Vladimir Potanin

Russian Billionaire Will Give His Money To Charity

Warren Buffett isn't the only generous billionaire in the world. Businessweek reports that Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin has said that he will plans to leave almost all of his estimated $2.1 billion fortune to charity within the next decade. Unlike Buffett, Potanin is a bit younger, just 49. He has three children. His assets include 25 percent of OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, Russia's biggest mining company, 30 percent of lender OAO Rosbank, and the Rosa Khutor Olympic ski development. His Interros Holding Company will manage the assets which will eventually be transferred to a "special charity fund" but no designated benficiary for his largesse has been revealed. Ahead of the big donation Potanin will raise contributions to his existing charitable fund to at least $25 million a year.

What's Potanin's motivation? An article in The Financial Times says that Potanin was inspired by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and has a long history of philanthropy. Potanin told the Financial Times he also wants his children to achieve and felt that inheriting wealth would only be a hindrance. Some feel that Potanin's generous move may inspire more Russians toward philanthropic aims, a trend I first heard Roustam Tariko, founder and chairman of Russia Standard vodka, speak about a few years ago.

Tags: billionaire, philanthropy, Vladimir Potanin, VladimirPotanin, wealth

$200 Million Megayacht Stars in Monaco Boat Show

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

At the megabucks Monaco Yacht Show this past weekend in Monte Carlo, there was an estimated $4.5 billion worth of yachts on display, and none of the 98 craft on exhibit were under 100 ft. The biggest of them all however was the multistory, $200 million Anastasia (above) at 248 ft., recently completed by leading Dutch shipyard Oceanco for a Russian billionaire. Though the buyer's identity hasn't been confirmed, it's rumored to be Vladimir Potanin, the 25th richest man in the world with a fortune of $19.3 billion, the London Daily Mail reports.

The Anastasia features six decks, luxe quarters for 12 passengers and 20 crew members including a duplex master suite, a ten seat cinema, a discotheque with a laser light display and smoke machine, an artificial coral reef and 800-gallon fish tank, a swimming pool with a transparent wall, a sunbathing platform which converts into a stage for live music, a library upholstered in crocodile skin, and a hanger full of speedboats and jetskis.

Far from being an endangered species due to the grim economic outlook, these megayachts are more in demand than ever. In fact, the Anastasia is probably already worth more than Potanin paid for it. "People with $200 million to spend on a yacht tend to be above the credit crunch," Hugo Andreae, editor of Superyacht World magazine, tells the paper. "There are a lot them around, even if most are unknown to the wider world."

Gallery: Monaco Yacht Show '08