Mikhail Maratovich. Mikhail Fridman: biography, activities, family. Public activities in Jewish organizations
Mikhail Fridman may soon step down as chairman of the board of directors of Alfa-Bank, the Kommersant newspaper writes on Tuesday.
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman - Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Directors of the Alfa Group Consortium, Chairman of the Boards of Directors of TNK BP and OJSC Alfa Bank. Fridman was born on April 21, 1964 in Lvov, Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine) into a family of engineers. M. Fridman's father was awarded the USSR State Prize for the development of identification systems for military aviation. In the first half of 2000, the parents moved to a permanent place of residence in Cologne (Germany).
While studying at one of the schools in Lviv, he attended piano lessons and organized a vocal and instrumental ensemble. He graduated from school with one "four" (in Russian). After leaving school, he made two unsuccessful attempts to enter the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). In 1986 he graduated from the faculty of non-ferrous and rare earth metals of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISiS).
While studying at MISiS, Mikhail Fridman became one of the founders of the informal youth club "Strawberry Glade".
In 1986, he was a laboratory assistant at one of the institutes in Lvov.
In 1986-1988 ‑ design engineer at the Elektrostal plant (Elektrostal, Moscow Region); During the same period, he began to engage in entrepreneurial activity. In 1988 he founded the cooperative enterprise "Courier" specialized in window washing.
In 1989, he created and headed Alfa-Photo, a company specializing in the sale of computers and copying equipment.
In 1990, Mikhail Fridman created and headed the check fund Alfa Capital.
Since 1991 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Commercial Innovation Bank Alfa-Bank (CIB Alfa-Bank).
In 1995-1998 He was a member of the board of directors of CJSC Public Russian Television (CJSC ORT).
Since 1996 - Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Directors of the Alfa Group Consortium, member of the Board of Directors of OAO Siberian Far East Oil Company (OAO NK SIDANCO).
In 1998, after the merger of Alfa-Bank and Alfa-Capital, he became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa-Bank.
He was a member of the Banking Council and the Entrepreneurship Council under the Government of the Russian Federation.
Since March 11, 2003 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of TNK-BP. Member of the boards of directors of VimpelCom and X5 Retail Group N.V.
For the 2003 deal between TNK and BP, Mikhail Fridman was named one of the most outstanding entrepreneurs of the year (BusinessWeek international magazine) and one of the 25 business leaders of the new Europe (Financial Times).
Member of the Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (Employers) - RSPP(r), oversees issues of judicial reform.
In January 1996, he became the founder and vice president of the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC). Currently, he is a member of the Bureau of the Presidium of the RJC.
Fridman Mikhail Maratovich was born on April 21, 1964 in Lvov in 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, Moscow Region).
Then he started doing business.
In 1988, he organized the Courier Cooperative, which specialized in window cleaning. In 1989, together with Mikhail Alfimov (from his last name comes the name "Alpha"), German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev, he created and headed the Alfa-Photo company, which was engaged in the sale of photographic materials, computers and copying equipment.
A year later, he founded the Alfa-Eco Soviet-Swiss joint venture, 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, Life operator, Belmarket and BelEvroset retailers.
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.
Video:
In 1995-1998, he was a member of the board of directors of the television company Public Russian Television (CJSC ORT).
Positions currently held:
Co-owner and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Alfa Group consortium (which includes Alfa Bank, Alfa Capital, Alfa Insurance, Alfa Eco, X5 Retail Group, Rosvodokanal, Altimo, etc.) and LetterOne Holdings. Owns the brands Beeline, Pyaterochka, 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, National Council on Corporate Governance, International Advisory Council on Foreign Relations (USA).
Awards
Winner of the V National Award "Director of the Year" (2010) in the nomination "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 entered 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 - a fortune in billion dollars).
In 2018, he took 89th place among the world's billionaires and eighth in Russia. Over the year, he increased his fortune 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 next rating of the magazine, 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 bought the Victorian-era Athlone House 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 on the same course.
September 2001, "Bear-gut, Catdog"
Sergey Stepovoy
The secretary came timidly into the office, clutching an envelope to her chest with both hands.
- What? Brought?
- For one trip, Mikhail Maratovich. As requested.
- Okay, leave it.
The secretary placed the envelope on the edge of the table and quietly left.
The owner of the office took the envelope, opened it and turned it over in his hands for a long time, carefully examining it, a ticket for one trip to the subway...
Mikhail Fridman has a lot in common with Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky. Although Friedman does not like both. About the first in private conversations, he speaks dismissively: "Well, goat, he asked for everything ... al." The second one he calls even shorter: "Pederast".
Friedman began his career as an oligarch with the resale of theater tickets, like Gusinsky, and the carpet trade, like Berezovsky (Boris Abramovich in his younger years dabbled in fartsovka and was even detained at one of the airports with carpets. - ".!").
The founding father of Alfa Group likes to hang out with bandits, just like the former head of Media MOST. And he still retains a pathological craving for trading operations, as well as for cash, like the former head of LogoVAZ. (After one of the receptions at LogoVAZ, Berezovsky ordered all the remnants of the buffet to be taken to his dacha. For dinner, Boris Abramovich invited Chernomyrdin and Rybkin with their wives. - "!")
Today, Alfa Group is trying to become the heiress of both "equidistant" oligarchs - to finance both NTV and officials of the Kremlin administration, together with State Duma deputies, taken together.
In all the biographies of the head of the Alfa Group, Mikhail Fridman, there is the same “gentlemanly” set of personal qualities of the oligarch. Greedy. Cowardly. Resentful. Suspicious. Doesn't trust anyone. prone to depression and suicide. He never shows his bad condition in public.
But best of all, perhaps, the character of Mikhail Fridman is characterized by the story that is placed at the beginning of the note.
Last year, Friedman bet Aven that he could ride the subway one stop without security. Passed. And then he told everyone for a long time how he rode the subway and how they looked at him, clearly recognizing, the surrounding passengers.
When winning, show-off or principle is at stake, Friedman will never turn off.
Osya and Motya
Misha Fridman was born on April 21, 1964 in a real devout Jewish family. In Lviv. Misha was a late, and therefore beloved and spoiled child.
The parents of the future oligarch lived very friendly. Both worked as engineers in the "defense industry" on the "mailboxes". Both were members of the CPSU, but at the same time maintained ties with the local Jewish community. Misha was forbidden to talk about it at school. Friends were not allowed to enter the house. They were afraid of Jewish pogroms.
On important religious holidays, his father made Misha wear a kippah. They only wore kippahs at home. By the way, Friedman still keeps his baby kippah at home carefully packed in a plastic bag.
Misha was circumcised at the age of six. The circumcision was done by a representative of the local community. After the operation, inflammation began. I had to send the boy to the hospital. Parents were very worried about this. Mainly due to the fact that they can report to work. However, everything worked out both on the medical and party lines.
The operation left a deep imprint on the boy's soul. Friedman still doesn't like Orthodox Jews. Calls them "peysaty".
Today, Friedman's parents live in Cologne. They left for Germany quite recently, almost the last of the entire local Jewish community.
Misha studied well at school. Always been fat. School nicknames: Zhirtrestbronsauska and Mishka-gut, Koshkodav. Although Misha loved animals very much. I was only afraid of big dogs.
Mikhail Fridman is still worried about his fullness. At one time I even drank Thai pills. I lost a little weight, but very quickly gained my weight, and even in excess.
Two canaries lived in the Fridmans' house: Osya and Motya. When Osya died, Misha cried for a long time, but did not tell anyone why he was suffering. Misha was a very sentimental boy. He hid his sensitivity behind an ostentatious rudeness.
In the ninth grade, Misha fell in love with his classmate Olya Karmel for the first time. The girl ignored his courtship, after which Misha was going to commit suicide.
I climbed onto the roof of a five-story building with a pack of tazepam. I wanted to poison myself, and then jump off the roof, but I did not dare. Two hours later, Misha was found crying on the roof by his mother and uncle. After this incident, Misha wrote poems to Olya for some time:
And you walked, cutting the air with your hand. And you sang, shaking your head to the beat ... Olya kept the poems of all her fans. Later, she published a collection in the Lviv publishing house "3IB" ("Call." - "!"). Misha's poems are signed as Mikhail Map. F.
Beauty Olya became an actress. He is friends with Ingeborga Dapkunaite ("Intergirl", "Burnt by the Sun." - "!"). Recently, Friedman invited Dapkunaite to a restaurant. During dinner, he asked her for a long time how Olya lives.
All goats
Misha graduated from school with one B in Russian. I went to Moscow to enroll in MIPT. Missed one point. For all his youthful failures, he blames the “peysaty”.
In one of the interviews, Mikhail Fridman said that he graduated from school without a medal and did not enter the physics and technical institute in the "fifth column".
Entered the Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISiS). He studied on the same course with the famous parodist Mikhail Grushevsky. The impersonator jokes that when he came up to get a student ID, the dean of the faculty looked at him and asked: "Friedman?" - "No, just Grushevsky." "Well, that's not bad," agreed the professor.
Misha has always been attracted to the bohemian circle. After entering MISiS, he tried to join the institute team of the Cheerful and Resourceful Club, but Friedman was not taken to KVN. Misha was too tight, he was afraid of the public. He joked on the principle of "the goat himself."
By the way, "goat" is the most common word in Friedman's lexicon so far. "The president is a goat." "Potanin is such a goat." "Kasyanov - well, this is still that goat" ...
Mikhail lived in a student hostel. Parents sent money, but not much. Mikhail fell in love with Moscow immediately. He tried to get married, but was not popular with Muscovites. In dealing with girls, he showed assertiveness. On a bet, he could approach any beauty. When they sent him off, he pretended that he did not care.
Mikhail married a classmate Maria from Voronezh, a neighbor in the hostel. At the wedding, Maria was already deeply pregnant. Friedman's parents did not approve of this marriage. Now his wife and two daughters, Katya and Laura, live in France.
They live in Paris. And in the summer - in St. Tropez, - says Mikhail Fridman. - My wife there, in France, gave birth for medical reasons: there is high-quality medicine. Before the crisis, she traveled back and forth with her children, and after that I left them there. My children are small, six and three years old. In Paris they go to an American school where Americans and Englishmen teach. What makes me especially happy is that they have 18 or 19 different nationalities in their school! I watched a cool magazine: there are Japanese, Koreans, Americans, blacks, yellows, whites ... My children feel very cosmopolitan. At school, everything is in English, in the sandbox they play with French children, and the housekeeper is French, but with us, of course, in Russian. Three languages!
In fact, Friedman practically does not maintain contacts 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 urgently increased the family's maintenance. Maria is a very shy and modest woman, she is not interested in Russian life.
Today, Mikhail Fridman lives very closed, alone, with a security guard. Nobody invites home. Heterosexual. Sometimes he orders a prostitute. Collects samurai swords. Lazy. Likes to eat.
Ticket to big business
While studying at MISiS, another passion erupted in Mikhail (in addition to bohemia) - a love for banknotes. It is impossible to find a person to whom Friedman has ever lent money.
Mikhail combined both of his passions on the student bench - he was engaged in theatrical "scrap". Simply put, he speculated on theater tickets. Here is how he himself talks about it in an interview with the correspondent of the Kommersant newspaper Igor Svinarenko:
I'm interested in theater! I dealt with tickets for the best performances. Remember how it was? Students in the evening take a queue at the box office, in the morning a crowd from the same university comes up and stands at the front of the queue.
Were you standing in line all night?
- Not! I coordinated. On Wednesdays, he held meetings, determined, set tasks. It's funny, but I still hold meetings on Wednesdays - you know, it has become a habit since then.
How were the tickets divided?
- One pair of tickets was received by the one who stood in line, and the other was due to me.
- Did you resell tickets?
- How can you! Of course not. I earned money differently - working as a loader in a store, besides money, food is always at hand ... And the tickets were exchanged - for subscriptions, for coupons, which, in turn, were exchanged for Georgian wine from the VDNKh tasting room ... and etc.
Mikhail Maratovich is a little modest. He sold tickets at a speculative price at the Bolshoi Theater. His place is the second column on the right, if you stand facing the theater.
Recently, Friedman even joked that someday a memorial plaque will be hung on this column. In the same place, at the Bolshoi, Gusinsky, Vasiliev and Milyukov sold tickets (Moscow Commodity Exchange. - "!").
But Mikhail Fridman did not work for long. Having organized the ticket business, he moved on to selling consumer goods. Friedman still boasts that in Soviet times he wore a blue Levi's for 200 rubles.
In his third year, Friedman tried his hand at producing - he organized an informal youth club "Strawberry Glade" in the MISiS hostel. Conducted discos. He invited famous bards and underground musicians. After the concerts, Fridman personally handed the musicians envelopes with a fee (20-30 rubles each).
At first, Mikhail Fridman's business was built on the principle of "buy-sell", and the trading (trading and intermediary. - "!") Company "Alfa-Eco" (established on 10/30/89 - "!") For a long time was the lead in the consortium" Alpha group.
By the way, Alfa-Eco sold handmade carpets, sugar, tea and cigarettes. In 1992, she joined the federal program for the export of oil and petroleum products for state needs. In 1994, Alfa-Eco's export volume for this item alone reached 10 million tons.
Reliable partner
Once, when asked if other oligarchs could say a good word about him, Friedman replied: “Probably could. Because they have a positive experience with me. I didn't do anything to them."
At least one of the oligarchs - the head of Impexbank, a member of the Presidential Council of Entrepreneurs Oleg Kiselev - can say a lot of kind words about Mikhail Fridman.
Kiselev graduated from MISiS in 1977, then graduate school. He worked as the deputy director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, where Fridman got by distribution (thanks to the tickets. - "!").
Fridman and Kiselev together established the Alfa-Photo cooperative, which was engaged in the supply of computers. And "Alfa-photo", in turn, was one of the two founders of the joint venture "Alfa-Eco", the director of which was Kiselev.
Three years later, in 1992, when the joint venture moved from carpets to oil, Fridman forced Kiselyov out of business.
The main instrument of "pressure" was the leader of the "Moskvoretskaya" organized crime group, a former boxer (participant in the Seoul Olympics. - "!") Alexander Kurbatov - Kurbat. And the last straw is family drama.
Kiselev at that moment had an affair with one of the Moscow beauties. He even bought her an apartment. When Kiselev, before parting with Fridman, raised the question of the division of property, Mishin's familiar prostitute called Kiselev's wife and told him everything about his novel. The family almost fell apart. Kiselev left Alfa, leaving the entire business to Fridman.
Today, Kiselev and Friedman often meet at various events with the president. Mikhail Maratovich calmly looks into the face of his former partner. He is sure that "everything worked out right with Oleg."
Friedman is sincerely sure that he is smarter than everyone. Indeed, he is smart, but all the smart thoughts that he expresses are necessarily saturated with vulgarity and cynicism.
He despises all his fellow oligarchs. Potanin calls him a "scam guy" or simply a "goat." He considers him his main competitor. He does not miss a single opportunity to annoy the head of Interros.
Gives nicknames to everyone. He does not call anyone by name behind his back. For some reason, he calls the president in a narrow circle a hanurik. Nemtsov - with a broom. He speaks respectfully, perhaps, only of Chubais, because he is "ideological and loves money."
sweet deal
At the beginning of 1995, an intestinal epidemic occurred in a small Far Eastern town. After examining the patients, it turned out that the cause of the poisoning was opium, which was contained in granulated sugar. Sugar was sold at the local market.
Very quickly, the police found out that the sugar sellers had stolen it from the railroad. We also found out the details of the goods that followed from China to Moscow. And soon the Alfa-Eco office on Novy Arbat was blocked by officers of the UEP of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of Moscow and OMON.
And here is how the APN website interprets these events:“With the assistance of Aven, Alfa-Eco, through a shell Chinese company, entered into a contract for the supply of granulated sugar in bags from China using the Russian merchant fleet.
In bags on labeled pallets, along with sugar, were plastic bags with drugs. The unloading of sugar was carried out under the control of the Chechen group, then it, along with drugs, was sent by wagons to the addresses of recipients in central Russia.
The drugs were then confiscated and sent to Europe by couriers or through air bases supplying the WGW with food.
The money from the operation through Vienna went to the accounts of Alfa-Eco, which made it possible to quickly strengthen the financial position of this structure.”
The drug story wanders from one article about Alfa Group to another. It was especially aggressively promoted during the struggle between Alfa and Mikhail Cherny for Nizhnevartovskneftegaz (the main mining enterprise of TNK. - "!").
Mikhail Fridman was suspected of dealing drugs during his student youth. Allegedly, at that time, representatives of the “Bauman brigade” came to Misha, who needed a reliable network of drug distributors.
In the second half of the 80s, the main consumer of "dope" was an artistic party. Misha with his "ticket" team and connections in the bohemian environment could come in handy. By the way, one of the reasons for Kiselev's departure from Alfa-Eco is Friedman's promiscuity in business (constant focus on adventure. - "!") And connections - the KGB, bandits, prostitutes, drug dealers ...
About the beginning of cooperation between Mikhail Fridman and the KGB, they write very timidly in anti-Alfi materials: “I talked with the curator of MISiS through the KGB of the USSR Kitaev Yuri Mikhailovich.” Although Friedman himself is very calm about these conversations.
During his student years, Mikhail was absolutely loyal to the KGB and special services.
I did not see anything shameful in supplying information in which the authorities were then interested. “These goats were not interested in any dissidents. I myself was then a dissident. They were interested in drugs, antiques and connections with foreigners. How they bought our antiques and took them out.”
Even then, Friedman regarded his contacts with the KGB as a "roof" for fartsovka. Anything that brings in good money is considered good business. I am sure that business and morality are incompatible. In general, he believes that there is no morality in nature, invented for beautiful chatter. “Which laws in my coordinate system are good and which are bad - I know even without the state. Another thing is that I prefer to lead a peaceful coexistence with the state, and in cases where its ideas about life coincide with mine, I can even support it.”
Buy Sell
At the end of May 1995, the president of Alfa Bank, Pyotr Aven, met in a highly secret setting with the vice president of CS First Boston (CSFB), David Mulford.
From the moment of this meeting, Alfa Group began to gradually turn from a trading company with a semi-criminal image into an industrial corporation with a diversified business (however, the semi-criminal image was preserved. - "!"). And Friedman from the "finger kid" - into the oligarch.
“Problems for CSFB in Russia began after almost all employees of the Russian subsidiary of KS First Boston left it together with the head, Mr. Boris Jordan (this was reported by the Kommersant weekly in No. 20 of 05/30/95). One of the largest Western investors in Russia lost his "eyes and ears" here.
Trying to hastily fill this gap, D. Mulford personally arrived in Moscow. The former US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury faced a very specific task: not just to make new appointments within one of the branches, but to find new partners, to select a team that could adequately represent the interests of the company on the Russian market.
As Kommersant correspondents learned, during his visit Mr. Mulford had a confidential meeting with Mr. Pyotr Aven, who is not unknown in Russia. According to our information, the negotiations were successful, the parties parted quite satisfied with each other and the results of the meeting, and it seems that Mr. P. Aven had more reasons for joy - such an offer is very tempting even for him (as, indeed, for Alfa-structures, closely related to it, since it opens up good prospects for them). In any case, P. Aven does not hide his satisfaction and, as it became known to Kommersant from circles close to the president of Alfa-Bank, in the presence of his entourage, he declares that CSFB is “in his pocket,” since his candidacy strongly supported by D. Mulford.”
This is a quote from a note in the Kommersant newspaper. But the note itself never appeared, although it was already in the page on the layout.
What the former Russian minister and the former US Deputy Treasury Secretary were talking about is not known for certain. However, after this meeting, Alpha's business really took off.
Alex Knaster went to work at Alfa-Bank from CSFB, after which the former cash and settlement center of Friedman's trading empire entered all authorized lists of the government.
"Alfa Group" in tandem with the company "Renova" (access to the leaders of the US Democratic Party. - "!") "won" the tender for the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK). How the privatization tenders in Russia were "won" is unnecessary to remind.
TNK, the only Russian oil company, received a loan ($0.5 billion - "!") from the US EXIM Bank in the post-default period.
In addition, Alfa bought ONA-KO for $800 million. And today Potanin's Interros is unceremoniously pushing out of SIDANCO and soon, apparently, will be pushed out of RUSIA-Petroleum (Kovykta gas condensate field, about 2 trillion cubic meters of gas. - "!")
At the same time, Potanin's partner in SIDANCO and Kovykta, British Petroleum, turns a blind eye to Alfa's antics. And he even encourages them, declaring that he is only interested in one strategic investor from the Russian side.
In order to get a normal price for SIDANKO from TNK, Potanin even had to resort to blackmail, threatening to break up the international consortium that owns a blocking stake in Svyazinvest.
It is curious that at such costs, Alpha's appetite does not decrease. Today, the group is fighting in several directions: for the NOSTA metallurgical plant, for Yugraneft, for the financial flows of Minatom, for Rospan International (560 billion cubic meters of gas), etc.
At the same time, Alfa's correspondent account in one of the Croatian banks constantly has 1 billion dollars.
Did you see this?!
Simultaneously with the growth of the economic power of Alfa Group, the political influence of Alfa also grew in a parallel course.
Today, the political potential of Alpha is hard to overestimate. The Kremlin administration was occupied by the "Alfiists" Surkov, Abramov and Popov. In the Duma, under Alpha, according to various estimates, there are 40 "bears", 30 "people's deputies", 15 farmers, 7 "Russian regions", 15 communists and at least 7 committees.
To be completely precise, all this time the power and influence of Pyotr Aven (and not Fridman or Alfa. -“!), Who is now called the “new Berezovsky” and “Kremlin puppeteer”, has been growing. After Peter Aven's negotiations with Mulford, Mikhail Fridman, despite the fact that he owns approximately 70 percent of the total assets of Alfa Group, somehow stepped aside.
Friedman revived only at the moment when Alfa headed for the takeover of Media-MOST. Before Mikhail Maratovich loomed the prospect of heading the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC), one of the founders of which and the permanent vice president, he was from the day of its foundation.
The post of president of the RJC gave Friedman a chance to equalize his influence in Alfa with that of Aven. Friedman did a lot to remove Gusinsky. He even began to negotiate with people capable of influencing the final solution of the issue.
During the talks, Friedman was reminded of his contemptuous word "peysatye", unwillingness to help the community with money, and lack of faith. Friedman literally exploded: “What are you doing? I'm circumcised. For so many years as a child, I suffered because of this ... "
One of those present jokingly expressed doubt that Friedman was circumcised. To which the last one shouted “Have you seen this ?!” presented evidence to all present.
This story went around the whole of Jewish Moscow. Friedman never became president of the RJC. The congress was headed by Leonid Nevzlin of Yukos.
The failure with the REC broke Friedman. They say that Mikhail Maratovich is going to sell his assets in Alfa. They even name the sum with which he is ready to be satisfied - 3 billion dollars.
Friedman likes to say that "one should live where there are money"...
Fridman Mikhail Maratovich
Place of Birth. Lvov (Ukraine).
Education:
In 1986 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys.
Primary activity
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Alfa Group Consortium, Vice President of the Russian Jewish Congress.
Family status
Married. Two daughters - Katya and Laura. The wife came to Moscow from Irkutsk and studied with her future husband on the same course. In 2000, she graduated from a design course in Paris.
The main stages of the biography
In 1986-1988, he was a design engineer at the Elektrostal plant in the city of Elektrostal, Moscow Region.
In 1988, he organized the Courier cooperative, which specialized in window cleaning.
In 1983, he founded the Alfa-Photo company (sales of computers, copiers).
Since 1990 - the creator of Alfa-Capital.
Since 1991 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa-Bank.
From 1995 to 1998 - Member of the Board of Directors of ZAO Public Russian Television.
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 (RJC), head of the RJC Culture Committee.
Since 1996 - Member of the Board of Directors of OAO Oil Company SIDANCO.
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.
In September 1998, he stated that the Russian banking system would survive if a "narrow circle" of 5-6 banking institutions was formed and the expansion of foreign banks was limited.
Since 1998 - Member of the Board of Directors of CJSC Trade House Perekrestok.
In February 2001, he was included in the Council for Entrepreneurship under the Government of the Russian Federation.
In the summer of 2001, he entered the list of the richest people on the planet compiled by Forbes magazine. According to the magazine, Friedman owns $1.3 billion.
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman
In 2007, the 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 2010, he takes 42nd place in the list of world billionaires published in March 2010, having a fortune of $ 12.7 billion.
Mikhail Maratovich Fridmanborn April 21, 1964 in Lvov, Jewish by nationality. 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 of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISIS), graduating in 1987. Mikhail Grushevsky (now an actor-parodist), Alexander Nikonov (writer and journalist), Alexander Kasyanenko (businessman) studied with him on the same course. 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 buying and reselling theater tickets. He was allegedly engaged in small fartsovka ("Profile", 05/22/2000).
On the way to the top
In the 3rd year of the institute under the auspices of the Komsomol organized a night youth club "Strawberry Glade", which functioned in the hall of the MISIS hostel in Belyaevo. In his student years, he met Peter Aven, who headed the Music Club of Moscow State University.
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 the work at the factory founded and headed the cooperative "Courier" specialized in window cleaning. Together with Dmitry Fridman, he created the Helios and Orsk cooperatives that traded computers.
Since 1988 - private entrepreneur (firms "Alfa-foto", "Alfa-Eco", "Alfa-Capital"). In "Alfa-photo" and "Alfa-Eco" he worked together with Oleg Kiselev.
In 1991, he created Alfa-Bank, since its foundation he has been the chairman of the board of directors of the bank.
In 1992, he attracted cosmonaut Alexei Leonov to the leadership of Alfa Group, who took over as vice president of Alfa Bank.
From 1995 to 1998 - Member of the Board of Directors of ZAO Public Russian Television (ORT).
Fridman vs. Khodorkovsky (Banking sector)
November 26, 1995 chairman of the board " Alfa Bank" M. Fridman, President of Inkombank Vladimir Vinogradov and President of Rossiyskiy Kredit Bank Anatoly Malkin made a statement "On the financial problems of privatization, the relationship between the bank" MENATEP "and some government structures." The statement was caused by suspicions that the outcome of the investment competition and a loans-for-shares auction for state-owned shares in the oil company Yukos is a foregone conclusion in favor of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's MENATEP bank.
On December 5, 1995, Menatep Bank, as an authorized bank of the State Property Committee of the Russian Federation for holding an investment competition, refused to accept the application of a consortium consisting of Inkombank, Russian Credit and Alfa-Bank. According to a representative of the Menatep bank, instead of the $350 million required to participate in the investment competition, the consortium deposited $82 million and "provided a certificate showing their own and client's GKOs." Then the consortium submitted an application for the loans-for-shares auction, which was also not registered, since only participants in the investment competition are allowed to participate in the loans-for-shares auction.
On December 8, 1995, two companies became participants in the auction - Laguna CJSC and Reagent CJSC. The third application was received from JSC "Babaevskoe", which represented the interests of "Inkombank", "Alfa-Bank" and "Rossiyskiy Kredit". Commission for the investment competition, chaired by Deputy. Valery Fatikov, Chairman of the Russian Federal Property Fund (RFFI), rejected the application of JSC "Babaevskoye" because the company did not deposit funds equivalent to 350 million dollars on the blocked account of the Ministry of Finance with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Considering the obligatory condition for participation in the investment tender, before the start of the tender, Babaevskoye OJSC sent an official letter to the Commission with a request to withdraw their application.
The winner was the firm "Laguna", behind which stood "Menatep". The same company won the shares-for-shares auction by offering a $159 million loan.
On January 26, 1996, the Moscow Arbitration Court satisfied the claim of Menatep Bank against Alfa-Bank, Rossiyskiy Kredit and Inkombank for the protection of business reputation. The court ordered the defendants to give a refutation of the information contained in their statement on the loans-for-shares auction of NK Yukos.
In June 1996, the appellate instance of the Moscow Arbitration Court rejected the complaint of AO Babaevskoye to invalidate the results of an investment tender and a shares auction for a block of shares in 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 JSC "Babaevskoye" and recognized the results of the auction as legitimate.
Fridman and TNK (Oil sector)
In 1996, M. Friedman decided to go into the oil business and for this purpose buy the state-owned Tyumen Oil Company ( TNK), the summary plan for the privatization of which the State Property Committee approved on October 2, 1995. The intention of M. Fridman ran into resistance from the "red" management of TNK, headed by the chairman of the board of directors of TNK, the general director of Nizhnevatovskneftegaz, Viktor Paly, and the company's 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, Stolichny Savings Bank).
In July 1996 Viktor Paly 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 Alfa group.
In December 1996, the top officials of TNK (including Yu. Vershinin and V. Paliy) and its subsidiaries Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, the Ryazan Oil Refinery, as well as the heads of JSC Rosinvestneft 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 a state-owned block of shares in the amount of 91% of the shares in federal ownership and to transfer it to the trust management of OJSC Rosinvestneft (Vitaly Mashitsky) for the same period with the right of subsequent redemption.
On July 1, 1997, V. Paliy, speaking to reporters, stated that the situation with the privatization of TNK "cannot be called otherwise 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 , Petr Mostovoy and ("to our great regret") Alfred Koch.
On July 18, 1997, at an investment competition, a 40 percent state-owned 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 company "New Holding" undertook in 1997-98. to invest in TNCs 810 million dollars, of which 755 million dollars. during August 1997 (according to the terms of the competition, the minimum investment amount was 160 million dollars). According to Sergey Kiriyenko, Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation, the funds received are supposed to be used first of all to pay off the budget debts of TNK enterprises. On August 2, 1997, at an extraordinary meeting of shareholders of TNK, it was decided to liquidate the Board of Directors of the company and transfer its powers to the general meeting of shareholders.
After the investment competition, the New Holding company owned a 40% stake in 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 the TNC was almost completely changed, all commodity and cash flows of the enterprises that were part of the TNC were transferred under the control of the parent company. The solution of the issue of control over the economic activities of the company's largest mining enterprise, Nizhnevartovskneftegaz JSC, was dragged out, the general director of which V. Paliy stubbornly did not want to cooperate with the new owners. September 14, 1997 in Moscow and Nizhnevartovsk held alternative meetings of shareholders of JSC "Nizhnevartovskneftegaz" (NNG). A meeting of shareholders supporting TNK and Alfabank and JV Renova was held in Moscow. In Nizhnevartovsk, the shareholders' meeting was attended by supporters of NIS General Director V. Paliy (behind whom stood such commercial structures as Moscow's Diamant Bank and Credit Investment Bank). The meeting of shareholders in Moscow decided to transfer the powers of the executive body of the managing organization - the Tyumen Oil Company. A new NNG Board of Directors 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 JSC Nizhnevartovskneftegaz (NNG). Fyodor Marichev, Vice President of TNK, has been appointed external manager.
In 1998, New Holding bought the remaining 50.98% of TNK shares from the State Property Committee. M. Fridman, 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. Fridman signed the "Appeal of representatives of Russian business" regarding the economic situation in the Russian Federation.
In July 1998, after the merger of Alfa-Bank and Alfa-Capital, M. Fridman became Chairman of the Board of Directors of OAO IKB Alfa-Bank.
Friedman against Sberbank
In October 2003, he spoke out against Sbebank, accusing Sberbank in many violations of fair competition. In late May - early June 2004, after the license was revoked from Sodbiznesbank and payments were stopped by Credittrast Bank, a crisis erupted on the Russian interbank lending market. Due to liquidity problems that arose in connection with this, a number of banks stopped payments in June. Alfa-Bank was the leader among Russian banks in reducing balances on individual accounts from June 1 to July 1, 2004, which announced the introduction of a 10% commission for early withdrawal of deposits for its depositors. On October 6, 2004, Alfa-Bank and Fridman won a lawsuit against the Moskovskaya Pravda newspaper in the Moscow Arbitration Court. The reason for the lawsuit was Konstantin Laskin's article "A Bullet and a Pen", published in the newspaper on July 21, 2004. It discussed the versions of the murder of Paul Khlebnikov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, including the version of Alfa- Group" and Fridman. The newspaper filed an appeal court, but it upheld the decision of the arbitration court. On October 20, 2004, the Moscow Arbitration Court satisfied 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 newspaper "Kommersant" dated July 7, 2004 "The banking crisis has come out into the street", which, according to the bank, caused him financial problems. Alfa-Bank believed that the Kommersant article violated Article 51 of the Russian law "On Mass Media", which prohibited "the falsification of socially significant information, the spread of rumors under the guise of reliable reports." (Interfax, October 20, 2004).
Friedman vs. Berezovsky
On March 31, 2005, Boris Berezovsky filed a lawsuit in a London court for the protection of honor and dignity against Fridman in connection with his speech in the NTV program "To the Barrier", during which Fridman 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 M. M. Fridman, A. V. Kuzmichev, G. B. Khan, L. Blavatnik, Vekselberg V. .F.". It stated that in 1989, Friedman, Kuzmichev, Khan, Blavatnik and Vekselberg "conspired to create an organized group to ... commit fraud on a large scale." Friedman and Co. were charged with "seizure by deception of the shares of Russian enterprises ...", for example, the Tyumen Oil Company, "fraudulently establishing control" over Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, "violating currency, customs and tax laws," etc. In a press release from Alfa- The bank stated that the information contained in the "certificate" is not true, and the authors of the document are trying to put pressure on the courts in the proceedings between Alfa-Bank and Kommersant and Berezovsky and Fridman. (Vedomosti, April 22, 2005)
On May 26, 2006, the High Court of England completed consideration of Boris Berezovsky's claim against Fridman for the protection of honor and dignity. In the recording of the TV show "To the Barrier" Fridman, who had a polemic with the former chief editor of the Kommersant publishing house Andrei Vasiliev, said that Berezovsky, allegedly dissatisfied at the time with the competition in buying the publishing house, threatened him in a telephone conversation, uttering the phrase "We will kill you !". 10 out of 12 jurors confirmed the fact that Fridman caused damage to Berezovsky's reputation and considered that he should be compensated financially. Within three weeks, the defendant was obliged to transfer to the plaintiff £50,000. (Kommersant, May 27, 2006)
Own
He controls the Gibraltar company AB holdindgs limited, which owns the Luxembourg firm Alfa finance holdins SA (authorized capital of $40,000), which was founded in May 1999 and owns Alfa Bank. Along with the Gibraltar company of M. Friedman, the co-founder of the Luxembourg Alfa is the Shapburg limited company of a certain Olivier Peters (British Virgin Islands), which owns one of the 20 thousand two-dollar shares of Alfa finance holdins SA; Directorial functions in the 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 offshore companies TNK Industrial Holdings Ltd, TNK International Ltd (Virgin Islands), Sborsare (Cyprus) and, through them, SIDANCO and TNK companies.
In 2001, he bought a mansion in Neuilly, a bohemian suburb of Paris, which previously belonged to actress Mireille Darc, the ex-wife of Alain Delon. Neighbors - Mireille Mathieu, Belmondo, Sophie Marceau. (Profile, November 5, 2001).
In June 2001, Forbes Magazine listed Friedman as one of the richest Russians in the list of billionaires living on the planet. His fortune was estimated at 1.3 billion dollars.
In February 2002, Forbes Magazine ranked Fridman third (after Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Roman Abramovich) in Russia in the annual ranking of the richest people in the world, and 191st in the world according to 2001 data. The magazine estimated his fortune at $2.2 billion. ("Kommersant", March 2, 2002).
According to the results of 2002, Forbes Magazine gave M. Fridman 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 - that is, together with Vekselberg and Blavatnik) "Orenburgnefi".
In November 2005, European Business Magazine estimated Friedman's fortune at 8.3 billion euros.
In February 2006, the magazine "Finance" estimated Friedman's fortune in $11.4 billion(third place in Russia after Abramovich and Deripaska).
In March 2006, another Forbes Magazine rating appeared, in which Friedman is in 50th place in the world (state - 9.7 billion).
In October 2005, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he said that his stake in the Alpha group exceeded 40%. And all the assets of Alfa were estimated 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 Alexei Kuzmichev. The exact shares of the owners in the document were not called. It was noted that none of them owned more than 50% of the bank. (Kommersant, November 24, 2005)
In May 2006, the Pyaterochka trade house named the shares of new beneficiaries that it should have had after the merger with the Perekrestok trading house. The head of Alfa Group, Mikhail Fridman, was supposed to receive 21.9% of the shares of the combined company (in total, the co-owners of the group were to get 47,8% ), managers of Perekrestok Alexander Kosyanenko and Lev Khasis - 3.4% and 1.8%, respectively. Alexei Reznikovich was to become the owner of about 1%. (Vedomosti 04.05.2006)
CTF Holdings is "a company that Alfa Group calls its corporate center" (Vedomosti, August 25, 2004).
Mikhail Fridman is a Russian entrepreneur, owner of Alfa Group, the largest financial and industrial association in Russia. To date, the businessman is one of the richest people in the country, consistently ranking in the top ten of the Forbes rating.
Fridman Mikhail Maratovich was born on April 21, 1964 in the Western Ukrainian city of Lvov, in the Jewish family of Marat Shlemovich and Evgenia Bentsionovna. Parents in the position of engineers worked at a Soviet defense enterprise. For the development of navigation devices for military aircraft, Mikhail's father became a laureate of the USSR State Prize. The future billionaire became the second child, the older brother was already growing up in the family. Now Friedman seniors live in Germany, in the city of Cologne.
The businessman's school years passed like many Soviet children, but Mikhail among his peers was distinguished by a craving for education, preferring the exact sciences - mathematics, physics and chemistry. This allowed the young man to finish school perfectly, after which Mikhail Maratovich went to conquer Moscow, which was not the first time.
The future oligarch came to the capital with the aim of entering a prestigious Soviet university - the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. But he failed the entrance exams, so he was forced to return home and choose another institute. Friedman chose MISiS, where the next year he was enrolled in the faculty of non-ferrous and rare earth metals.
As a third-year student, Friedman began to engage in entrepreneurial activities - he resold theater tickets and imported goods, and also became a mass entertainer within the walls of the university. Mikhail Maratovich organized a youth nightclub in the institute hostel, on the site of which he arranged discos and performances by pop stars for the appropriate fee.
In 1986, Mikhail Fridman graduated from the university and was sent to work at the Elektrostal metallurgical plant near Moscow, where the graduate was accepted as an engineer in the design bureau. But work in his specialty was not included in the plans of the future billionaire, so Mikhail tried to find a way to open his own business, for which it was necessary to earn initial capital.
Business
Mikhail Fridman earned his first big money cleaning windows: the young man organized a student cleaning company, in which he allowed students to earn an increase in scholarships. Simultaneously with the first company, the businessman opened a company for the delivery of products "Courier" and a company "Alfa-photo" for the sale of photographic materials and office equipment.
From that moment, a significant stage began in the biography of Mikhail Fridman. Already in the late 80s, the young man founded the Alfa-Eco enterprise, which exports oil and metal products abroad. This company became the first brick of the future empire of the oligarch called Alfa Group.
Already in the early 90s, the scope of the businessman's activities extended to oil and gas processing, food and art trade, telecommunications services, insurance and investment, advanced technologies and the banking sector.
The largest branches of Alfa Group Friedman became the first private bank in Russia Alfa-Bank, which today serves 14 million individuals and 200 thousand legal entities, Altimo, which controls the mobile operators Beeline, Kievstar, Life and Turkish operator Turkcell. The Friedman group also owns the X5 corporation, which includes the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, Karusel, Kopeyka supermarket chains and the A5 pharmacy chain.
In 2013, the oligarch founded the international investment group LetterOne, which operates in the energy and technology sectors. In February 2016, L1 made a massive $200 million investment in Uber. The holding's assets also include the Norwegian branch of the German energy concern E.On.
In addition to business, Mikhail Fridman pays attention to charity. The businessman created and finances the Life Line charitable foundation, which helps seriously ill children overcome fatal heart diseases.
In 2014, Alfa-Bank, with the personal participation of Mikhail Fridman, held the first international Alfa Future People festival in Nizhny Novgorod, dedicated to contemporary music and advanced technologies. The event quickly attracted many fans, and two years later the open air had already received 50,000 spectators.
Personal life
The personal life of Mikhail Fridman was not as successful as his business career. The businessman, while still a student, married fellow student Olga Aiziman, with whom he had been married for about 20 years. The wife gave birth to two daughters to the billionaire - Larisa (b. 1993) and Ekaterina (b. 1996). But the children did not save the family from destruction, and in the early 2000s the couple divorced.
After parting, Olga and her children went to Paris, where she received a second education - a fashion designer. The billionaire left behind the maintenance of the first family and provides his daughters with a comfortable existence.
The second, this time, the civil wife of the oligarch, was Oksana Ozhelskaya, a former employee of Alfa-Bank. In 2000, the girl gave the entrepreneur a son, in 2006 she gave birth to a daughter, Nika. Friedman's second marriage also broke up.
The businessman settled in London, his lifestyle is called closed and not public. Mikhail Fridman does not use social networks, including Instagram. Photos with the oligarch rarely get into the press. It is known that, in addition to business, Friedman is fond of collecting samurai swords, driving fast SUVs, cinema, chess and music. In 2015, Mikhail Fridman undertook an extreme jeep crossing through Iran.
To become part of the Jewish people, Friedman made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 2012 as part of a group of 12 businessmen. The entrepreneur invests in the development of the cultural identity of his own nation throughout the world. Friedman created the Genesis Philanthropy Group, which helps Russian-speaking Jews adapt to the national culture. One of the projects in this direction was the support for the creation of the film "Russian Jews".
Condition assessment
According to Forbes, in 2016, Mikhail Fridman's fortune was estimated at $13.3 billion, which allowed the entrepreneur to take the permanent second position in the list of the richest businessmen in Russia. In 2017, the position of the businessman in the ranking was shaken: with $14.4 billion, Mikhail Fridman moved to 7th position.
Mikhail Fridman now
In the fall of 2017, the Alfa-Bank branch of Amsterdam Trade Bank, located in the Netherlands, was searched. The prosecutor's office of the Netherlands opened a criminal case on a number of financial crimes of the bank's management, which is accused of concealing illegal transactions of clients. As part of the investigation, documents and correspondence from the management of Amsterdam Trade Bank and the Central Bank of the Netherlands were seized from the archive of the organization. As part of this case, Peter Vacca, the Dutch top manager of Mikhail Fridman, was arrested in Spain.