Forbes: Petr Kellner remains the richest Czech

Petr Kellner, owner of investment group PPF, remains the richest Czech, according to an annual rich list published by Forbes on Wednesday. The market value of his assets is estimated at 350 million US dollars.

Petr Kellner, photo: archive of PPF

Second on the list is real estate mogul Radovan Vítek with assets estimated at 75 billion crowns, followed by Karel Komárek, owner of the JKKCG financial group, with 71 billion crowns. The overall wealth of the 80 richest Czechs amounts to 1.2 billion crowns.

Czech Prime Minister and ANO party leader Andrej Babiš dropped from last year’s second spot to fourth in the ranking. His assets have shrunk by five billion crowns to 70 billion crowns.

“Although Agrofert is currently placed in two trust funds, Andrej Babiš remains the beneficiary of these funds; therefore, we still include him on the list,” Forbes wrote.

Zdeněk Bakala, who owns the mining company OKD, fell out of the top ten, being replaced by Jiří Šmejc, Emma Capital’s majority owner and Home Credit chairman.

This year, there are 20 newcomers among the country’s 80 richest Czechs. Many are young tech business entrepreneurs who started from scratch, including 39-year-old Martin Hájek, founder and CEO of Livesport life score app, who placed 24th with assets estimated at 8.5 billion crowns.

Also making it to the Forbes list for the first time is Oliver Dlouhý, founder of the Czech flight search company Kiwi.com, with 1.5 billion, and Zdeněk Cendra, founder of a webhosting company SuperHosting, with 1.8 billion.

Jitka Cechlová Komárková tops the list of the Czech Republic’s richest women, with the market value of her assets estimated at 4.8 billion crowns.

Jaroslava Valová, founder of SIKO koupelny a kuchyně, offering bathroom and kitchens equipment, is the second-richest Czech woman with three billion crowns in assets, followed by Kateřina Kratochvílová, co-owner of ICOM transport company.