Biography of Mikhail Fridman
Mikhail Fridman was born on April 21, 1964 in Lvov, USSR, where he also completed high school.
He received higher education at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISiS).
Fridman’s first business project emerged during his college years as an additional source of income to his student scholarship — he and his friends washed windows. Another enterprise of Fridman’s involved standing in line for in-demand theater tickets and then exchanging them for goods that were difficult to obtain in the open market in the last days of the Soviet Union.
Beginning of Career
Mikhail Fridman started his career as an assistant at a research institute in Lviv. Later, he worked as a design engineer at a metallurgical plant in Elektrostal.
Fridman also tried his hand in various business fields, including:
Real estate, offering assistance to foreigners looking for apartments in Moscow.
A computer sales company.
An import operation related to cigarettes and perfumes.
Genesis of Alfa-Bank
The first step towards creating a major bank was the establishment of a company engaged in sales of photographic materials, computers, and copying equipment — Alfa-Photo (a partnership led by Alexey Kuzmichev and German Khan).
A year later, a Soviet-Swiss joint venture called “Alfa-Eko” was founded, which was involved in the export of oil and metallurgical products. This later evolved into “Alfa Group”.
In 1990, Alfa-Bank began its operations as a limited liability partnership, with Mikhail Fridman being one of the key figures in the organization. At 26 years old, this ambitious man became one of the youngest significant figures in the Russian banking world.
They also established an investment organization called Alfa Capital simultaneously, and in the same year, all Alfa divisions were included in the new consortium, Alfa Group.
TNK-BP
In 1997, Friedman acquired the state-owned Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) for $800 million. In 2003, a joint venture called TNK-BP was created in partnership with British oil and gas operator BP (Alpha Group, Access Industries by Len Blavatnik, and Renova by Viktor Vekselberg).
In 2013, Ten years later, the Russian state energy group Rosneft acquired TNK-BP for $56 billion.
Wintershall Dea
In April 2019, the merger of German oil and gas operator Wintershall (part of the European multinational division BASF) and DEA (Deutsche Erdoel AG) created the largest independent oil and gas operator in Europe, Wintershall Dea.
After the completion of the deal, BASF, the owner of Wintershall, acquired 67% of the shares in Wintershall Dea. Fridman, along with his colleagues and DEA controllers German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev, obtained a combined 33% stake.
Other interests
Alfa Group has contributed to the launch of other well-known Russian companies: the “Perekrestok” supermarket chain and X5 Group — the largest food retailer in the country.
Mikhail Fridman served on the boards of directors of many companies, including the Siberian Far East Oil Company and VEON (previously known as “VimpelCom”), which became the sixth-largest telecommunications company in the world after acquiring the assets of Egyptian oligarch Naguib Sawiris in 2011.
Board Departure
It has been announced that Russian businessman Fridman will leave the Board of Directors of VEON on March 1, 2022. According to the European telecommunications operator’s website, his actual departure took effect on February 28, a day prior to this.
The consequences of sanctions
Friedman’s net worth was valued at over $14 billion by Bloomberg in February 2022, but subsequently dropped to approximately $10 billion after sanctions were imposed on Russia and Russian businessmen. The United Kingdom joined the EU in adopting a sanction strategy on March 15, 2022, and Friedman’s financial interests fell under the scope of the new measures. His bank cards in the UK were frozen, and he had to seek permission from the British government to access his funds. It was reported that he was allowed to access £2,500 per month from his own funds to finance a modest lifestyle in the UK.
Friedman’s net worth is estimated to be between $11.5 and $13.5 billion. As of February 2023, he was ranked as the 136th richest person in the world, as confirmed by his inclusion in Bloomberg’s top 200 billionaires index.
ACHIEVEMENTS
After the merger of TNK and BP in 2003, he was named one of the businessmen of the year by Bloomberg Businessweek and was included in the top 25 business leaders of “New Europe” according to the Financial Times.
The American Academy of Achievements awarded Friedman the “Golden Plate” award, and the Russian Academy of Business and Entrepreneurship made him a laureate of the Darina Prize in 2004.
Video with Mikhail Friedman, “Israel and the Diaspora: a vision of a new partnership”