Forbes names Vyacheslav Kim as the richest person in Kazakhstan once again

Collage by Kursiv.media, photo editor: Milosh Muratovskiy

Vyacheslav Kim has retained the top spot on the list of the richest Kazakhstanis in 2025. Timur Turlov rose from 5th to 2nd place, while Vladimir Kim stepped up from 4th to 3rd. Timur Kulibayev and his wife Dinara dropped from 2nd to 6th, and Bulat Utemuratov was ranked 6th, according to the latest Forbes Kazakhstan ranking.

The combined wealth of the top five increased by $7.2 billion over the year, totaling $27.6 billion. Vyacheslav Kim’s capital grew by $5.8 billion, reaching $7.1 billion. His portfolio includes a 23.4% stake in the fintech company Kaspi.kz, as well as shares in the IT companies Alseco and Eltop Soft; the payment processing company Astana-ERC, which handles housing and utility services; and Positive Invest, which focuses on the oil industry. On top of that, Kim is the ultimate beneficiary of the Magnum Cash & Carry retail chain.

Freedom Holding Corp. CEO Timur Turlov saw his fortune surge from $3.3 billion to $5.8 billion. The holding includes Freedom Finance, a brokerage firm; Freedom Bank; two insurance companies; Arbuz.kz, an online supermarket; and Freedom Travel (formerly known as Aviata.kz), a ticket aggregator. Freedom also operates Freedom Drive, a tire retailer; Freedom Ticketon, a public event ticketing platform; Freedom Mobile, a mobile device and accessory retail chain; Freedom Telecom, a telecommunications provider; and Freedom Media, a video streaming service.

Vladimir Kim grew his fortune from $3.6 billion to $5.7 billion. His company, KAZ Minerals, operates the Bozshakol mine in the Pavlodar region, the Aktogay mine in the Abay region and three underground mines in the East Kazakhstan region, as well as the Bozymchak copper and gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. In addition, Kim holds a controlling stake in Bank RBK.

Timur and Dinara Kulibayev’s net worth is estimated at $5.3 billion, an increase of $300 million. The couple owns Halyk Bank, the largest bank in Kazakhstan, through the Almex holding. Timur Kulibayev also controls Joint Resources, which includes Caspiy Neft, Shubarkol Premium and Crystal Management. Additionally, he holds shares in Viled, Emdeu, PetroRetail, Kamkor Management and Bachhus through the Kipros investment holding.

The 6th position in the ranking is occupied by Bulat Utemuratov, whose net worth rose from $2.7 billion to $3.7 billion. Utemuratov is a principal shareholder of ForteBank, holds shares in RG Gold and Kar-Tel (operating under the Beeline Kazakhstan brand), and manages the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Astana and Vienna, The Carlton in Moscow and the Rixos Borovoe hotel in the Akmola region.

The ranking participants were ranked according to the total value of their assets. Company valuations were conducted using the conservative «no less than» principle. The value was halved for companies that did not provide audited financial statements. Only 75 of the 110 businessmen on the longlist made it to the final shortlist. Company assessments varied depending on the economic sector and were based on a combination of market capitalization, core capital, discounted cash flow, mergers and acquisitions, price-to-earnings and price-to-sales ratios and the enterprise value/EBITDA multiple.

The World’s Billionaires List, published by Forbes on April 1, also includes Kaspi.kz co-founder Mikhail Lomtadze, ranked 597th with a net worth of $5.9 billion. His fortune increased by $700 million over the past year. However, since he is a citizen of Georgia, he was not included in the ranking by Forbes Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, the global list is topped by Elon Musk, with Mark Zuckerberg in second place and Jeff Bezos rounding out the top three.