By Matt Durot
A popular online meme that is currently circulating unequivocally claims that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has a fortune worth $ 1.4 billion – “bigger than Will Smith, Chris Rock and Dave Chapel combined.” The hint is clear. In order for the former comedian Zelenski to have amassed a fortune of this magnitude, corruption must lurk. And after this claim was parroted by many anonymous Twitter users, a number of “blue dots” began to take action.
Lee Stranahan, an American Radio Sputnik presenter appearing in Oliver Stone’s documentary “Revealing Ukraine,” tweeted to his nearly 100,000 followers: “Why is Zelensky a billionaire?”
Forbes’s answer: It’s not. The Russian invasion has severely affected the billionaires of Ukraine. According to Forbes’s 36th annual World’s Billionaires list, there are only seven left in the country and Zelensky is not one of them (not even former president and chocolate mogul Petro Poroshenko, who dropped this year).
But unlike his predecessor, Zelensky was never a billionaire. His fortune currently stands at a maximum of about $ 20 million, according to a Forbes Ukraine report.
His main asset: An estimated 25% stake in Kvartal 95, a group of comedy show companies, which he handed over to associates after his election as president, though he is likely to regain the shares when he steps down. Kvartal 95 produced and owns the rights to The Servant of the People, a popular political comedy starring Zelensky as a Ukrainian high school president-elect, and Netflix, which aired the show from 2017 It regained the rights in March 2021. With an estimated revenue of $ 30 million a year, Forbes Ukraine estimates the value of Zelensky’s share at $ 11 million.
Although it has an apartment in one of the most expensive apartment buildings in Ukraine in the center of Kiev, it is relatively mediocre by Western standards. Forbes estimates that the entire portfolio of Zelensky’s real estate is worth $ 4 million, and includes two more fully-owned apartments, two of which he co-owns, a commercial property and five parking spaces.
Internet “researchers”, or rather Russian propagandists, have charged Zelensky with owning up to five luxury yachts and three private jets, along with $ 60 million worth of shares in companies such as Saudi Aramco, Meta and Tesla.
Forbes has not found any evidence for such a fleet, and if Zelensky owns shares in these companies, it is hard to believe that they will be worth anywhere near $ 60 million. We estimate that he and his wife Olena Zelenska have a joint bank account containing about $ 2 million in cash and government bonds. The rest of their assets, which are two cars and some jewelry, do not exceed $ 1 million.
Zelensky will not be on the Forbes list of billionaires any time soon. But he has much more important things to worry about.
Source: Capital
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