Forbes magazine announced the list with the richest people in the world for 2021. The list includes two Greek businessmen who live in the country and have their businesses there.
Ivan Savvidis holds 1,833rd place on the list. His net worth is US$1.7 billion. At the same time Vardis Vardinogiannis, the owner of Motor Oil holds 2,141st place on the list. His net worth is US$1.6 billion.
Ivan Savvidis is a Russian-Georgian businessman of Caucasus Greek origin. Ivan Savvidis and his wife Kyriaki had the most shares of Donskoy Tabak, the largest Russian tobacco company before selling it to Japan Tobacco. In 2012 he became the owner of the Greek football team PAOK. The year 2012 Ivan Savvidis also entered the Forbes list of the richest people in the world. In the following years, Ivan Savvidis continued his successful business deals. In 2013 he purchased 82% of the Greek tobacco company SEKAP.
When he acquired PAOK, the Greek football team had a huge debt to the Greek State. In 2015 Ivan Savvidis paid this debt, a total of almost 11 million dollars. His business activities are extended to the Greek media sector. He has 19% of Mega Channel and in 2017 his Dimera Media company acquired the Pegasus Publications, which includes the newspapers of Ethnos and Imerisia. The same year, he bought the E Channel from businessman Philipos Vryonis. However, in March 2018, he sold the Donskoy Tabak, together with the Greek SEKAP, to Japan Tobacco for 1.6 billion dollars.
Another sector that he left his mark on is real estate. In February 2013 Ivan Savvidis took over the management of the Macedonia Palace in Thessaloniki. He has also acquired a number of historic villas of Thessaloniki. Recently, he has made an investment of about half a billion euros in Porto Carras Chalkidiki (a seaside area near Thessaloniki). It is worth mentioning that in 2013, Forbes listed Savvidis as the 30th wealthiest Russian businessman in the world.
Vardis Vardionogiannis is a well-known Greek businessman of the oil and shipping sector. He is the chairman and controlling shareholder of Motor Oil Hellas, Vegas Oil, and Gas. He is also involved in numerous other shipping and business interests. He was born in the Greek island of Crete. His family was poor. He had two sisters and five brothers. Vardinogiannis family has spread its net worldwide and operates as a tight-knit group of relatives controlling numerous successful companies in a variety of sectors. Today their interests range from petroleum and shipping to banking and media to real estate and hotels to publishing and charity work. In fact, according to recent information, the Vardinogiannis family has stakes in 98 companies in total in Greece and abroad. His wife is Marianna Mpournaki, and they have five children. His brother Yiorgos Vardinogiannis is also well-known both in Greece and abroad. He is a shipping tycoon and had been the president for many years of Panathinaikos FC.
The Forbes list also includes Philip Niarchos, who has a fortune of $2.8 billion. However, he is among the billionaires of France and not of Greece. The same happens with Aristotle Mystakidis (Switzerland). He holds place number 1,262 on the list with a net worth of US2.3 billion.
Forbes’ 35th list are included 2,755 people who are considered the richest in the world. It is worth mentioning that despite the pandemic, this year the list includes 660 more people compared to the previous year. Of those, 493 were new to the list which means that every 17 hours another billionaire is “born”. Of those, 210 come from China and Hong Kong and 98 from the United States.
Top 10 richest people in the world
- Bernard Arnault: $190.7 billion
- Jeff Bezos: $186.2 billion
- Elon Musk: $151 billion
- Bill Gates: $126.8 billion
- Mark Zuckerberg: $119.7 billion
- Warren Buffett: $110.3 billion
- Larry Ellison: $106.7 billion
- Larry Page: $104.2 billion
- Sergey Brin: $101 billion
- Francoise Bettencourt: $90.4 billion
