On the site of the publication Forbes you can track in real time the changes in the wealthiest people on the planet. On Monday, this chip was just right.
After the introduction of new US sanctions, the richest Russian "whales" lost hourly millions of dollars, and monitoring their "impoverishment" turned into a fascinating show.
The fall in the value of their shares on the exchanges began on Friday, continued on Monday and is still on Tuesday. On April 9, assets of top 50 Russian businessmen totaled more than 11 billion dollars.
Why did these sanctions cause such a panic?
Sanctions against Russia were introduced earlier, but they had no such consequences. In recent years, Ukraine's neighbors have even begun to get the impression that they are slowly creeping out of the pit and can again establish business contacts with the West.
There were certain grounds for such hopes. For example, S & P recently upgraded Russia's credit rating to investment grade, which many experts perceived as a positive signal.
In fact, it turned out that the US just did not hurry. And if earlier it was mainly about personal sanctions or sanctions against companies whose shares are not traded on the stock exchange, now the blow was inflicted on public companies.
It can be said with certainty that on April 6, the sanctions reached a new level - cooperation with Russian business is becoming toxic, which makes minority investors throw off stocks in huge quantities. The panic begins and once the securities quickly turn into unnecessary expensive waste, from which you need to get rid as soon as possible.
The chip of the new sanctions list is that no sane businessman in the West now wants to deal with a company from this list. Because this may be followed by punishment from the United States.
Suppliers, buyers, banks, investors - everyone will understand that they are going to huge risks, investing money in Russian business. Is it possible to attract foreign investments in such conditions? May be. But doing this will be more difficult and much more expensive.
Who has lost the most?
The main loser of the day was Oleg Deripaska. On Monday evening, all Russian media were trumpeting that for a day the oligarch impoverished by $ 1.3 billion. However, already on the morning of April 10, Forbes' interactive table showed another figure - 1.6 billion. This is a third of the total state of the oligarch.
His aluminum company Rusal suffered the most. The fact is that about a third of the company's supplies accounted for the American market. Now it's closed and it's almost a disaster.
Deripaska will need to look for new buyers who will be able to take such a volume. But it would not be easy and in the usual situation, and when your potential customers understand that because of one transaction you can get into disgrace towards Uncle Sam ... the situation becomes more complicated at times.
If it were a question of any Western company, then the output for it would be obvious - to reduce the amount of aluminum production by the same 20-30%. Yes, the losses still can not be avoided, but this would at least keep the business afloat.
However, in Russia it is believed that Deripaska can not do this - in many single-industry towns, "Rusal" gives people work. You will close production - unemployment will grow and discontent will appear. And this is clearly not what Putin needs at the beginning of the next term.
Who else suffered?
Almost all Russian companies whose shares are traded on the exchange. "Safmar", "Rusal", "Mechel", "Polyus", "Sberbank" - this list can be continued for a long time.
A similar story with some companies that were not on the stock exchange. For example, the owner of the company "Renova" Victor Vekselberg closed the top five victims (minus $ 967 million from the state).
