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| Roman Abramovich |
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| RESULTS 2005 |
Ranking |
Worth |
Industry |
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2 |
£7,500m |
Oil, industry and football |
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| They'll be singing Kalinka with renewed fervour at Chelsea's Shed End in the final few weeks of the football season, as the Premiership leaders look set to win their first league title in 50 years. The Russian ballad has been adopted by Chelsea fans in honour of their benefactor, the inscrutable Russian with the deepest pockets in football history. Abramovich, 38, who owns Chelsea, spends much of his time at either his Belgravia town house or his 440-acre Sussex estate. It's a far cry from the bleak industrial town where he grew up, just south of the Arctic Circle. Orphaned at three and brought up by relatives, Abramovich started his own business after completing army service, making cheap plastic products before graduating to tyres. Shrewdly, he moved into the burgeoning oil industry, where he teamed up with Boris Berezovsky (qv), then the most important of the Russian tycoons, now in exile in Britain. The pair bought the Sibneft oil company in 1995 for about £120m. When Berezovsky went into exile, Abramovich was left in charge. The company has since grown substantially and is now quoted on the stock market. Sibneft is worth about £8.7 billion, which values Abramovich's stake at about £5.25 billion. He has another £1 billion of holdings in other areas of Russian industry such as food and pharmaceuticals. Huge dividends and share sales over the years add another £2 billion. This liquidity gave Abramovich the money for his £350m spending spree on Chelsea. It also meant that the club could afford to lose £87.8m in 2003-04, when its wage bill leapt 210% to £115.5m. Aside from homes in Britain and worldwide, Abramovich owns three yachts and a Boeing 737 jet. |
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| RESULTS 2004 |
Ranking |
1 |
Worth |
£7,500m |
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