Mikhail Fridman. Biography Mikhail Fridman biography

It's no secret that most of the resources on earth are owned by a small percentage of people. As a rule, this percentage includes large businessmen who manage huge companies and, accordingly, have a multi-billion dollar fortune. However, some people have the opinion that this distribution of wealth is unfair, and all billionaires are simply swindlers and deceivers.

In fact, this is not always true. In order to earn a fortune, you need to have incredible intelligence and hard work. You should be completely dedicated to your work and show your best qualities at work. However, this is not the most difficult thing. It is much more difficult to be able to hold onto a fortune and manage it wisely. An example of a person who has earned multibillion-dollar capital through his own labor is Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman.

Biography

Mikhail Fridman's path to wealth and fame was very complex and eventful. During his life, he managed to participate in the creation of many projects and attract multi-million dollar investments, but it is worth starting from the very beginning.

Mikhail Fridman was born into an ordinary Soviet family. In those years, all people lived almost the same and received an average income, so the boy did not grow up in the most luxurious conditions. However, it is worth noting that his father was an outstanding scientist and once even received the USSR State Prize.

The first higher educational institution for the future billionaire was the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. Mikhail Fridman, whose biography began precisely at MISIS, studied to become an engineer, but from childhood he wanted to become an entrepreneur. Subsequently, his dream came true. After graduating from the institute, Mikhail Fridman worked as a design engineer. He liked the work, but this was not enough for a young and ambitious man, so Mikhail began to engage in entrepreneurial activities.

First business

The first enterprise that Friedman organized was the Kurier cooperative. At that time, this company was engaged in window cleaning. The cooperative, of course, brought some profit, but there was no particular prospect in this, so a year later Mikhail begins work on one of the main projects in his life. Together with M.V. Alfimov, G.B. Khan and A.V. Kuzmichev, who later also became billionaires, Friedman organized the Alfa-Photo company. This was the first step towards the creation of one of the largest companies in Europe today, Alfa Group. However, in those days, Friedman’s company was engaged only in the sale of photographic equipment.

Development of Alfa Group

In 1989, Mikhail Fridman founded the Alfa-Eco company. This was the first truly large company in the entrepreneur’s career. It was created together with Swiss partners and dealt with heavy materials, in particular oil and metallurgy. It was Alfa-Eco that became a kind of foundation for the creation of Alfa Group. This company began to bring very good profits, so Mikhail had ample opportunities for investment and business development.

Two years later, Mikhail Fridman invested a significant part of his funds in the development of Alfa Bank and headed its board of directors. After this, this financial organization began to develop very actively and subsequently became one of the largest in the CIS.

Mikhail Fridman now

At the moment, Mikhail Maratovich Fridman is among the three richest people in Russia. Forbes magazine estimates his wealth to be over $13 billion. In addition, he is a member of the bureau of the board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and also runs several other large companies.

Mikhail lives in London, but visits Russia very often. Mikhail Fridman's wife gave birth to two children, but they are now divorced. The entrepreneur has two citizenships: Russian and Israeli. Separately, it is worth noting the fact that in 2016 Mikhail Fridman announced that he wants to spend most of his huge fortune on charity.

The businessman does not involve his children in the activities of Alfa Group and does not intend to do so. He is convinced that they should achieve everything themselves and build their careers on personal achievements.

Finally

Mikhail Fridman, whose biography is full of various successes, is a striking example of the fact that not all rich people are greedy villains. He went from an ordinary Soviet engineer to one of the richest people on the planet. These are the people young ambitious entrepreneurs should look up to.

Fridman Mikhail Maratovich was born on April 21, 1964 in Lvov into a family of engineers. Father is a laureate of the USSR State Prize for the development of identification systems for military aviation.

Education

In 1986 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISiS).

Labor activity

In 1986-1988 he worked as a design engineer at the Elektrostal plant (Elektrostal city, Moscow region).

Then he began to engage in entrepreneurial activities.

In 1988, he organized the Courier cooperative, which specialized in window cleaning. In 1989, together with Mikhail Alfimov (the name “Alpha” comes from his last name), German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev, he created and headed the Alfa-Photo company, which was engaged in the sales of photographic materials, computers and copying equipment.

A year later, he founded the Soviet-Swiss joint venture Alfa-Eco, which was engaged in the export of oil and metallurgical products, on the basis of which Alfa Group was later created.

In 1991, he became chairman of the board of directors of Alfa-Bank. Part of his capital is invested in Belarusian projects - Alfa-Bank, the operator Life, the retailers Belmarket and BelEvroset.

Later he was a member of the board of directors of the Public Russian Television (ORT) association, as well as the board of directors of the SIDANCO Oil Company and the Perekrestok trading house.

In January 1996, he became one of the founders of the Russian Jewish Congress, becoming its vice president and head of the RJC Culture Committee. Member of the Presidium of the Russian Jewish Congress. Provides significant support to Jewish initiatives in Russia and Europe.

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In 1995-1998, he was a member of the board of directors of the television company “Public Russian Television” (ZAO “ORT”).

Positions currently held:

Co-owner and chairman of the supervisory board of the Alfa Group consortium (which includes Alfa-Bank, Alfa Capital, AlfaStrakhovanie, Alfa-Eco, X5 Retail Group, Rosvodokanal, Altimo, etc.) and LetterOne Holdings. Owns the brands Beeline, Pyaterochka, and Perekrestok.

Member of the supervisory board of VimpelCom Ltd., member of the bureau of the board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, founder and member of the bureau of the presidium of the Russian Jewish Congress, member of the Public Chamber of the 2006 convocation, the National Council on Corporate Governance, the International Advisory Council on Foreign Relations (USA).

Awards

Winner of the V National Award “Director of the Year” (2010) in the category “Chairman of the Board of Directors: Contribution to the Development of Corporate Governance.”

In 2013 and 2017, Forbes magazine awarded him the title of “Businessman of the Year.”

One of the richest Russian businessmen, regularly included in the top richest people in Forbes magazine ratings. In Russia, he has repeatedly been among the top 3 richest businessmen in the country, with the exception of 2011 and 2012. During these years, he occupied the seventh and sixth lines of the rating with a mark of 15.1 and 13.4 billion dollars, respectively. From 2013 to 2016, he was in second place (16.5 / 17.6 / 14.6 / 13.3 - wealth in billions of dollars).

In 2018, he took 89th place among the world's billionaires and eighth in Russia. Over the course of a year, he increased his wealth to $15.1 billion, but already in April 2018, due to new US sanctions, he lost $445 million in a day.

On March 12, 2019, Forbes named the co-owner of Alfa Group the richest resident of London (his fortune is estimated at $15 billion). In the magazine’s latest ranking, he took 7th place among Russian businessmen (he lost $100 million in a year).

Interesting Facts

In 2000, his parents moved permanently to Cologne. He himself has Israeli citizenship and lives in London. Speaks Ukrainian.

In 2016, he purchased the Victorian-era Athlone House estate in the UK for $90 million.

Hobbies

The billionaire's favorite hobbies are cinema, music and chess.

Family status

Divorced, ex-wife Olga, studied with him in the same course.

Biography

State

Partners

Competitors

Area of ​​interest

Personal life

Biography

His parents worked as engineers at a factory, and his father was even awarded a state prize for developing identification systems for military aviation. After school, Mikhail decided to follow in the footsteps of his parents - he went to Moscow to enter the Physico-Technical Institute.

He passed the exams with flying colors, but did not pass the competition; after failure he returned to Lviv, worked as a laboratory assistant at the Institute of Physics and Mechanics and was preparing for his second attempt - he had a year left before the army. But a year later, history repeated itself. Then Friedman easily entered the Institute of Steel and Alloys, faculty of non-ferrous and rare earth metals. At the institute he studied at the faculty of Semiconductor Materials and

instruments together with his cousin Dmitry Lvovich Fridman. In his 3rd year, Mikhail Fridman organized the informal youth club “Strawberry Polyana” - a prototype of modern nightclubs. At the institute he was one of the leaders of the student

"Theater mafia", students who resold tickets to the Bolshoi Theater.

In 1986-1988 works as a design engineer at the Elektrostal plant in the city of Elektrostal, Moscow region.

In 1988 Together with his institute friends, Friedman organized the Courier cooperative, which specialized in window cleaning.

Since 1988 Mikhail Fridman is a private entrepreneur, the founder of the Alfa Photo company, which was engaged in very diverse activities: selling computers, copying equipment and even exotic handmade oriental carpets.

Since 1989 - took up the post of director of the Alfa-Eco joint venture, 80% of the capital of which belongs to the Courier cooperative and 20% to the Swiss company ADP Trading

According to media reports, Alfa-Eco’s participation in operations to convert rubles into dollars made a significant contribution to the replenishment of capital.

In the early 90s. Alfa-Eco was involved in the sensational “Fischer case” of $140 billion. As a result of the investigation of this case by law enforcement agencies, many transactions had to be curtailed.

In 1990 - created by Alfa Capital.

Since 1991 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa Bank.

From 1995 to 1998 - Member of the Board of Directors of CJSC Public Russian Television (ORT).

Since 1996 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Alfa Group consortium.

Since January 1996 - founder and vice-president of the Russian Jewish Congress (REC), head of the RJC Culture Committee.

Since 1996 - member of the board of directors of OJSC SIDANCO Oil Company.

Since October 1996 — Member of the Banking Council under the Government of the Russian Federation.

In 1998 After the merger of Alfa Bank and Alfa Capital, he became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa Bank.

Since 1998 - Member of the Board of Directors of CJSC Trading House Perekrestok.

In February 2001 included in the Entrepreneurship Council under the Government of the Russian Federation.

Since 2001 — Member of the Bureau of the Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs

Condition

Summer 2001 Mikhail Fridman was included in the list of the richest people on the planet compiled by Forbes magazine. The magazine estimates Friedman is worth $1.3 billion.

Based on the results of 2002. the same magazine estimated Mikhail Fridman's fortune at $4.3 billion. According to Kommersant, the total amount of funds controlled by Fridman in 2001. was $1.8 billion. According to EuroBusiness magazine (UK), Mikhail Fridman's fortune (2002) reached 2.5 billion euros.

Mikhail Fridman owns approximately 70% of Alfa Group's total assets.

For 2001-2002 Alfa Group acquired new assets: Alfa-Eco bought a 37.5% stake in the Volgograd plant “Red October”; the insurance company Alfa-Garantiya received a license for 37 types of insurance activities; Alfa Capital buys the insurance company Ostra-Kyiv; Alfa Bank receives permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to acquire a controlling stake in Kievinvestbank; Alfa-Eco, one of the largest alcohol producers in Russia, bought a 50% stake in the trading house P.A. Smirnov and Descendants in Moscow.

Lobby

Today, people from Alfa Bank and the Alfa Group work in the structures of the Russian government and in large private companies. In particular, Vladislav Surkov was Deputy Chairman of the Board of Alfa Bank, and currently holds the post of Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation; Alexander Abramov was the head of the department at Alfa, now he is the deputy head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation; Andrey Popov in the 1990s. worked at Alpha, then was a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, currently heads the Main Regional Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation; Andrey Rappoport in 1991-1996. was the chairman of the board of Alfa Bank, then worked at YUKOS, and now is the first deputy of Anatoly Chubais at RAO UES of Russia.

Gleb Fetisov, delegated from the Voronezh region, works in the Federation Council. Before that, he worked for quite a long time at the Alfa-Eco company.

In 1998 Oleg Sysuev, who left the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, became the first deputy chairman of the board of directors of Alfa Bank. Partners The main partner of Mikhail Fridman is the president of Alfa Bank, Petr Aven. The main partner of the Alpha group is Renova, controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of the board of the Tyumen Oil Company and co-owner of SUAL-Holding.

A partner of Alfa and its owners and manager is also Dmitry Zimin, founder and president of VimpelCom OJSC, in which Alfa structures control 25% plus 1 share.

Competitors

The main competing structure of Alfa Group is the MDM group. In particular, two oligarchic structures fought for a long time for control over OJSC Tagmet. Alfa Bank fought with MDM Bank for Converse Bank. After the resignation of Alexander Rumyantsev (Minister of Nuclear Energy, MDM supporter) in the spring of 2001. Nuclear workers, with the support of Alfa Bank, began to fight to regain control of Converse, but MDM managed to increase its stake in Converse to 85% and emerge victorious.

Area of ​​interest

Telecommunications

Recently, the telecommunications sector has been highlighted among Alpha’s priorities. At the beginning of 2001 A telecommunications department was created at Alfa-Eco, headed by Stanislav Shekshnya, a specialist in this field. During the year, a controlling stake in OJSC Golden Telecom and a blocking stake in OJSC VimpelCom were purchased.

Alfa-Telecom LLC (a division of Alfa Group) in the summer of 2002. gained control of 32.39% of the shares of Kyivstar GSM by purchasing a 50.1% stake in the Ukrainian company Storm, which owned 32.39% of the shares in Kyivstar GSM.

Oil and gas

Alfa, together with Renova, controls the Tyumen Oil Company, which is actively expanding in the Russian and foreign markets for both the production and sale of oil and petroleum products. In particular, in 2002-2003. TNK has been and is fighting for control over Slavneft. TNK needs new oil refining capacities and gasoline sales networks. TNK also aims to become a large independent gas producer. TNK, together with Yukos, controls the gas production company Rospan International and is considering plans to increase gas production and sales; it is especially interested in the export of this fuel.

Financial services.

Alfa Bank and Alfa Insurance are each among the leaders in their sector, actively capturing new market niches and regions.

Pipe and metallurgical industry

Versions about the purchase of the Ukrainian company Interpipe by Alpha structures have not yet been confirmed, but since the beginning of 2003. it was headed by Russian manager Evgeny Bernshtam, who before his new appointment worked as first deputy chairman of the board of Alfa Bank.

Consumer market, retail business, food

Alpha structures since 1994 owns a controlling stake in CJSC Trading House Perekrestok. United Food Company is an agricultural sub-holding of the Alfa Group consortium. The company controls eight sugar factories in the Krasnodar region, Oryol and Belgorod regions and 10 elevators, which store about 30% of the grain grown in the Krasnodar region.

Personal life

According to the stories of his colleagues, Mikhail Maratovich has a high efficiency. Any employee can enter Friedman's office - Friedman's business principle: "If a person believes that he should tell me something personally, he should have such an opportunity." He loves to travel, and jeep racing is especially revered. In 1997, while crossing the desert in Brazil, Friedman overturned his car and severely injured his head. The wife, a fellow student and dorm roommate before marriage (according to other sources, the dorms at MISiS are separate), lives permanently in Paris with her two daughters Katya and Laura. According to rumors, Friedman maintains virtually no contact with his wife. After the scandal with the wife of Alexei Mordashov (Mordashov’s wife sued the head of Severstal for the division of property), Mikhail Fridman allegedly urgently increased the allowance for his family. Parents permanently reside in Germany. Their narrow circle of personal contacts includes Yulia Gusman, Mark Rozovsky, Marat Gelman and Evgenia Albats.

Main achievements

Fridman is the creator of one of the most powerful and influential financial and industrial holdings in Russia. The businessman’s largest assets: Alfa Bank (100%), Vimpelcom (48%), X5 Retail Group (48%). Owns the brands Beeline, Pyaterochka, and Perekrestok.

Biography

Mikhail Fridman was born on April 21, 1964. in Lviv. Graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys in 1986. During his studies, he met Vladislav Surkov, Pyotr Aven and Alexander Kasyanenko, and has been in contact with them ever since. After graduation, he worked as a design engineer at the Elektrostal plant. In 1988 organized the "Courier" cooperative, specializing in window cleaning. A year later, together with M. Alfimov, G. Khan and V. Kuzmichev, he created and headed the Alpha Photo company, which sold photographic materials, computers and copying equipment. In 1989 founded the Soviet-Swiss enterprise Alfa-Eco, which exported oil and metallurgical products. The company became the basis of Alfa Group. In 1991 Fridman headed the board of directors of Alfa Bank; part of the capital was invested in Belarusian projects: Alfa Bank, the operator Life, the retailers Belmarket and BelEvroset.

By the early 2000s, Alfa Bank had become a universal credit organization that carried out all types of banking operations, and one of the largest banks in Russia in terms of assets and equity capital.

By 2000 Alfa Group included the Perekrestok trading house, headed by Kasyanenko. In 2005 As a result of a cross-transaction, Alfa Group acquired a controlling stake in X5 Retail Group N.V., which united Russia's largest chain stores Pyaterochka and Perekrestok.

In 2003 The British concern British Petroleum acquired a 50% stake in the Tyumen Oil Company for $6.75 billion. Fridman became chairman of the supervisory board of TNK-BP.

Touches to the portrait

In 1996 With the participation of Friedman, the Russian Jewish Congress was created, the businessman became its vice president and head of the cultural committee. Provides significant support to Jewish initiatives in Russia and Europe.

At various times he was a member of the board of directors of the Public Russian Television association (ORT, 1995-1998), the board of directors of the SIDANCO oil company and the Perekrestok trading house.

Alfa Bank finances the Life Line charity foundation, which helps children with severe cardiac diseases.

Divorced, he was married to Olga Fridman, whom he met at the institute. The businessman has two daughters. In 2000 Friedman's parents moved permanently to France.

Hobbies: cinema, music, chess; loves to fly by helicopter to a recreation center in the Tver region, where negotiations with business partners often take place. For a long time I was fond of jeep racing.

Billionaire Mikhail Fridman bequeathed his entire fortune, estimated at $14.2 billion in 2016, to the Genesis charitable foundation.

Gossip

During his student years, he organized an informal youth club "Strawberry Field", where discos and bard performances were held. While still at the institute, he became a black marketeer and was engaged in the resale of theater tickets.

In 1995 Fridman's structures were suspected of drug smuggling, the businessman's competitors tried to stir up a scandal, despite the fact that the businessman himself was not involved in criminal cases. Since then, accusations have periodically surfaced in the media that Fridman and Aven made a business out of drugs.

In 2005 Fridman and former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov appeared in the media in connection with the so-called “dacha case” - accusations of illegal acquisition of real estate that was state property (dacha complexes Sosnovka-3 and Sosnovka-1). In 2006 the court declared the auction for the sale of real estate to Fridman illegal and demanded that the entire complex be returned to state ownership.

In 2009 President Dmitry Medvedev had to intervene in the corporate conflict between Friedman's Alfa Group and Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element holding. The head of state held a working meeting with Friedman, after which both businessmen announced that there was no conflict between the holdings, and they themselves had been friends for a long time.

In April 2012 Together with other Russian businessmen, he made a walking pilgrimage through the Israeli desert to Jerusalem.

According to rumors, it is Fridman’s structures that are behind the “Navalny project”: Alfa Group allegedly supplied the blogger with materials that served as the basis for revealing posts, and even had a hand in mitigating the punishment against the lawyer in the Kirovles case.

The oligarch, who went down in the history of the domestic elite as an honest and respected businessman, was repeatedly referred to in the media as a calculating and authoritative intellectual with an aggressive form of doing business while ignoring the interests and opinions of other parties, and was also declared a European business leader, the most influential and outstanding entrepreneur of the year .

His fortune in 2015 was estimated by Forbes magazine at $14.6 billion. Thus, he ranked 68th in the world ranking of the richest people and second among Russian businessmen after Roman Abramovich.

Childhood and family of Mikhail Fridman

Since childhood, Misha was surrounded by the love and care of his mother, grandmother and other relatives. He did not attend kindergarten; he was an excellent student at school. The boy studied piano and then organized a school vocal and instrumental ensemble, a popular form of musical creativity in those years.

After graduating in 1981, the young man entered the country’s leading university, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, but he was not accepted. According to one version, he did not pass the competition, according to another, the reason for the failure was the fateful “fifth count,” that is, nationality. Allegedly because of her, he, being an excellent student, also did not receive a gold medal at school and subsequently suffered a fiasco when entering graduate school.

Mikhail's second attempt to become a student was crowned with success - he entered the capital's Institute of Steel and Alloys. The choice of educational institution was allegedly determined by its location in the very center of Moscow, as well as the presence of a good House of Culture, where pop stars such as Yuri Vizbor and Vladimir Vysotsky gave concerts.

3 Qualities of Billionaire Mikhail Fridman

Mikhail's student life was eventful. In addition to studying professional subjects, he was engaged in the resale of theater tickets, carpets, imported goods, and also created a youth night club operating in the institute dormitory under the auspices of the Komsomol organization, organized discos and performances by artists. During that period, he met Peter Aven, who moved in the same circles, being the head of the Moscow State University music club.

The beginning of the career of Mikhail Fridman

At the same time, he organized a cooperative for washing windows, then a cooperative for food delivery, and created, together with his cousin Dmitry, who graduated from the same institute a year earlier, companies that sold computer equipment.

In 1988, together with German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev and with the assistance of Academician Alfimov, whose name allegedly served as the basis for the formation of the name of the current financial and investment empire, Friedman began to create it.

The very first at the birth of Alfa Group were the Alfa-Photo cooperative for the sale of copying machines and the Soviet-Swiss Alfa-Eco joint venture for the export of petroleum products and metallurgy products.

Among the many areas of activity of the consortium - gas and oil processing, trade in art and food products, insurance, telecommunications services, advanced technologies, investments - Alfa Bank is considered the cornerstone, the first in the country among private banks, which a businessman has headed since his establishment in December 1990. Subsequently, he owned a 37% stake in the financial institution (Khan owned 23%, Kuzmichev - 18%, bank president Peter Aven - 14%).

Advice from Mikhail Fridman: How to get a job at Alfa-Bank

In 1995, the oligarch was a member of the collective leadership body of ORT, in 2002 he headed the Conference of Leaders of Jewish Organizations of the Russian Federation, and has always strongly supported Jewish initiatives in the country and abroad.

In 2005, Alfa Group bought the X5 corporation for a billion dollars. It includes the Perekrestok and Karusel supermarket chains and Pyaterochka discount stores.

In 2008, the tycoon gave his leadership position at the bank to his deputy, ratings manager from Prague, Petr Šmide. In 2009, Mikhail Maratovich headed the oil company TNK-BP.

Personal life of Mikhail Fridman

Married to her, they had two daughters, Larisa and Ekaterina. They were born and live with their mother in Paris, and in the summer they usually go on vacation to St. Tropez.

The girls attend a school where teaching is in English. They communicate with friends and acquaintances, of course, in French, and with their parents in Russian. That is, the daughters of an oligarch develop mental flexibility from childhood.

Many people talk about Friedman as a hardworking and talented entrepreneur, prone to charity, who achieved everything on his own, through his own labor, thanks to his intelligence, and not theft. He finances the Life Line children's aid fund.

One of the most famous businessmen in the Russian Federation remains a non-public person and lives a secluded life. Today he is an Israeli citizen, lives in London, loves fast driving, cinema, music, chess, and collects samurai swords. His parents moved from Lviv to Cologne at the beginning of the new century.

In 2001, Mikhail purchased a house in the elite suburb of the French capital Neuilly, which previously belonged to the ex-wife of Alain Delon, model and artist Mireille Darc. Next to the oligarch's estate are the mansions of the legendary actors Jean-Paul Belmondo and Sophie Marceau.

To recognize himself as part of the Jewish people, in 2012, Friedman, as part of a group of 12 Russian businessmen, made a three-day pilgrimage through the Israeli Arava desert to the holy city of Jerusalem. They spent the night in tents and traveled almost 20 kilometers every day.

Mikhail Fridman today

As of the end of 2015, Alfa-Bank served 14 million individuals and 194 thousand legal entities. The number of branches and branches of a financial institution opened in Russia and abroad, including subsidiaries in the USA, the Netherlands, England, and Cyprus, reached 775.