Mikhelson vs Würth
NOVATEK and Würth Group.
The differences
- Forbes puts Leonid Mikhelson about $1B ahead of Reinhold Würth.Forbes figures from 9 Oct 2026 and 9 Oct 2026.
- Leonid Mikhelson: founded it. Reinhold Würth: inherited and grew it.
- Reinhold Würth is about 20 years older than Leonid Mikhelson.
- Leonid Mikhelson is from Russia; Reinhold Würth is from Germany.
Put someone else on either side
Side by side
Mikhelson
WürthThe money
- Net worth, Forbes
- $28.3BForbes, 9 Oct 2026
- $27.3BForbes, 9 Oct 2026
- Net worth, Bloomberg
- $23.2BBloomberg, 17 Oct 2026
- Not stated
- Forbes rank
- No. 81Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026
- No. 89Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026
- Billionaire since
- Not stated
- Not stated
Where it came from
- How it started
- Founded itForbes calls him Novatek's founder (it began in 1994 as Novafininvest); he bought control of SIBUR from Gazprombank in 2010-2011. Forbes' 2006 list called his fortune 'inherited and growing', noting his father ran the USSR's largest pipeline-construction trust
- Inherited and grew itJoined his father Adolf's screw wholesaler in 1949 and took over its management in 1954, aged 19, after his father's death
- Main source
- Novatek and SIBUR stockBloomberg: 'The majority of Leonid Mikhelson's fortune is derived from a 25% stake in Novatek'
- Control of the Würth Group through family trustsBloomberg: the trusts are held in the name of his three children
- Companies
- NOVATEK, SIBURNOVATEK: Chairman of the management board and board member; SIBUR: Chairman of the board of directors
- Würth GroupWürth Group: Honorary chairman of the supervisory board; chairman of the supervisory board of the Würth Group's family trusts
- Biggest stake
- SIBUR30.6% owned
- Würth GroupStake not stated
The person
- Born
- 11 Aug 1955Kaspiysk, Dagestan, Russia (then the Soviet Union)
- 20 Apr 1935Öhringen, Germany
- Country
- RussiaLives in Moscow, Russia
- GermanyLives in Künzelsau, Germany
- Education
- Not statedCivil construction engineering, Kuibyshev Institute of Civil Engineering (1977)
- No universityApprenticeship as a wholesale and retail merchant, completed 1952
- Parents
- His father Viktor Mikhelson headed the Kuibyshevtruboprovodstroy trust, which Forbes called the largest pipeline-construction trust in the USSR
- Father Adolf Würth founded a screw wholesaler in 1945; mother Alma Würth co-founded the company
What they give
- Giving Pledge
- Not a signer
- Not a signer
- Foundation
- V-A-C Foundation (Victoria - the Art of Being Contemporary)Founded by him in Moscow in 2009, named after his daughter
- Würth FoundationEstablished with his wife Carmen Würth in 1987
- Lifetime giving
- Not stated
- Not stated
Role and record
- Role now
- Runs the companyChairman of NOVATEK's management board; chairman of SIBUR's board
- On the boardHonorary chairman of the Würth Group's supervisory board; chairman of the supervisory board of its family trusts
- Successor
- Not stated
- In 2025 he passed the baton to his grandchildren Benjamin, Sebastian and Maria Würth; his daughter Bettina chaired the advisory board from 2006
- Public office
- None found
- None found
- Legal record
- None found
- 2008: Heilbronn Local Court (Amtsgericht Heilbronn)A penalty order for tax evasion fined him and two company managers between 600 and 700 daily rates, which left him with a criminal record; the amount per daily rate was not disclosed.
