It's true that a billion dollars ain't what it used to be. But it is also true that having a billion dollars is better than not having a billion dollars. For those that do have at least US$1 billion, it's necessary to keep score and on that count we defer to our good friends at Forbes, who released their annual list of billionaires for 2010 a little while back.
There are now 937 'official' billionaires worldwide. Not surprisingly, 25 reside in Hong Kong and all of them are seemingly content to breathe the same putrid air as you and I despite their opulent wealth. Again, no surprise there but what is truly surprising is that there are now 62 billionaires in Russia. It's pretty impressive when you consider there were none only 20 years ago. The richest man in Russia, and 32nd wealthiest man in the world, is Vladimir Lisin and unless you are a wealth groupie or in the steel industry you probably have not heard of him.
Now the third richest man in Russia, and 50th in the world, is a name that will be eminently more familiar to sports fans. Roman Abramovich is a steel and oil tycoon who is also the very visible owner of Chelsea football club. For many billionaires, having money is not enough. They crave the notoriety and there are few vanity investments capable of shining the light on you like owning a high-profile sports team.
It's a lesson the second richest man in Russia also seems to have taken to heart. His name is Mikhail Prokhorov and not only does he have more money than Abramovich but he has more than every other owner in the National Basketball Association, which is no small feat considering the league features 10 billionaires including Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Amway scion Richard DeVos.
You may not know who Prokhorov is now, but you will soon enough. Last year, he completed a deal to buy 80 per cent of the New Jersey Nets and in the process became the first non-North American owner in the history of the NBA.
Had this been England, foreign ownership would not be news because while the US has over 400 billionaires, the UK has only 29. Half the 20 teams in the lucrative English Premier League are foreign owned and while I am sure it is not a source of pride in the UK, it is a modern reality of the global economy. 'America is really the only place where the question gets asked, 'What about those foreigners?'' NBA commissioner David Stern recently said about the sale of the Nets to Russian money. 'This is a global sport, our games are televised in 215 countries and in 43 different languages so it was really just a natural import of globalisation.'