal signs that this place is getting a little overheated when you have such an enormous concentration of wealth."
As impressive as the earnings of Abramovich, Fridman and Co. may be, they still have some distance to go to catch up with their youthful American counterparts, who made their money primarily in technology, rather than oil and banking.
Fortune's 'U.S. under 40' ranking is headed once again by 37-year-old computer magnate Michael Dell, whose fortune has risen to a chart-topping $17.12 billion, more than twice the wealth of Abramovich.
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