Roman Abramovich has lost £12billion on the Russian stock exchange, it was revealed today.The Chelsea FC owner has seen his fortune shrink as Russia's Micex Index has gone into freefall. The decline in value of two of his companies on the Moscow-based index, steel maker Evraz and mining company Highland Gold, has left the 41-year-old tycoon £11.9billion worse off.
It comes just four days after details emerged of the £200million super-yacht Abramovich is having built - set to be the largest private yacht ever constructed.
The massive bill for the boat amounts to just a 60th of today's gargantuan losses for the Russian oligarch.
Abramovich's woes come on a disastrous financial day for London's Premiership football clubs, with the owners of Arsenal and West Ham also suffering from the effects of instability in the markets. Arsenal's part-owner Alisher Usmanov has lost £7billion on the Micex index, which has declined 61 per cent since its peak in May.
West Ham's Icelandic owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson also said he may sell the club after losing £230million.
Abramovich's losses will set alarm bells ringing in the football world and the City. It comes after Chelsea chairman, Bruce Buck, suggested this week that the club could sell players to survive.