The Riches Move From Manhattan to Moscow

Yesterday Forbes magazine, in their annual ranking of the rich, declared New York City is no longer the billionaire capital of the world. Where have all the dollar signs gone? To Moscow, of course, who beat us out by 3 billionaires (they have 74 to our 71).

Most of the big buck city dwellers are familiar names: Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($11.5 billion), publishing powerhouses Samuel Newhouse Jr. and Rupert Murdoch ($8.5 billion and $8.3 billion), Donald Trump ($3 billion). John A. Catsimatidis is also on the list, having stuffed his pockets through supermarkets, real estate and oil, he's currently trying to become New York's second billionaire mayor. The richest among them, however, is industrialist David Koch -- worth $17 billion!

But why the shift of wealth from New York City to Russia? For one, they have a smaller percentage of long-term capital gains tax. They're also self-made and don't depend on Wall Street. The NY Sun looks at what this all means, stating, "The price of two nights in the Carlton Suite of Moscow's Ritz Carlton hotel now costs $10,000. Two nights in the Executive Suite at the Four Seasons in New York is a mere $4,300."

And not-Forbes rich but still rich people who make more than $1 million/year, State Assembly Democrats are proposing a tax increase of another percentage point, in hopes of raising $1.5 billion more.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in News on March 6, 2008 1:30 PM

Comments [rss]

stereotypical

berniegoetz is the the man. John Gotti is a piece of trash. He only cared about his family and maybe some other I-talians.

Goomba

These rich finocchios need to give back to the little guy. They can learn from great men like John Gotti.

Goomba

These rich bastards should be giving everyone a bit of the pie. They can learn from some of the good people like John Gotti was.

Nick S

re: amanda harlech

nyc doesn't have green space?? back that up PLEASE.

EastRiver

How about some of these rich New Yorkers pour some money into the MTA?

Trump would buy one subway station and plate it in gold. "Next Stop: Trump Station at Trump Street and Trump Avenue."

HughGass

how bout the super rich people keep their fucking money. it's amazing that some people think they're entitled to it because they're poor. too bad.

Steven

How about some of these rich New Yorkers pour some money into the MTA?

berniegoetz

One person possessing so much wealth is needless. By the same token, I reject the idea of dumping money into more "social programs" as that only leads to more entitlement among the poor. I say the money should go to paying people not to have any more damn babies. 1 per couple. Period. White. Black. Brown. Yellow. Pink. Doesn't matter what color your skin is. Overpopulation is the root of most of our major ecological problems and, as with everything else, people won't start paying any attention to it until $$$ is involved. The Mike Bloomberg Use a Condom or Else You Get Cut Off program is what I'd like to see.

LinkMan

Trump doesn't have $3B. He might not even be worth $100MM.

He pretends to be a billionaire and flaunts his supposed wealth because his entire business is based on convincing people he's rich and living this super-luxury lifestyle and they should want it too.

He owns hardly any real estate. He makes money by licensing his name to put on other folks' projects because gullible rich people are willing to pay extra to associate themselves with his name.

Amanda Harletsch

what about moving to russia to escape the UGLIEST city scape? NYC has no public policies on architecture, no green spaces, and poverty is at view with all the postmodern noise possible...

NYC is not very rich in living standards...even for the rich.

EastRiver

i would never back as it is obscenely expensive now.

And their new President says that inflation came from "outside Russia" i.e. blame the US. All the fashionable dictatorships do it so why not Russia?

matty

i was in moscow in 2001 and there was a restaruant that would give you all the pizza you could eat for a year for 200 dollars. everything was cheap and everything was for sale back then.

i would never back as it is obscenely expensive now.

djwerdna

Yeah, what EastRiver said.

brian123

Who needs that kind of money? It's said that multi-billionaires are living only a few miles from one of the poorest census tracts in the country (Brownsville).

They should be giving away their money in droves to worthwhile causes, like education and other social programs. Especially Trump, who flaunts his money like no other.

EastRiver

They're also self-made and don't depend on Wall Street.

Is using your cronies in the Kremlin to help you scoop up former state assets on the cheap or using the feeble courts to help really self-made?