Who is Russia's Second Female Billionaire According to Forbes

According to Forbes, the emergence of Wildberries, Russia's largest online store, valued at $1.2 billion, has made its sole owner, Tatyana Bakalchuk, the second female billionaire in Russia. This was reported by Forbes as referenced by Armenpress.

Previously, the only woman in Russia with a fortune exceeding $1 billion was Elena Baturina, the wife of former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov. The new valuation of the online retailer allows Bakalchuk’s fortune to be estimated at over $1 billion. Forbes notes that since Wildberries is not a public company, its valuation was based on sales and profit data, as well as on multiplier estimates from similar projects and evaluations from venture capitalists.

Bakalchuk founded her business in 2004 with her husband, Vladislav. Initially, the couple focused on the Otto and Quelle catalogs for women's clothing retail, and later, other product categories were introduced into Wildberries' offerings, including household appliances, cosmetics, and children's products. In 2018, the company’s revenue was estimated at $1.7 billion, reported Interfax.