Adelson vs Potanin
Las Vegas Sands and Nornickel.
The differences
- Forbes puts Miriam Adelson about $1.3B ahead of Vladimir Potanin.Forbes figures from 9 Oct 2026 and 17 Oct 2026.
- Miriam Adelson: through marriage. Vladimir Potanin: built it up.
- Miriam Adelson is about 16 years older than Vladimir Potanin.
- Vladimir Potanin has signed the Giving Pledge; Miriam Adelson has not.
- Miriam Adelson is from United States; Vladimir Potanin is from Russia.
Put someone else on either side
Side by side
Adelson
PotaninThe money
- Net worth, Forbes
- $31BForbes, 9 Oct 2026
- $29.7BForbes, 17 Oct 2026
- Net worth, Bloomberg
- Not stated
- $21.8BBloomberg, 17 Oct 2026
- Forbes rank
- No. 71Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026
- No. 76Real-Time list, 17 Oct 2026
- Billionaire since
- Not stated
- Not stated
Where it came from
- How it started
- Through marriageWidow of Sheldon Adelson, who founded Las Vegas Sands and died in 2021; she and her family own more than half of the company
- Built it upFounded Interros in 1990; acquired a stake in Norilsk Nickel during Russia's privatization in the 1990s and has run it since 2012
- Main source
- Las Vegas Sands stockBloomberg: her biggest asset is a half-stake in Las Vegas Sands; it also counts the Dallas Mavericks and cash
- Norilsk Nickel stockBloomberg: most of his wealth is his Norilsk Nickel stake; he also has stakes in T-Technologies and Yandex
- Companies
- Las Vegas SandsLas Vegas Sands: Majority shareholder with her family
- Nornickel, InterrosNornickel: President and chairman of the management board; Interros: Founder and president
- Biggest stake
- Las Vegas Sands52.7% owned
- Interros100% owned
The person
- Born
- 10 Oct 1945Tel Aviv, then British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel)
- 3 Jan 1961Moscow, Russia
- Country
- United StatesLives in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
- Russia
- Education
- Graduate degreeMD, Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine; BSc in microbiology and genetics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Not statedFaculty of Economics, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), 1983
- Parents
- Her parents left Poland in the 1930s; her father, Simcha Farbstein, joined a kibbutz before the family settled in Haifa
- Father was a trade diplomat and mother a doctor
What they give
- Giving Pledge
- Not a signer
- Signed in 2013
- Foundation
- Adelson Family FoundationEstablished in 2007 by Miriam and Sheldon Adelson
- Vladimir Potanin FoundationGrant-making foundation created in 1999
- Lifetime giving
- Not stated
- Not stated
Role and record
- Role now
- OwnerMajority shareholder of Las Vegas Sands and the Dallas Mavericks with her family; publisher of Israel Hayom
- Runs the companyPresident and chairman of the management board of Nornickel; president of Interros
- Successor
- Her son-in-law Patrick Dumont became chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands on 1 March 2026
- Not stated
- Public office
- None found
- First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia1996-1997
- Legal record
- None found
- 2022: UK governmentDesignated under UK sanctions with a full asset freeze (UK Sanctions List reference RUS1466).
