FX.co ★ Rich and discussed: top 10 popular billionaires

Leonid Fedun is not the richest Russian enterpreneur, but the most discussed one. The sixty-year-old Vice President of Lukoil and the Board Chairman of Spartak with assets of $3.9 bln is a quite popular person in Internet. In the period from March 2015 to March 2016 the billionaire's name was mentioned 99.103 times in the World Wide Web. The highest number of messages about Fedun was related to Spartak football club, as well as the names of Alenichev and Berdyev.

The second place in terms of number of mentions in Internet goes to probably the most popular Russian businessman of the early 2000s Roman Abramovich. The investor's name was mentioned in online media. The greater number of articles and comments was connected with Chelsea football club (Abramovich is an owner of the club), the businessman's pet – a dog of corgi breed, as well as with the billionaire's Manhattan townhouses.

One of the most desirable bachelor of Russia Mikhail Prokhorov is on the third place. The businessman has been mentioned for the year. The reason for public discussion was Prokhorov and NBA players' joint training, during which the billionaire had been sharing their own basketball techniques with the athletes.

Oleg Deripaska is on the fourth position. The Russian billionaire's name was mentioned 34,730 times in online media. The businessman was most often discussed within the context of the US currency - Deripaska predicted the national US currency to cost 100 rubles per dollar, that frightened the already worried Russians.

The fifth place of the most discussed Russian billionaires goes to Alisher Usmanov. There have been 28,823 mentions about the businessman for the year. The main theme of 2015, related to Usmanov, was arts patronage – thanks to his generosity, the owner of USM Holding received attention of media and Internet users. Let us remember, that in summer 2015 Usmanov donated to the Russian Football Union an additional 300 million rubles to pay the salary of Fabio Capello (the sum of the RFU assistance from Usmanov totaled $1 billion). The businessman noted that the state had to meet the commitments to the invited staff.

Gennady Timchenko became the sixth in online popularity in the period from March 2015 to March 2016. The name of Gunvor's founder and Novatek's shareholder was mentioned 25,143 times in online media. Most of the times, the articles with mentions of the billionaire's name contained information on Putin and Khrushchev's summer residence.

Arkady Rotenberg is on the seventh position. The name of Putin's close friend often arose in the articles about the RF President. The greatest number of mentions of Rotenberg was related to the Platon system, long-haul truckers, sanctions.

Vladimir Potanin, the once taken the first line of the Russian Forbes rating, is on the eighth place. The billionaire's name was mentioned 20,170 times in the World Wide Web. The most popular news involving the name of the Interros Company's owner addressed the topic of relations between Potanin and his ex-wife. He was also mentioned in the articles on the project of establishing a national tour operator.

Boris Rotenberg took the ninth position. The younger brother of Arkady Rotenberg has been mentioned 17,386 times in media for the year. Sanctions, offshore and Dinamo football club are the main themes with mentions of the billionaire.

Vagit Alekperov rounds out the top ten most discussed wealthiest people. The President of LUKOIL was mentioned 16,139 times in online media. Bashneft, $50 per barrel of oil and the hotels of Istanbul are the central topics in which the businessman has been discussed over the year.