Sitting in jail changed his life
Relied on the basin of plastic bags to find the first pot of gold
Usmanov, who is over the age of round head and head, lives in the United Kingdom, and always wears fashionable suits when appearing in public. Similar to most Russian tycoons, his initial accumulation came from the privatization process after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the mineral and energy sectors.
Born in September 1953 to a politically charged family in the city of Chust in eastern Uzbekistan, where his father was deputy chief censor, the accomplished Usmanov returned to Tashkent in 1976 with a diploma from the Moscow Institute of International Relations and joined the Peace Council. There he formed a deep friendship with Primakov, who later became Russia's prime minister.
If he had followed that path, Usmanov might have made his way into politics, even along the same lines as another associate who would later give him significant patronage, a smaller man named Vladimir Putin.
In 1976, Usmanov graduated and joined an organization called the Peace Council. In reality, it was a cover unit for the KGB. in 1980, to Usmanov's utter surprise, he was suddenly arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison. Later he said that it was a conspiracy, when he had a good accomplice whose father was competing with a political enemy for the post of head of the KGB in Uzbekistan. The political enemy arranged for a man to send Usmanov a sum of money to pass on to his stoner friend, and then arrested both young men on charges of bribery, thereby cutting short the good associate's father's career.
Usmanov was jailed for six years, and in 1986 he was released early, and in 2000 a local court vindicated him.
By his own explanation, the disaster stemmed from a political crackdown of which he himself was a victim, and 20 years later, Uzbekistan's Supreme Court ruled that the charges against him were unjust. A Soviet court also dismissed the charges against him and wiped the record clean.
It was these eight years in prison that led Usmanov, who had been a smooth operator since childhood, to leave politics and enter the business world, opening a small business making plastic shopping bags. This allowed him to find the first bucket of gold. "The stuff was very profitable and I learned a lot from it." /p-1146349882708.html
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia began the bitter process of transitioning to the market. The moment the privatized Bank of Russia began giving out loans in the early 1990s, Usmanov borrowed millions of dollars, a figure that was almost astronomical compared with his assets at the time. People thought he was crazy. And in Usmanov's view, playing with finance is going to school, and there are few instruments as exciting from an intellectual standpoint as playing with money.
The Rise of the Russian Wealthy Man
Usmanov used his loans and trading profits to buy up a large number of assets left over from the Soviet Union, such as United Metals, United Mines, and oil companies, which were exceptionally cheap in government hands, and coupled with the fact that international prices for a large number of commodities were at a low point at the time, so that government policymakers were able to make the case to the outside world as well as to justify the rapid sale of these to private individuals. valuable assets that would later appear to be of schematic significance.
Contract by contract, he quickly became a dying man in the oil and gas and steel industries. That moment was full of hardship and danger, and peace of mind and protection was an absolute necessity," he said. Now, everything is easy because there is a framework of justice, thanks to Putin, and the whole country is on the right track."
His investment in GAZPROM, for example, is a classic case in point. He bought a stake in the gas giant at a time when others were less bullish about the future, and he became chairman of GAZPROM Investments and owner of the Gas Metal Investment Group, which controls 40 percent of Russia's iron ore basin and two of the country's largest steel mills.
He also expanded his business empire to include Russia's third-largest collection of cell phones.
Usmanov received the Presidential Honorary Award for Special Contributions unveiled by Vladimir Putin in 2004, recognizing his contributions to business and philanthropy.
In the face of all this, rumors swirled. Naturally, he had to defend himself: "People say that I am close to the Kremlin. In fact, I am familiar with those who entered the Kremlin, are later work, they are always my old friends. I am not an oligarch, and I have never received any benefits from state power. I specialized in business and never interfered in politics."
But he has also given ample back to Moscow and Russian nationals. He spends $20 million a year supporting Russian sports and culture, including ballet performances at the Bolshoi Theater. Some years ago, 450 pieces of Russian art were "repurchased" by him. He was also one of the wealthy buyers of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Meeting with a collection of geniuses
Following the times all the way home
Investment involves information home traditional media
In 1994, Usmanov set up an investment holding company as a way of acquiring assets. four years later, the head of Gazprom invited him to join. At the time, Russia was in economic trouble, and many companies used their assets to pay off their debts to Gazprom. Usmanov's obligation to reorganize these assets gave him the opportunity to make a fortune. Between 1998 and 2000, Gazprom received the shares of a steel plant and an iron ore mine to pay off its debts, and basically formed a new company, which Usmanov controlled by purchasing shares in the new company. In a similar way, he became a multinational steel magnate, controlling 40 percent of Russia's iron ore basin and some of its largest steel mills.
Following the arrival of the information age, Usmanov's interest in the information industry is also growing. 2010, before the listing of the U.S. Facebook, his holding company, the investment company Digital Sky CEO Milner called him: "Do you know Facebook? Now we can buy shares in it at a good price." Usmanov told Milner to buy the Facebook shares. He said, "If you have the possibility to buy shares in a very promising company before it goes public, that's a great opportunity to make money."
Usmanov is just as serious about traditional media, having bought the venerable Kommersant in 2006 for $100 million. But he told the paper's governing staff, "Every newspaper is going through a crisis, and you have to turn to the Internet." At the time, Business Day was already generating 6 percent of its revenue from collection.
"Proud to be familiar with Putin"
Having large assets in Britain, Italy and other countries
Usmanov has connections in addition to money. His relationship with Putin is the most crowd-pleasing. He doesn't care about that either, once publicly stating, "I'm proud that I know Putin well. It's not Putin's fault that some people don't like Putin." He said his business career was "full of difficulties" at the beginning, but now "everything is easy because of justice, thanks to Putin." On the outside world rumors that he is Putin's close friends, often in and out of the Kremlin work, he said he does have many associates follow Putin into the Kremlin, he and those people have always been on good terms, but "I've long been familiar with those people, they have always been my old friends".
Perhaps he suffered in prison, after making a fortune, Usmanov lived a very "luxurious" life. He lives on a 30-hectare estate and works in a large office next to his bedroom. He always sat comfortably in an armchair, drinking tea and thinking. The butler is at his side, handing him his cell phone to give orders. There was a bell on the small table in front of him, and when he rang it, his personal financial adviser, who was keeping an eye on the stock quotes in his immediate neighborhood, came in. When he goes out, he is said to be escorted by a team of bodyguards with machine guns. He has an estate in London, England, covering 120 hectares, and a private farm in Sardinia, Italy, as well as a 110-meter-long superyacht. He is also a sportsman, and is very involved in his "game". As a soccer fan, he bought a large stake in the English soccer club Arsenal. As a fencing enthusiast, he became President of the International Fencing Federation in 2008. Every year, he spends several cut-throat dollars supporting sports and culture, and has spent money to buy back 450 pieces of art from the West that originally belonged to Russia.
By the beginning of the 21st century, in order to safeguard his political and economic security, Usmanov, like many other Russian tycoons, had left Moscow, and London became the place of choice.
Naturally, they don't take all their wealth with them, but gradually expand their business frontiers across the globe through various types of investment.In 2002, Usmanov took the first step by acquiring a 15 percent stake in British steel group Connexion.
In 2007, the Red and White Holding Group, which he formed with business partner Farhad Moshiri, bought a 23 percent stake in Arsenal FC, which it has now increased to 27 percent. It was the result of his lessons from another Russian tycoon, Roman Abrahimovich, who made his big money from oil and owns Chelsea FC, which quickly became one of the top international soccer clubs after wasting thousands of dollars and brought Abu into the British mainstream.
If such a path had been followed to expand his frontiers, perhaps Usmanov would never have differentiated himself from other Russian tycoons and stood out.
Fortunately, he ran into Yuri Milner, a genius of collecting and finance, who showed Usmanov a blueprint for business that was completely different from oil, steel, and power plants, where collecting, socializing, and virtual connections between people were depicted.
Yuri Milner, Russia's first Wharton MBA, ran to Usmanov in 2008 for financial support to get out of the financial crisis. At that time, Usmanov also began to test a little investment in Internet companies, of course, his initial intention is not to invest a large sum of money, but just a taste.
Soon after, Usmanov invested $350 million in Mail.ru, Russia's largest social Internet company. "I invented Mr. Milner's vision for the future of the Internet and his approach to growing his business was exceptionally interesting to me." Usmanov said.
The partnership brought Usmanov and Milner closer together. Still, it took Milner six months to convince Usmanov to give him permission to fund a new investment fund, DST Global, at the end of 2008. Sources say Usmanov has contributed $1 billion so far.
Bonding with Chinese companies, investing in promising companies such as Jingdong Ali
In 2014, Usmanov sold off his shares in Apple and Facebook in favor of investing in Chinese tech companies such as Alibaba and Jingdong.
Years ago, these two companies have determined to go public in the United States. On March 16, Alibaba announced the launch of its U.S. listing, which is expected to be the largest IPO in the U.S. in the past two years, with an estimated valuation that could exceed $20 billion.
In fact, as early as 2011, Usmanov has invested in Jingdong and Ali. Jingdong was the first Chinese project it invested in. "Chinese companies account for about 70 to 80 percent of our overseas Internet investments." Ivan Steshinsky, who handles investments for Usmanov, said in an interview that its main investment targets include "Alibaba, Jingdong Mall and other companies with great potential." Steshinsky said they were worried about sanctions on their investments in Russia, while China is unlikely to be subject to any sanctions. in July 2014, Usmanov's "Megafon" company exchanged 40% of its cash reserves for Hong Kong dollars and deposited them in Chinese banks, and in October it received a $500 million loan from the Bank of China for the purchase of Communication equipment, including Huawei Technologies products 。。。。。。