Business oligarch

A business oligarch is generally a business magnate who controls sufficient resources to influence national politics.^[1][2] A business leader can be considered an oligarch if some of the following conditions are satisfied:

1. uses monopolistic tactics to dominate an industry;
2. possesses sufficient political power to promote their own interests, often exacerbating income inequality and corruption, particularly through policies that benefit the elite at the expense of the majority.
3. controls multiple businesses, which intensively coordinate their activities.^[2]

More generally, an oligarch (from Ancient Greek ὀλίγος (oligos) 'few' and ἄρχειν (archein) 'rule') is a "member of an oligarchy; a person who is part of a small group holding power in a state".^[3]

Criticism

Western media are often criticised for selectively using the term "oligarch" to describe Russian and other former Eastern Bloc tycoons, while treating their Western counterparts like David Koch, Robert Mercer, Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Mark Zuckerberg in a more neutral and deferential manner, describing them as merely "billionaires" or "businessmen".^[4][5][6] FAIR's review of 2019-2021 coverage found that the term "oligarch" was used over 1,200 times for Russian tycoons, while it was used less than 50 times for Western billionaires, despite the fact that both Russian and Western moguls were in a position to influence their national politics. Varoufakis and Winters emphasize geopolitical context: post-2014 Crimea/Ukraine coverage amplified the term for propaganda value, sparing Western elites.

Anne Applebaum pointed out that Western media fixates on oligarchs from the former Eastern Bloc (e.g., post-Soviet privatizers) as symbols of corruption, but ignores how Western moguls like Murdoch or Thiel acquire wealth legally through "friends in high places" and erode democracy via media control and lobbying.^[7] She argues that this selective labeling reflects a failure to acknowledge "hybrid" oligarchies in the West, where figures like Poland's Daniel Obajtek mirror U.S. patterns but are spared being described negatively.

See also

• Billionaire
• Capitalist (disambiguation)
• Chaebol
• Gilded Age
• Oligarchy
• Plutocracy
• Russian oligarchs
• Taipan (corporate title)
• Ukrainian oligarchs
• Rupert Murdoch
• George Soros
• Zaibatsu