Russian-Greek businessman Ivan Savvidis debuted this week on Forbes’ annual survey of the richest people in the world, coming in at 1,511th out of 2,153 individuals listed.
Savvidis, who owns the PAOK Thessaloniki football team and a handful of mid-level businesses in Greece, is valued at 1.5 billion USD.
Forbes reminds that the Soviet-born ethnic Greek began working at the Don State Tobacco Factory (today’s Donskoy Tabak) in 1980, rising to its general manager in 1993. The financial magazine also details his election as a Duma MP in 2003 with the pro-Putin United Russia party.
In 2004 he founded the Agrokom Group, which today operates meat packing, greenhouse and bottled mineral water units. The Savvidis group also holds the concession for the Macedonia Palace hotel on Thessaloniki’s waterfront.
