Over 10 Greeks and Cypriots have been named in the Forbes World’s Billionaires List 2022. Here is The Greek Herald‘s rundown of who they are and what they do.
321 – Vicky Safra, Greece, $7.4 billion
Vicky Safra inherited her fortune from her late husband, Brazilian banker Joseph Safra, who died in December 2020.
801 – John Catsimatidis, Greece, $3.7 billion
John Catsimatidis is best known as the owner of New York City supermarket chain Gristedes.
822 – Aristotelis Mistakidis, Greece, $3.6 billion
Aristotelis Mistakidis, known as “Telis,” stepped down from his role as the director of Glencore’s copper business at the end of 2018.
1096 – Philip Niarchos, Greece, $2.8 billion
Philip Niarchos, the oldest son of the late shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos, inherited much of his father’s art collection.
1096 – Maritsa Lazari & Family, United Kingdom, $2.8 billion
Maritsa Lazari is the widow of late billionaire Christos Lazari, who died in 2015, a few months shy of their 50th wedding anniversary.
1163 – C. Dean Metropoulos, United States, $2.7 billion
C. Dean Metropoulos is best known for saving the iconic Twinkies and Hostess Brands.
1292 – George Argyros & Family, United States, $2.4 billion
The grandson of Greek immigrants, George Argyros worked his way through high school and college in southern California as a paperboy and grocery clerk.
1818 – Ivan Savvidis, Russia – $1.6 billion
Ivan Savvidis, a Greek-Russian businessman, is the founder of Agrokom Group, whose assets include Russian tobacco firm Donskoy Tabak.
1818 – George Sakellaris, United States – $1.6 billion
George Sakellaris is the founder and CEO of Ameresco, a clean technology integrator that trades on the New York Stock Exchange.
1818 – Theodore ‘Ted’ Leonsis, United States – $1.6 billion
Theodore ‘Ted’ Leonsis is founder, majority owner and CEO of Monumental Sports, which owns several teams and arenas in Washington, D.C.
2076 – Vardis J. Vardinoyannis, Greece – $1.4 billion
Vardis J. Vardinoyannis co-founded Motor Oil Hellas, a petroleum company based in Greece, with his late brother in 1970.
2076 – George Yancopoulos, United States – $1.4 billion
George Yancopoulos is the chief scientific officer of biotech firm Regeneron. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Columbia University and became a professor of biology by age 28 and led the invention of seven approved drugs and a technology platform designed to invent more. He owns about 2% of Regeneron stock.
2448 – Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Cyprus – $1.1 billion
The son of a Greek Cypriot shipping magnate, Stelios Haji-Ioannou gets the bulk of his fortune from his stake in budget airline easyJet.
2578 – Polys Haji-Ioannou, Cyprus – $1 billion
Polys Haji-Ioannou is the son of late Cypriot shipping magnate Loucas Haji-Ioannou (d. 2008), who once owned the world’s largest private tanker fleet.
