Forbes names Kerkorian richest Armenian

Forbes Magazine on Monday issued its annual list of world’s billionaires and Kirk Kerkorian, once again, was on the list ranking as the most wealthy Armenian, Asbarez reported.

Coming in at 328th with a net worth of $4.5 billion, Kerkorian tops a roster of six Armenians named on the list this year.

The other Armenian billionaires listed by Forbes were Samvel Karapetyan (345th), Danil Khachaturov (663rd), Eduardo Eurnekian (931st). Armenia’s Consul General to Los Angeles Sergei Sarkisov and his brother Nikolai were both ranked 1465th.

Kirk Kerkorian, a hotel magnate is still making money — even at the age of 96. Despite selling $750 million worth of shares of MGM International Resorts in recent years, the Chairman emeritus (till owns nearly one-fifth its shares, which have nearly doubled in the past year — helping boost his net worth by $1.2 billion.

Samvel Karapetyan with an estimated net worth of $4.3 billion heads the Tashir Group, a real estate firm that owns 27 shopping centers, seven office complexes, and seven hotels.

In late 2013 Danil Khachaturov, with an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion, listed shares in his insurance giant Rosgosstrakh, one of Russia’s highest-volume insurers, on the Moscow Exchange. Khachaturov studied construction and finance at Moscow schools and went to work at privately-held BIN Bank and then at Slavneft, an oil company led at the time by billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev.

Through the years, Argentine-Armenian businessman Eduardo Eurnekian, now 71, and with an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion, has proven he is a flexible businessman and entrepreneur. The son of Armenian immigrants, he first delved into the textiles industry, and then the cable TV business in the 1980s.

Armenia’s Consul General to Los Angeles Sergei Sarkisov and his brother Nikolai were both estimated to have a net worth of $1.1 billion. Sergei got his start at the Soviet state insurance firm Ingosstrakh. In 1991 he founded his own insurer, RESO-Garantiya where he serves as chairman of the board. His brother Nikolai oversees the largest clients at Sergei’s insurance company, RESO-Garantiya. The brothers own 63 percent of the company, while French insurer AXA owns the remaining 37 percent.