If it's true that money is power， then oligarch is the perfect name for the new breed of ultra-rich businessmen. Originally, an oligarch was one of a very small group of leaders of a country. Most of today's oligarchs gained their fortunes very quickly after the fall of the former Soviet republics， and though they do not have any official political power their massive fortunes can mean they have influence over governments and politicians. Unsurprisingly， the word oligarch has acquired some negative associations， reflected in the examples seen in the Oxford English Corpus - corrupt， exiled， and jailed are all common collocates， as is so-called, a sign of anger at the assumption of political influence the name oligarch implies: millions of citizens revile the so-called oligarchs. See also TSAR.