Alisher Usmanov's fortune is valued at $17.2 billion in July 2019. Usmanov was not best pleased as the chance of controlling Arsenal football club slipped from under his nose to rival investor Stan Kroenke in April. Nevertheless, his unhappiness can be tempered by the increase in net worth the tycoon has enjoyed in the past year. He is easily the Rich List's highest riser in terms of wealth this year. Usmanov intends to hold on to his 27% stake in Arsenal, worth £196m, and will remain a visitor to the corporate box that his investment vehicle, Red and White, keeps at the Emirates stadium in north London. "My love for Arsenal is like that of a man for a woman," he has said. "It is not something you can sell." Unlike shares in Metalloinvest, Russia's largest iron ore producer, in which Usmanov, 57, holds a 45% stake. He wants to list Metalloinvest in London this year, valuing the operation at up to £13 billion.

The son of a former state prosecutor in Tashkent, Usmanov was born in Soviet Uzbekistan and is a Russian citizen. He became rich through steel and iron ore mines before diversifying into timber, telecoms and, more recently, the internet. Last November, mail.ru, which holds about 2% of Facebook as well as stakes in web darlings Groupon and Zynga, was listed in London, raising $912m (almost £550m). Usmanov — who owns a £48m mansion in north London, as well as Sutton Place, the former home of J Paul Getty in Surrey — splashed out £20m in 2007 to buy the art collection of the late cellist Mstislav Rostropovich for a state museum. Usmanov has given personally and through his companies, Gallagher and Metalloinvest, more than £78m to charity in the past year, ranking him 97th in the Giving List. This has been mostly to Russia's Arts and Sports Charity Foundation, which he co-founded and which was one of the key backers of the successful 2018 Russian football World Cup bid.

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