Ivanishvili drops out of world’s 500 richest list

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire and former Prime Minister of Georgia, has fallen out of the world’s 500 richest people, according to the latest update from Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index published on Monday.

Earlier this month, Ivanishvili, who is the honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, was ranked 428th with an estimated net worth of $6.98 billion, based on Bloomberg’s data as of 11 April. However, he no longer appears in the updated rankings released on Monday.

The news follows an earlier report by Forbes on 1 April, which indicated a significant decline in Ivanishvili’s fortune. According to Forbes, his estimated wealth fell from $4.7 billion to $2.7 billion. The Georgian service of the publication noted that this adjustment was “based solely on information provided directly to Forbes by Ivanishvili’s estate manager.”

Ivanishvili, who founded the ruling Georgian Dream party, made much of his fortune through investments in Russia before returning to Georgia in the early 2000s. He remains an influential figure in the country’s political landscape and is labelled as the “shadow ruler” by the domestic opposition and the civil sector.