Czech billionaire Petr Kellner cracks Hurun’s list of the world’s 100 wealthiest people

With a net worth of an estimated $14 billion (roughly 315 billion crowns), Petr Kellner has made Hurun’s list of the world’s 100 wealthiest people, a first for both him and the Czech Republic.

In 2018, Kellner was ranked 127 on Hurun’s list of the world’s top billionaires, but he moves up to 88 in the 2019 rankings with a 17% increase in his estimated net value.

Coincidentally, Kellner also ranked 88th in Forbes’ 2018 list of the world’s wealthiest people released last year.

Kellner got his start by selling office supplies in Prague during the early years of the Czech Republic in the 1990s; he subsequently founded the investment fund PPF, which bought significant shares in growing Czech companies like Česká pojišťovna, Komerční banka, and mobile operator O2.

Kellner made some waves in the UK late last year when it emerged that he was in talks to buy football club Chelsea.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš comes in at 844 in Hurun’s list, dropping 33% with an estimated net worth of $2.9 billion (65 billion crowns).

Donald Trump, by the way, ranks just ahead of Babiš at 793 in Hurun’s latest list of the world’s top billionaires. Babiš is set to meet Trump at the White House later next month.