Fridman Mikhail Maratovich - biography, Alfa Bank and business secrets. How did Mikhail Fridman get rich? Billionaire Mikhail Fridman

Born on April 21, 1964 in Lviv, Jewish. He lived with his mother, father and grandmother; his mother had a decisive influence on his upbringing. He studied excellently at school, attended a piano class at a music school, and was the organizer of a youth vocal and instrumental ensemble.

After graduating from high school, he entered the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), but did not pass the competition. In 1982 he entered the faculty of non-ferrous and rare earth metals at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISIS), from which he graduated in 1987. Mikhail Grushevsky (now an actor-parodist), Alexander Nikonov (writer and journalist), Alexander Kasyanenko (businessman) studied on the same course with him. Before M. Fridman, his cousin Dmitry Lvovich Fridman entered MISIS.

While studying at MISIS, he was a member of the Moscow student so-called. the "theater system" (or "theater mafia"), which was engaged in the purchase and resale of theater tickets. He was supposedly engaged in small-time blackmail (Profile, 05/22/2000).

In the 3rd year of the institute, under the auspices of the Komsomol, he organized the night youth club "Strawberry Glade", which functioned in the hall of the MISIS dormitory in Belyaevo. During my student years I met Peter Aven, who headed the Moscow State University Music Club.

After school, he worked for one year at the Lvov Institute of Physics and Mechanics as a laboratory assistant. After graduating from MISIS, he worked in 1986-88. Design engineer at the Elektrostal plant in Elektrostal, Moscow region.

In parallel with his work at the plant, he founded and headed the Kurier cooperative, which specialized in window cleaning. Together with Dmitry Fridman, he created the Helios and Orsk cooperatives, which sold computers.

Since 1988 - private entrepreneur (firms "Alfa-photo", "Alfa-Eco", "Alfa-Capital"). He worked at Alfa Photo and Alfa Eco together with Oleg Kiselev.

In 1991 he created Alfa Bank, and since its founding he has been chairman of the bank's board of directors.

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In 1992, he brought cosmonaut Alexei Leonov into the leadership of Alfa Group, who took the post of vice president of Alfa Bank.

From 1995 to 1998 - member of the board of directors of CJSC Public Russian Television (ORT).

On November 26, 1995, the chairman of the board of Alfa Bank, M. Friedman, the president of Inkombank, Vladimir Vinogradov, and the president of the Russian Credit bank, Anatoly Malkin, made a statement “On the financial problems of privatization, the relationship between the MENATEP bank and some government agencies.” The statement was prompted by suspicions that the outcome of the investment competition and the loans-for-shares auction for state-owned shares in the Yukos oil company was predetermined in favor of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's MENATEP Bank. Inkombank, Rossiyskiy Kredit and Alfa Bank stated that they were ready to unite into a consortium and compete with Menatep.

On December 5, 1995, Menatep Bank, as the authorized bank of the State Property Committee of the Russian Federation to conduct an investment competition, refused to accept the application of the consortium consisting of Inkombank, Russian Credit and Alfa Bank. According to a representative of Menatep Bank, the consortium, instead of the $350 million required to participate in the investment competition, deposited $82 million and “provided a certificate showing where they have state bonds, their own and those of their clients.” The consortium then submitted an application for a loans-for-shares auction, which was also not registered, since only participants in the investment competition are allowed to participate in a loans-for-shares auction.

On December 8, 1995, two companies became participants in the auction - CJSC Laguna and CJSC Reagent. The third application came from Babaevskoye OJSC, which represented the interests of Inkombank, Alfa Bank and Russian Credit. The commission for holding the investment competition is chaired by the deputy. Chairman of the Russian Federal Property Fund (RFFI) Valery Fatikov rejected the application of Babaevskoye OJSC, since the company did not deposit funds equivalent to $350 million in a blocked account of the Ministry of Finance with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Considering the mandatory condition for participation in the investment competition, Babaevskoye OJSC, before the start of the competition, sent an official letter to the Commission with a request to withdraw their application.

The winner was the Laguna company, behind which was Menatep. The same company won the loans-for-shares auction, offering a loan of $159 million.

On January 26, 1996, the Moscow Arbitration Court satisfied the claim of Menatep Bank against Alfa Bank, Russian Credit and Inkombank for the protection of business reputation. The court ordered the defendants to rebut the information contained in their statement about the loans-for-shares auction of the Yukos Oil Company.

In June 1996, the appellate instance of the Moscow Arbitration Court rejected the complaint of JSC Babaevskoye to invalidate the results of an investment competition and a loans-for-shares auction for a block of shares in the Yukos Oil Company and to cancel the decisions of the court of first instance. In April 1996, the Moscow Arbitration Court considered the claim of Babaevskoye JSC and recognized the results of the auction as legitimate.

In 1996, M. Friedman was elected chairman of the board of directors of the Alfa Consortium group, as well as a member of the board of directors of JSC NK Sidanco.

Since January 1996 - founder and vice-president of the Russian Jewish Congress (REC); Head of the Culture Committee of the REC.

In April 1996, he signed the appeal of 13 entrepreneurs “Get Out of the Deadlock!” to the Russian presidential candidates with a call to find a compromise.

On July 25, 1996, he received the President’s gratitude for his active participation in organizing and conducting the presidential election campaign (Presidential Order N396-rp).

Since October 1996 - member of the Banking Council under the Government of the Russian Federation.

In November 1996, Boris Berezovsky, in an interview with the Financial Times, said that the seven bankers who financed Yeltsin’s election campaign control more than half of the Russian economy, and named M. Friedman among these “seven bankers” (the other six: Berezovsky himself, Alexander Smolensky, Vladimir Gusinsky, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Vladimir Potanin and Pyotr Aven).

In 1996, M. Friedman decided to get into the oil business and, for this purpose, buy the state-owned Tyumen Oil Company (TNK), the consolidated privatization plan of which was approved by the State Property Committee on October 2, 1995. M. Friedman’s intention encountered resistance from the “red” management of TNK, headed by the chairman of the board directors of TNK, General Director of Nizhnevatovskneftegaz Viktor Paliy and company president Yuri Vershinin, who planned the privatization of TNK in the interests of management and in alliance with other Moscow commercial structures (Rosinvestneft JSC, Diamant Bank, Capital Savings Bank).

In July 1996, Viktor Paliy resigned as chairman of the Board of Directors of TNK. The new chairman of the Council was the former Minister of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation, Yuri Shafranik, who supported the plans of the Alpha group.

In December 1996, top officials of TNK (including Yu. Vershinin and V. Paliy) and its subsidiaries Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, Ryazan Oil Refinery, as well as the heads of Rosinvestneft JSC and the Capital Savings Bank sent a letter to Prime Minister V. Chernomyrdin with a request to extend for another three years the consolidation of the state block of shares in the amount of 91% of shares in federal ownership and for the same period to transfer it to the trust management of OJSC Rosinvestneft (Vitaly Mashitsky) with the right of subsequent redemption.

On July 1, 1997, V. Paliy, speaking to journalists, said that the situation with the privatization of TNKs “cannot be called anything other than state robbery in relation to a state company with the tacit consent of state leaders” and said that “the organizers of this dirty business” are Yuri Shafranik , Pyotr Mostovoy and ("unfortunately") Alfred Koch.

On July 18, 1997, at an investment competition, a 40 percent state stake in TNK was bought by the New Holding company, created by Alfa (M. Fridman) and the Acces/Renova group (Leonard Blavatnik and Viktor Vekselberg). The New Holding company committed itself in 1997-98. invest $810 million in TNCs, of which $755 million. during August 1997 (according to the terms of the competition, the minimum investment volume was $160 million). According to the statement of the Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation Sergei Kiriyenko, first of all, the funds received are supposed to be used to pay off the budget debt of TNC enterprises. On August 2, 1997, at an extraordinary meeting of TNK shareholders, a decision was made to liquidate the company’s Board of Directors and transfer its powers to the general meeting of shareholders.

After the investment competition, the New Holding company owned 40% of the shares of TNK, the State Property Committee - 50.98%, other legal entities and individuals - 9.02%.

Having won the competition, Alfa Group actively began to reorganize the company. The composition of the management of TNKs has almost completely changed, all commodity and cash flows of the enterprises included in the TNCs have been transferred under the control of the parent company. The solution to the issue of control over the economic activities of the company's largest production enterprise, Nizhnevartovskneftegaz JSC, was delayed, whose general director V. Paliy stubbornly did not want to cooperate with the new owners. On September 14, 1997, alternative meetings of shareholders of Nizhnevartovskneftegaz JSC (NIS) were held in Moscow and Nizhnevartovsk. A meeting of shareholders supporting TNK and Alfabank and Renova JV behind it was held in Moscow. In Nizhnevartovsk, supporters of NIS General Director V. Paliya (who was backed by such commercial structures as the Moscow Diamant Bank and Credit Investment Bank) took part in the shareholders' meeting. The meeting of shareholders in Moscow decided to transfer the powers of the executive body to the management organization - the Tyumen Oil Company. A new Board of Directors of the NIS company was elected. On December 11, 1997, the arbitration court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug decided to introduce external management for a period of one year at Nizhnevartovskneftegaz JSC (NIS). Vice-President of TNK Fedor Marichev has been appointed external manager.

In 1998, New Holding bought the remaining 50.98% of TNK shares from the State Property Committee. M. Friedman, L. Blavatnik and V. Vekselberg joined the new board of directors of TNK. Semyon Kukes became the new president and chairman of the board of TNK, and German Khan became his deputy and executive director.

On June 5, 1998, together with a number of leading Russian entrepreneurs, M. Friedman signed the “Appeal from Representatives of Russian Business” regarding the economic situation in the Russian Federation.

In July 1998, after the merger of Alfa Bank and the Alfa Capital company, M. Fridman became chairman of the board of directors of OJSC ICB Alfa Bank.

The struggle with V. Paliy for OAO Nizhnevartovksneftegaz ended in final victory only in 1999: at the shareholders meeting on June 10, 1999, more than 94% of the shareholders present voted for the early termination of the powers of the General Director of OAO Nizhnevartovksneftegaz V. Paliy and for terminating the contract concluded with him . On June 14, 2000, M. Fridman signed a letter of guarantee from 17 large Russian entrepreneurs with a request to change the punishment for the arrested V. Gusinsky. In August-September 2000, TNK, which offered (through the EuroTEK company) $1.08 billion, won an investment competition for the sale of 85% of the state stake in the ONAKO company - with its plants Orenburgneft, Orsknefteorgsintez, Neftemaslozavod, Oreneburgnefteprodukt ". Orenburg Governor Alexey Chernyshev, who initially objected to the federal authorities selling the company outside the region, in November 2000 headed the board of directors of ONAKO and established partnerships with TNK and Alfa Bank. Vice-President of TNK Vitaly Tkachev, representing the interests of M. Friedman, became the president of ONAKO OJSC and the general director of Orenburgneft OJSC (in 2002, V. Tkachev was replaced by Mikhail Osipov). In November 2000, M. Fridman was elected as a member of the bureau of the board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (employers) (RSPP(r). Since February 2001 - member of the Entrepreneurship Council under the Government of the Russian Federation. Since June 2001 - member of the board of directors of OJSC VimpelCom. In June 2001, a new board of directors of TNK was elected consisting of 12 people, including: M. Fishman, L. Blavatnik, V. Vekselberg, S. Kukes G. Khan, governor of the Tyumen region, Sergei Sobyanin (chairman of the board of directors of TNK) , Governor of the Ryazan Region Vyacheslav Lyubimov, Chairman of the Government of Karelia Sergei Katanandov, Governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug Alexander Filipenko In May 2001, TNK bought a 40.3% stake in the Sidanko company from the Cypriot company Kantupan (an offshore company associated with Boris Jordan) (previously, the nominal owner of this block of shares was CJSC ABN AMRO Bank JSC - a Moscow subsidiary of the Dutch bank AMRO; the real previous owner of the block is unknown.) In 2001, TNK bought its 44.01% stake in SIDANCO from ONEXIMbank. In September 2001, M. Fridman was re-elected to the board of directors of Sidanko OJSC. In August 2001, 89.8% of TNK shares passed into nominal ownership of Alfa Bank (Alfa Group and Acces/Renova remained the real owners). Previously, 99.9% of the company's shares were nominally held by the New Holding company, created by Alfa Group and Renova on a parity basis (Finmarket 14. 08.2001). Since September 2001, M. Fishman and V. Vekselberg registered TNK International Ltd in the British Virgin Islands - a holding company with an authorized capital of $50,000, 100% owned by the offshore TNK Industrial Holdings Ltd, the ultimate owners of which are Alfa Group and Access/Renova. The main assets of TNK International are 97.1% of the shares of the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) and more than 90% of the shares of ONAKO, it also owns 29% of RUSIA Petroleum and 88.5% of the Ukrainian plant LINOS. TNK International did not include a controlling stake in NK SIDANCO: these shares belong to the Cyprus offshore Sborsare, which also represents the interests of Alfa Group and Access/Renova. In March 2002, Alfa Bank, relying on a court decision and with the support of bailiffs and riot police, tried to take control of the Taganrog Metallurgical Plant (Tagmet), but met resistance from workers, organized by the general director of the plant, Sergei Bidash. The conflict arose in 2001, when Alfa Bank, which by that time had bought 42% of Tagmet's shares, was unable to appoint a single representative to the board of directors of the enterprise due to opposition from S. Bidash. In alliance with S. Bidash, M. Fridman is opposed by the investment company RINACO, which is part of Andrei Melnichenko's MDM group, which, with the assistance of S. Bidash, acquired a 56% stake in Tagmet. In April 2002, the Cyprus offshore S

borsare, representing the interests of M. Friedman and his partners in TNK, sold a 15% stake in NK SIDANCO to the Anglo-American company British Petrolium (BP) for $375 million. As a result of this transaction, BP's share in SIDANCO increased to 25% plus one share (blocking stake). BP also retained the right to manage SIDANCO's assets for three years. In June 2002, M. Friedman was elected to the new board of directors of NK SIDANCO, whose chairman was BP First Vice President Alexander Ralph. The board of directors of SIDANCO from BP also included Robert Sheppard (who holds the post of President of NK SIDANCO), and from TNK - L. Blavatnik, V. Vekselberg, S. Kukes, G. Khan.

On October 14, 2002, he was elected president of the newly created Conference of Leaders of Jewish Organizations of Russia.

Since December 2002, he has been a judicial arbitrator at the Ethics Commission of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, created to resolve corporate disputes.

Since March 2003 - Chairman of the Advisory Council of TNK-BP, formed as a result of the merger of the assets of TNK and British Petroleum.

In April 2003, TNK (i.e. Fridman + Vekselberg-Blavatnik) became the 100% owner of ONAKO and Orenburgnefi, purchasing its stake from Sibneft (Abramovich-Shvidler) (1% ONAKO and 38% of Orenburgneft).

In October 2003, he spoke out against Sbebank, in a report “On some aspects of the current policy of Sberbank of the Russian Federation,” accusing Sberbank of many violations of fair competition. At the end of May - beginning of June 2004, after the license was revoked from Sodbiznesbank and payments were stopped by Kredittrust Bank, a crisis broke out in the Russian interbank lending market. Due to liquidity problems that arose in connection with this, a number of banks stopped payments in June. The leader among Russian banks in reducing account balances of individuals in the period from June 1 to July 1, 2004 was Alfa Bank, which announced the introduction of a 10 percent commission for its depositors for early withdrawal of deposits. On October 6, 2004, Alfa Bank and Fridman won a lawsuit against the newspaper Moskovskaya Pravda in the Moscow Arbitration Court. The reason for the lawsuit was an article by Konstantin Laskin, “The Bullet and the Feather,” published in the newspaper on July 21, 2004. It discussed versions of the murder of Paul Klebnikov, editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, including the version about the involvement of Alfa in this murder. Group" and Friedman. The newspaper appealed to the appeal court, but it upheld the arbitration court's decision. On October 20, 2004, the Moscow Arbitration Court upheld Alfa Bank's claim against the Kommersant publishing house and decided to recover 310.5 million rubles in compensation in favor of the bank. The reason for the bank's appeal to the court was an article in the Kommersant newspaper dated July 7, 2004, “The banking crisis has hit the streets,” which, according to the bank, caused it financial problems. Alfa Bank believed that the Kommersant article violated Article 51 of the Russian Law “On the Mass Media,” which prohibited “falsification of socially significant information and the spread of rumors under the guise of reliable reports.” (Interfax, October 20, 2004).

On March 31, 2005, Boris Berezovsky filed a defamation claim in a London court against Friedman in connection with his speech in the NTV channel program “To the Barrier,” during which Friedman accused Berezovsky of threatening him.

On April 21, 2005, the Civil Liberties Foundation, financed by Boris Berezovsky, sent an electronic file to the editorial offices of several media outlets entitled “Information on materials regarding Fridman M.M., Kuzmichev A.V., Khan G.B., Blavatnik L., Vekselberg V. .F." It said that in 1989 Fridman, Kuzmichev, Khan, Blavatnik and Vekselberg “conspired to create an organized group for the purpose of ... committing large-scale fraud.” Fridman and Co. are credited with “taking by fraud the shares of Russian enterprises...”, for example, the Tyumen Oil Company, “fraudulently establishing control” over Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, “violating currency, customs and tax legislation,” etc. In the Alfa press release The bank stated that the information contained in the “certificate” is untrue, and the authors of the document are trying to put pressure on the courts in the proceedings of Alfa Bank with Kommersant and Berezovsky with Fridman. (Vedomosti, April 22, 2005)

In July 2005, information appeared in the media that the owner of one of the two dachas, which were transferred to the Ministry of State Property by order of Kasyanov and then resold for next to nothing, namely Sosnovka-3 (the former dacha of Konstantin Chernenko), is Friedman.

At the end of July, Friedman was questioned by the prosecutor's office. He said that since 2002 he had rented Sosnovka-3 from the Evikhon oil company, which in 1996 leased it from the state for 49 years. Friedman was allegedly offered to buy this dacha by former Chairman of the Federation Council Vladimir Shumeiko, who for some time was a co-founder of the Evikhon company and lived at the neighboring state dacha Sosnovka-1. Friedman agreed, since his status as a subtenant did not allow him to demolish dilapidated buildings (1935) on the territory of the dacha. According to Fridman, his legal service was involved in processing the transaction; the redemption price of the state dacha – about $300 thousand – did not seem to him underestimated, since the dilapidated buildings were sold without land, the right to lease which was then transferred to him by Evikhon “for some money.” (Kommersant, August 2, 2005)

Fridman denied the version of State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein, according to which Alfa Bank issued Kasyanov a loan of 11 million rubles on preferential terms for the purchase of Sosnovka-1: “Alfa Bank had no credit relations with Kasyanov.” (nr2.ru, August 2, 2005)

On September 9, 2005, Alexander Khinshtein reported that Rosprirodnadzor had begun checking the legality of Fridman’s construction of a dacha in Sosnovka. According to him, employees of the Moscow department of Rosprirodnadzor had the intention of establishing what kind of construction Fridman carried out, and whether environmental legislation was observed. (Gazeta.ru, September 9, 2005)

On October 6, 2005, at an extraordinary meeting of the RJC Bureau, he initiated the removal of the president of this organization, Vladimir Slutsker, and the election of Vyacheslav Kantor instead. (Kommersant, October 8, 2005)

On October 31, 2005, the RJC press service published a statement saying that the assistant to the President of the Congress, Mikhail Peleg, announced that he had been informed of the need to take security measures due to the fact that the English detective company Kroll Associates, on the instructions of one of its permanent clients put him under surveillance. According to information provided to Peleg, the customer was Alfa Group. (rjk.ru, October 31, 2005)

On January 17, 2006, the Moscow Arbitration Court invalidated the auction for the sale of the Sosnovka-3 dacha plot owned by Fridman. However, the court refused to recognize that the deal was made “for a purpose that is obviously contrary to the foundations of law and order.” This meant that Friedman would lose his dacha, but he was not threatened with further problems. (Kommersant, January 18, 2005).

In March 2006, from the preliminary prospectus for the issue of Alfa Bank Eurobonds, it became known that Fridman controls 36.1% of the shares. (Vedomosti, March 13, 2006)

Since May 2006 - member of the Supervisory Board of Pyaterochka Holding.

On May 26, 2006, the High Court of England completed its consideration of Boris Berezovsky's claim against Friedman for the protection of honor and dignity. Berezovsky decided to file a lawsuit after Friedman publicly accused him of making threats. In a recording of the TV show “To the Barrier,” Fridman, who argued with the ex-chief editor of the Kommersant Publishing House Andrei Vasiliev, stated that Berezovsky, allegedly dissatisfied with the competition in the purchase of publishing houses at one time, threatened him in a telephone conversation, uttering the phrase “We will kill you.” !". 10 out of 12 jurors confirmed that Friedman had caused damage to Berezovsky's reputation and believed that he should be compensated financially. Within three weeks, the defendant was obliged to transfer 50 thousand pounds sterling to the plaintiff. (Kommersant, May 27, 2006)

Own

Controls the Gibraltar company AB holdsindgs limited, which owns the Luxembourg company Alfa finance holdings SA established in May 1999 (authorized capital of 40 thousand dollars), which in turn owns Alfa Bank. Along with the Gibraltar company of M. Friedman, the co-founder of the Luxembourg "Alpha" is the company Shapburg limited of a certain Olivier Peters (British Virgin Islands), which owns one of the 20 thousand two-dollar shares of Alfa finance holdings SA; directorial functions in Luxembourg Alpha are assigned to one individual - manager Paul Joseph Williams, a British citizen, and two legal entities - Virginia firms Shapburg limited and Quenon investments limited.

He is a co-owner of the offshore companies TNK Industrial Holdings Ltd, TNK International Ltd (Virgin Islands), Sborsare (Cyprus) and through them the companies SIDANCO AND TNK.

In 2001, he purchased a mansion in the bohemian Parisian suburb of Neuilly, which previously belonged to the actress Mireille Darc, the ex-wife of Alain Delon. Neighbors - Mireille Mathieu, Belmondo, Sophie Marceau. (Profile, November 5, 2001).

In June 2001, Forbes Magazine mentioned Friedman as one of the richest Russians in its list of billionaires living on the planet. His fortune was estimated at $1.3 billion.

In February 2002, Forbes Magazine, in its annual ranking of the world's richest people, ranked Friedman third (after Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Roman Abramovich) in Russia and 191st in the world according to 2001 data. The magazine estimated his fortune at $2.2 billion. (Kommersant, March 2, 2002).

Based on the results of 2002, Forbes Magazine gave M. Friedman in February 2003 the same 3rd place in Russia and 68th in the world, estimating his fortune at $4.3 billion.

Since April 2003 - co-owner (through TNK - i.e., together with Vekselberg and Blavatnik) of Orenburgnefi.

In November 2005, European Business Magazine estimated Friedman's wealth at 8.3 billion euros.

In February 2006, Finance magazine estimated Friedman's wealth at $11.4 billion (third place in Russia after Abramovich and Deripaska).

In October 2005, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he said that his stake in the Alpha group exceeded 40%. And all of Alpha’s assets were valued at $20 billion.

On November 23, 2005, as part of the road-show of its Eurobonds, Alfa Bank distributed a memorandum stating that more than 75% of its capital was controlled by members of the board of directors Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev. The exact shares of the owners were not named in the document. It was noted that none of them owned more than 50% of the bank. (Kommersant, November 24, 2005)

In May 2006, the Pyaterochka trading house named the shares of the new beneficiaries that it was supposed to have after merging with the Perekrestok trading house. The head of Alfa Group, Mikhail Fridman, was to receive 21.9% of the shares of the merged company (in total, the co-owners of the group were to receive 47.8%), managers of Perekrestok Alexander Kosyanenko and Lev Khasis - 3.4% and 1.8%, respectively. %. The owner of about 1% was to become Alexey Reznikovich. (Vedomosti 05/04/2006)

CTF Holdings is “a company that Alfa Group calls its corporate center” (Vedomosti, August 25, 2004).

Politics, media

Since January 1996 - founder and vice-president of the Russian Jewish Congress (REC); Head of the Culture Committee of the REC. Since May 2001 - member of the Bureau of the Russian Jewish Congress.

Prefers not to express his political views, he is credited with answering the question (in 1996) about which presidential candidate he prefers - “The one who wins.”

Since 1997, he financed the political activities of Boris Nemtsov, without advertising it.

He sponsors (or at least sponsored until 2003 the newspaper Vremya Novostey, close to Alexander Voloshin, whose initial benefactor was O. Deripaska.

On October 23, 2003, the RSPP sent a letter to Putin, drawing his attention to the aggressive behavior of the Prosecutor General's Office towards YUKOS and the tax arbitrariness of the authorities. The letter was signed by Fridman, the head of Interros Vladimir Potanin, the head of Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the executive secretary of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Igor Yurgens. (Vedomosti, October 23, 2003)

On May 31, 2005, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev were sentenced to 9 years in prison. The Kommersant Vlast magazine addressed several politicians and businessmen with the question: “Do you agree with the verdict?” Friedman refused to answer. (Kommersant-Vlast, June 6, 2005)

Alfa Group owns a blocking stake in the STS entertainment channel (the controlling shareholder is the American company StoriFirst). In 2002, Alpha removed its permanent general director, Roman Petrenko, from STS and achieved the appointment of Kiev resident Alexander Rodnyansky to this post. (Alfa Bank has 25% + 1 share in the STS TV channel (75% goes to the American Stories Communications).

incorrect information
ihavenomail 19.11.2009 01:46:22

Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, whose fortune amounts to several billion dollars, is ready to humiliate himself in order to negotiate a discount at the Moscow Central Department Store.

Mikhail Maratovich admits in his few interviews that he does not know how to spend money “on a grand scale.” Indeed, if you delve into the biography of the Jewish boy Misha, born in Lvov, it becomes clear that the money did not fall on him as a result of the “dashing takeover” of the 90s, but he got it through hard work, if not hard work.

History of wealth

The oligarch's career began in the late 80s with the sale of theater tickets and carpets. As a student, he and his friends also worked as a window cleaner and computer trader. There are rumors that Friedman was even suspected of selling drugs - the main consumer of which was the artistic crowd, in which Misha was one of his own.

But people first started talking about Mikhail Fridman in the early 90s, when his company Alfa Group unexpectedly took off. The secret of success turned out to be simple - in 1992 the company joined the federal program for the export of oil and petroleum products for government needs. How Friedman entered this program is still unknown. But then many suspected the presence of criminal capital in the successful businessman’s company. In 1990 Friedman founded his own bank, which was quite logical, since it was profitable to carry out transactions only through his own banking structures. This is exactly what Alfa Bank did at first, but over time its client network expanded significantly. In 1995-1997 Alfa Bank took an active part in the program for lending to budgetary organizations.

As for the billion-dollar fortune, Friedman earned the bulk of it when in 1997. The New Holding company, whose founders were Alfa Group and Renova, acquired a 40% stake in the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK), and then in 2003. sold half of its oil assets for more than six billion dollars. And it was then, in 2003, that Fridman took third place among Russian rich people, his fortune at that time was estimated at 4.3 billion dollars. And in 2005 in the Forbes rating, only Roman Abramovich was ahead of Friedman with his fortune of 7 billion dollars. Today, the position of Fridman Mikhail Maratovich with a fortune of 13.5 billion dollars can be called stable, even though he no longer occupies first place in the ranking - nevertheless, he was and remains one of the richest people on the planet.

The poor personal life of a billionaire

As for Mikhail Fridman’s personal life, everything is not as “dizzying” as in his career. Misha got married while still a student. According to some sources, the wife’s name is Maria and she comes from Voronezh, other sources claim that the woman is named Olga and is a native of Irkutsk.

The marriage produced two daughters - Katya and Laura. There are rumors that Friedman was very stingy during his student years, and even if he had money, he would never fork out for a restaurant, which is why flashy Muscovites avoided him. And Friedman made a choice: instead of spending extra money, he married an unpretentious girl from the hostel.

Today his wife and their daughters live in France, but just like Friedman himself, he does not like to give any interviews. She rarely sees her husband, making the excuse that he is always busy with work. Some sources claim that Friedman is divorced.

His reputation is almost impeccable. The only scandal that can’t even be called a scandal is the photo of him hugging Masha Rasputina at Alfa Bank’s birthday party. It is noteworthy that finding this photo is now almost impossible. Rumor has it that the disappearance of “juicy evidence” and the lack of interest in the billionaire’s personal life on the part of the media is due to the fact that the oligarch pays extra to the editors of famous glossies.

However, Mikhail Fridman is a human being and, like any other person, you can meet him in a store. On one of the forums of the SPLETNIK publication, a certain Shiloh witnessed Friedman “buying” jewelry for a certain lady. “I came with a girl to choose jewelry at TSUM, not very expensive, and started calling Leonid, the owner of Mercury, and demanding a discount. Leonid asked to give the phone to the seller, she told him that the jewelry costs so much. To which the owner of the Central Department Store replied: give it away for free.”

A couple more principles of the billionaire that allow him to preserve his capital - do not have “star” mistresses and never leave a tip to the waiters.

Owner of one of the largest industrial and financial associations in the Russian Federation holding company "Alfa Group", has shares of Alfa Bank, one of the largest banks in Ukraine, the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation; "X5", "A1", "Alpha Insurance", and is the head of the Russian Jewish Congress, a member of the Council on International Relations, the Union of Industrialists, and the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

Owner of Alfa Group Mikhail Fridman

Childhood and youth of Mikhail Fridman

On April 21, 1964, in the west of Ukraine, in the city of Lvov, a son, Mikhail, was born into the Jewish family of Evgenia Bantsionovna and Marat Shlemovich. My parents were quite wealthy people and worked at a Soviet defense plant as engineers. The father of the future oligarch, Marat Shlemovich, made a great contribution to the development of Soviet technology and made the development of navigation devices for military aircraft. After some time, he was appointed laureate of the State Prize of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Maratovich was the second child in the family. His older brother was much older than him; now he and his family live in Cologne, Germany.

Mikhail Fridman in his youth

From an early age, the future billionaire was surrounded by love, care and attention. They said to him “the child is positive”, everyone around him loved him. But he did not go to kindergarten; his mother and grandmother looked after him. At school, Mikhail showed himself to be a very good student; he preferred exact sciences, such as physics, chemistry and mathematics, and often won Olympiads in these subjects. He also studied at a music school, took a piano class, and with his initiative and the help of classmates, a school vocal and instrumental ensemble was organized. He was very popular in those years.

After graduating from school in 1981, the young man had a choice between the leading universities of the countries. He decided to apply to the famous and very prestigious Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, but he was not accepted. There were two versions of this guy’s failure, the first was that he didn’t have enough points for admission, and the second was his nationality. They say that it was because of his nationality that he, being an excellent student and an exemplary student, did not receive a well-deserved gold medal. And after all, another failure awaited him, related to his nationality; he was also not accepted into graduate school.

Friedman and

The young applicant did not give up after the first fiasco, but purposefully wanted to enroll, and the second attempt was crowned with success. He applied to the capital's university, which specializes in steel and alloys, to the faculty of non-ferrous and rare earth metals. The young man lived in the very center of Moscow, where there were always concerts and festivals, and popular artists performed. The future billionaire often attended performances by Yuri Vizbora and.

Already in the third year, the student decided to provide for his life independently. His career life began with entrepreneurial activity. He resold theater tickets and foreign goods at high prices, but despite this obstacle, he had many buyers. Within the walls of his native university, he was famous as a “mass entertainer.” He organized youth parties, discos, theater evenings, invited aspiring pop stars and paid them the appropriate money for it.

Friedman and

And already in 1986, Mikhail Maratovich graduated from a university, and he was sent to work at the famous Elektrostal plant near Moscow, he was enrolled in an internship, and later he was given a position as an engineer in a design bureau. But the future oligarch did not want to work in his specialty, and he needed initial capital to open his own business. And he worked for a short time at a metallurgical plant

Business and career of Mikhail Fridman

After graduating from university, the young engineer was assigned to work at the Elektrostal metallurgical plant, where he worked as an engineer in a design bureau. In parallel to this official position, he had profit from his small business. He organized a small cleaning company, thereby helping students have additional income on top of their scholarship.

At the same time, the future philanthropist, together with his cousin Dmitry, created small companies that sold equipment. A company was also opened to sell photographic materials and deliver food products. The oligarch made a good income from each company, but he did not stop there and in the late 1980s, together with them they created a profitable bank "Alfa Bank". It was created with the help of Academician Alfimov, and the holding of the owners was named in his honor. To begin with, the Alfa-Photo cooperative was organized, it ensured the sale of devices and the Soviet-Swiss joint venture, Alfa-Eco was created for the export of metallurgical and petroleum products. This corporation became the first brick in the Alfa Group empire.

At the beginning of the 1990s, the businessman’s activities were very diverse, his companies processed oil and gas, traded food companies, provided telecommunications services, dealt with the latest technologies of the time, insurance and investments, but mainly specialized in the banking sector.

Closer to the new century, Alfa Group opened a new branch, Alfa Bank. It was the first private bank to serve individuals and legal entities in the Russian Federation. Today, this bank serves a huge number of people, namely, about 14 million individuals and 200 thousand legal entities. Also, mobile operator companies not only in Russia, but also in Ukraine: Beeline, Life, Kyivstar, and the Turkish mobile operator Turkcell. The group of Mikhail Maratovich Fridman owns the X5 company, and this company includes a chain of supermarkets in the Russian Federation and Ukraine: Pyaterochka, Karusel, Perekrestok, Kopeyka and the A5 pharmacy chain.

Already in 2013, the statesman founded the international investment group “LetterOne”, which specializes in technical and energy areas. And at the beginning of 2016, this holding invested $200 million in the development of the profitable taxi service Uber. The company invested its assets in the Norwegian branch of the German energy concern E.On.

The oligarch is engaged not only in managing and selling assets, buying shares, but also loves to do good to people and is involved in charity. The Life Line Foundation was developed on his initiative, and he finances it. The fund aims to finance the treatment of children with severe cardiac diseases. Also, the businessman pays for treatment abroad for many seriously ill children, financially supports families during the period of rehabilitation and outside his center. It equips regular hospitals and cardiac centers with the latest equipment to make correct diagnoses.

In 2014, Mikhail Fridman, based on "Alfa Bank", held the first international festival in Nizhny Novgorod dedicated to the latest technologies and modern music, it was called Alfa Future People. This event brought together not only residents of Nizhny Novgorod, but also residents of the Russian Federation and guests of the country. And after a couple of years, the festival was held again and attracted about 50 thousand spectators.

Personal life

While a student at Moscow University, Mikhail Fridman married fellow student Olga Aiziman, with whom he lived for 20 happy years of marriage. Two daughters were born - Larisa, born in 1993, and Ekaterina, born in 1996. Their marriage was happy, but after a while quarrels began and even the children could not save the marriage; already at the beginning of the new century the couple divorced. The billionaire supported the family, and after the divorce provided for his daughters, but he and Mikhail’s ex-wife moved to Paris, where Olga received a second higher education as a fashion designer.

They say that the marriage was dissolved because of her husband’s mistress, because in 2000 (immediately after the divorce), former Alfa Bank employee Oksana Ozhelskaya gave birth to Friedman’s son Alexander, and six years later a daughter, Nika, was born. But this marriage was also dissolved. The couple does not comment on the reasons for the separation.

Ozelski

The oligarch lives in London; he does not lead a public life. He does not have accounts on social networks, and tries in every possible way to hide his personal life from the press. Mikhail Fridman has a hobby; he loves collecting samurai swords and tries to frequently add to his collection. He likes to spend his free time playing chess and music, but he also enjoys active recreation and drives fast SUVs. In 2015, Mikhail fulfilled a small dream and spent his time in a very extreme way. He traveled the entire territory of Iran in a jeep.

Mikhail Fridman and Oksana Ozhelskaya

State

According to Forbes his condition was estimated at $13.3 billion this is in 2016. And he took second place among the billionaires of the Russian Federation. But in 2017, his net worth was $14.4 billion and he ranked 7th on the Forbes list.

Mikhail Fridman now

Recently, in the fall of 2017, the Amsterdam Trade Bank, a branch of Alfa Bank in Holland, was searched. The Dutch police and prosecutors opened a criminal case in connection with the circumstances, but the case was brought against the owners of the bank, who are accused of carrying out customer transactions. During the investigation, documents and correspondence between the leaders of the Amsterdam Trade Bank and the Central Bank of the Netherlands were discovered. And in Spain, Peter Vacchi, a top manager of a Dutch bank and the right hand of Mikhail Maratovich Friedman, was taken under arrest.

A man who has achieved considerable heights with his work and effort, the owner of the largest bank.

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

Mikhail Maratovich Fridman
Occupation: Co-owner of Alfa Group, TNK-BP, Chairman of the Board of OJSC TNK-BP Management, Member of the Supervisory Board of VimpelCom Ltd.
Date of birth: April 21, 1964
Place of birth: Lvov, Ukrainian SSR
Wikipedia has articles about other people with this surname, see Friedman.

Mikhail Maratovich Fridman(April 21, 1964, Lvov, Ukrainian SSR) - a major Russian entrepreneur.
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 and others. Co-owner of an oil company TNK-BP.

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).

With a personal fortune of $13.4 billion, in 2012 he took 6th place in the list of the richest businessmen in Russia (according to Forbes magazine).
Content

1 Biography
2 Social and political activities
3 Condition assessments
4 Corporate conflicts
5 Family
6 Notes
7 Links
8 See also

Biography
Mikhail Fridman by Anton Nossik.JPG

Born on April 21, 1964 in the city of Lvov, Ukrainian SSR, into a family of engineers. His father is a laureate of the USSR State Prize for the development of identification systems for military aviation.

In 1986 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. According to Profile magazine, in his third year, Friedman organized an informal youth club, Strawberry Field, where discos were held, artists and bards performed. The events were held in the evenings in the hall of the MISIS student dormitory in Belyaevo. Friedman personally handed the musicians fees of 20-30 rubles. According to Friedman’s competitors, at this time he was also a “farmer.”

After graduating from the institute in 1986-1988, he worked as a design engineer at the Elektrostal plant (Elektrostal city, Moscow region). At this time, Friedman began to engage in entrepreneurial activities.

In 1988, he organized the Courier cooperative, which specialized in window cleaning. In 1989, he, together with M.V. Alfimov (from whose surname the name appeared), G.B. Khan and A.V. Kuzmichev, created and headed the Alfa-Photo company, which was engaged in the sales of photographic materials, computers and copying equipment .

In 1989, 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 subsequently created.

In 1991, he headed the Board of Directors of Alfa Bank. Part of his capital is invested in Belarusian projects - Alfa Bank, the Life operator, Belmarket and BelEvroset retailers.

Subsequently, 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.
Social and political activities

Member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

In January 1996, he was 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. Friedman in particular makes a major contribution to the activities of the European Jewish Fund, a non-governmental organization promoting the development of European Jewry and the promotion of tolerance and mutual respect in Europe.

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

In 2007, his fortune was estimated at $13.5 billion (the sixth largest fortune among Russian entrepreneurs at the beginning of 2007, according to Forbes).

According to Forbes magazine in 2012, he ranks 57th on the list of the world's billionaires published in April 2012, with a net worth of $13.4 billion.
Indicator 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Net worth ($ billion) 10.4 13.5 20.5 6.3 12.7 15.1 13.4
Rank (in the world) 42 43 57
Rank (in Russia) 6 6 7 4 3 7 6
Corporate conflicts

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.