The Richest People in Poland 2016
Forbes magazine has recently published the sixth instalment of its annual The Richest People in Poland list. The ranking lists a hundred most affluent people in the country.
From real estate moguls to ice-cream manufacturers, the richest Polish entrepreneurs may boast assets in the amounts from ranging from 340 million PLN (77.7 million EUR) to 15.9 billion PLN (3.6 billion EUR).
Polish edition of Forbes has been in circulation since December 2004, but it was not until 2011 that the magazine started to rank the most affluent Polish entrepreneurs.
Few people could suspect this time last year who would top of the list in 2016. The richest person in Poland 2015, Jan Kulczyk, unexpectedly passed away. His assets were passed on to his two children.
Sebastian Kulczyk and Dominika Kulczyk-Lubomirska now jointly head the ranking. The value of the inheritance is estimated at 15.9 billion PLN (3.6 billion EUR).
Acquiring fortune though inheritance is rather unusual for “The Richest People in Poland”. Until the 1990s and the fall of communism it was virtually impossible for someone to build an empire and become a millionaire.
Person number two on the list is Zygmunt Solorz-Żak, a TV station founder and owner (Polsat) who is also a finance and telecommunications investor. Last year he was the second person in the list as well. His assets are estimated at 9.9 billion PLN (2.3 billion EUR).
The third position in the ranking remained unchanged in comparison with 2015 as well. Michał Sołowow is active in the fields of chemical industry and real estate development. His wealth is estimated to be 9.2 billion PLN (2.1 billion EUR).
Quite a lot of the people who made the list are newcomers. Out of 100 wealthiest Poles, 36 were included in the ranking for the first time (including the top-spotters, Sebastian Kulczyk and Dominika Kulczyk-Lubomirska). A lot of them made their money in food and furniture industries.
One may note that in order to get onto the list, a person had to have 100 million PLN more than for the 2015 ranking. Total assets of the 100 people on the list is 170.7 billion PLN (24.7 billion EUR). One fourth of the entrepreneurs included in the ranking are billionaires.
The latest issue of Forbes was published on 25 February.
