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Estimated Worth:
$1.8 billion
Current Position:
President, Interros Holding Company
Major Holdings:
Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of platinum
and palladium
Other Interests:
RUSIA Petroleum; Rosebank; agricultural industrial company
Agros; power generation equipment company Power Machines;
Soglasie Insurance Company; newsdailies Izvestia
and Komsomolskaia Pravda; The Russian Telegraph
Newspaper; the magazine Expert; radio stations
Autoradio, PM-radio, Novosti on-line, and several regional
television and radio companies
Political Connections:
Potanin's father was a senior official in Russia's Ministry
of Foreign Trade. One of the Big Seven oligarchs who helped
reelect President Boris Yeltsin, Potanin was then appointed
by Yeltsin in 1996 to hold Russia's number-twoposition,
first deputy prime minister.
New Plays:
In recent years, Potanin's Norilsk Nickel has purchased
mines in Australia and Montana. The company also recently
won a stake in Lenzoloto, an Irkutsk gold mine, and is
pursuing a mining license for Sukhoi Log, Eurasia's largest
gold mine. Potanin has made steps to improve his image
in the West, becoming a leading donor to the Guggenheim
Foundation. He gives more than $1 million annually and
has a seat on the board of trustees of the Guggenheim
Museum.
Lifestyle:
Potanin's house in Moscow was one of the capital's first
experimental blocks of executive flats and included a
restaurant, sauna, gym, billiards room, cafeteria, swimming
pool, hair salon, winter garden, and guarded ski run next
to the house. Potanin also has an out-of-town residence
near the Istrinsky Reservoir, neighboring the country
cottage of another Russian influential, Anatoly Chubais.
Notoriety:
Potanin was the principal author of the Loans for Shares
program, which put state assets in private hands and was
harshly criticized by many academics. Potanin also has
a poor track record with Western investors: George Soros,
who in 1997 invested $980 million in Potanin's telecom
enterprise Svyazinvest, said it was the worst investment
he ever made. Other losers in Potanin's empire include
BP/Amoco, which the same year invested $571 million in
his oil company Sidanko, only to find the company forced
into bankruptcy.
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