Suleiman Kerimov and his family are ranked No. 99 on the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list with a net worth of $25.7 billion. He is a Russian businessman and member of the Federation Council, and has been under US sanctions since 2018.
Suleyman Abusaidovich Kerimov was born on March 12, 1966, in Derbent, Dagestan, into a Lezgin family. He graduated from high school in 1983.
Net Worth and Rank
- Forbes 2026 list: No. 99, with $25.7 billion, listed as “Suleiman Kerimov & family”
- History: according to Wikipedia, his fortune reached $21 billion by 2008 and had fallen to $11 billion by 2022
Business Career
- 1999: he bought 55% of the oil trader Nafta Moskva, the successor to the Soviet monopoly Soyuznefteexport, for $50 million, and by 2000 owned all of it
- 2005–2008: Nafta Moskva acquired the gold and silver miner Polymetal, which he took public in London in 2007 and from which he sold 70% of his shares in 2008
- 2000s: he borrowed billions from state-owned banks, including Sberbank and VTB, to buy large stakes in Gazprom, Uralkali and Sberbank
- 2009: Nafta Moskva bought a 37% stake in Polyus Gold, Russia’s largest gold producer, for $1.3 billion; his stake was transferred to his son Said in 2015
- 2010: with partners he paid an estimated $5.3 billion for a 53% stake in the potash producer Uralkali
Politics and Football
Since 2008 Kerimov has represented the Republic of Dagestan in the Federation Council of Russia. In 2011 he bought the football club FC Anzhi Makhachkala, which signed Samuel Eto’o as the highest-paid player in the world; in 2013 he sharply cut its funding, leading to a sell-off of players.
Sanctions
The US Treasury sanctioned Kerimov in April 2018. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 he was sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union on March 15, 2022. In April 2022 his son Said resigned from Polyus Gold’s board and the family sold its $6.3 billion stake in the company. Wikipedia says Kerimov maintains close ties to the administration of Vladimir Putin.
Why It Matters
Kerimov’s wealth has swung widely with commodity prices and sanctions, and he is one of the best-known Russian oligarchs outside Russia.
Net worth figures change daily with share prices. Rankings here follow the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, with wealth measured on March 1, 2026.
Image: Suleyman Kerimov in June 2010. Photo: Hlebushek / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
