This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

There's no doubt about it -- times are tough. People are struggling to find work and to pay the bills as the value of their homes and savings dwindle. The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer.

Or do they? It's all relative, of course, but world's billionaires have been taking some big hits too. We take a look at Sheldon Adelson, Kirk Kerkorian, and Lakshmi Mittal in their own separate posts, but here are some other billionaires who have lost billions this year (courtesy of Forbes and Business Sheet).

• Brothers Anil and Mukesh Ambani of India's private conglomerate Reliance lost $32.5 billion and $28.2 billion, respectively.
• Warren Buffett, the Sage of Omaha, lost $16.5 billion. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) are down about 32% since the beginning of the year.
• Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT) founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen lost $12.3 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively, while CEO Steve Balmer lost $6.5 billion. Shares of Microsoft are down 46% since the beginning of the year.
• Larry Page and Sergey Brin, cofounders of Google Inc. (NYSE: GOOG), lost $11.9 billion and $11.7 billion, respectively, and CEO Eric Schmidt lost $3.8 billion. The share price of Google has fallen 55% since the beginning of the year.
• Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), lost $8.2 billion. Shares of Oracle are down 21% since the beginning of the year.
• Media maven Sumner Redstone lost $7.2 billion. Shares of his private investment firm National Amusements fell 70% this year.

Though Gulzhan Moldazhanova is the top female executive in Russia, she is little known outside the former Soviet Union. I hadn't heard of her, and a quick trip to my frequent first stop on the research trail, Wikipedia, surprisingly had nothing on her when I looked.

Digging a little deeper (thanks to the Globe and Mail) reveals a rags to riches story. This soft-spoken, Khazakstan-born divorced mother of a three-year-old, started her career as the secretary for an ambitious young Russian businessman named Oleg Deripaska (who does have a Wikipedia page). In only ten years she worked her way up the ladder to become CEO of Russia's biggest and fastest-growing industrial conglomerate, Basic Element. This US$23 billion company is a big player in seven domestic industries -- energy, resources, manufacturing, financial services, construction, materials, and aviation -- and recently took a US$1.54 billion stake in Canadian auto parts giant Magna International (NYSE: MGA).

Moldazhanova lives in Moscow, speaks English, and according to Fortune magazine is the 20th most powerful woman in the world. She first went to work for Deripaska when he was running an aluminum trading company. After she trained as an accountant at the Russian government's Finance Academy, her career took off. By 2003, Deripaska, and his company Rusal, had became the undisputed king of Russian aluminum. In 2006, Rusal surpassed Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) and to become the world's top aluminum maker.

The Financial Times writes that Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has bought just under 5% of GM (NYSE: GM). He owns Russia's biggest aluminum maker. The stake appears to have been bought late last year and is now worth $900 million.

Deripaska also controls Russian vehicle maker Gaz and has a large stake in Canadian car parts company Magna (NYSE: MGA).

After being up almost 25% this year, GM's stock is now only 9% on the plus side. Sales of the company's cars are falling sharply compared to last year. Investors in the largest car-marker are worried about ongoing negotiations with the UAW.

GM may have to put up $30 billion to move its health and pension liabilities to a fund run by the UAW. This fund, with contributions by Ford (NYSE: F) and Chrysler, would pay future health care costs for UAW members. But, it is hard to see where the Big Three will get the money to fund the project.

It would be tempting to think that GM's money might come from Russia.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.