MOSCOW (Reuters) - Alisher Usmanov is Russia's richest tycoon for the third year in a row, with wealth of $18.6 billion (11.0 billion pounds), after selling his stake in the social media website Facebook (>> Facebook Inc), according to the latest report by the U.S. magazine Forbes.
Usmanov is a co-owner of Russia's largest iron ore miner, Metalloinvest
His worth rose $1 billion from his previous rating after the sale of his and his partners' stake in Facebook for $2.5 billion, according to Forbes. http://www.forbes.ru/profile/alisher-usmanov
Mikhail Fridman, the co-owner of Alfa Bank and telecoms operator Vimpelcom (>> VimpelCom Ltd (ADR)), is still Russia's second-richest tycoon, worth $17.6 billion, up $1.1 billion. The third richest, Viktor Vekselberg, who made his money in metals and energy, rose from fourth place with a worth of $17.2 billion, up $2.1 billion year-on-year.
For the first time in the rating's history, tycoon-turned-politician Mikhail Prokhorov, who owns the Brooklyn Nets basketball team and a stake in the world's largest potash producer, Uralkali (>> Uralkaliy OAO), was not included into the top 10. His wealth fell $2.1 billion to $10.9 billion.
Consumer-oriented businessmen rose on the list, in step with the growth of Russia's middle class. Entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov, who founded and owns a majority take in the consumer-credit firm TCS (>> TCS Group Holding PLC), climbed 76 places to 75th place after taking his company public in October 2013.
Arkady Volozh, founder and chief executive of Russia's largest search engine, Yandex (>> Yandex NV), rose 34 spots to 60th place after the company's share price doubled. Yandex raised $1.4 billion in an initial public offering in New York in 2011.
(Reporting by Polina Devitt and Megan Davies; Editing by Larry King)