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| Corporate Dossier; From the desk of the CEOs | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 13 2004, 09:35 AM (254 Views) | |
| siddharthgim | Oct 13 2004, 09:35 AM Post #1 |
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From nothing to everything He’s considered one of the most powerful men in Russia, the youngest of the oligarchs who seized the opportunity, as Russia struggled to break free from the shackles of communism, to build multi-billion dollar empires of their own. With an estimated net worth of $5.7 billion, Roman Abramovich, 37, has been ranked 25th in Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s richest men in 2004. From obscure beginnings in a small town on the Volga, to business tycoon to governor of Chukotka, an impoverished province in the Siberian region, and his new status as owner of the Chelsea Football Club in Britain, Abramovich’s life has been remarkable racy. Born on October 24, 1966 Abramovich lost both his parents before the age of four and was adopted by his uncle Abram. His education was cut short when he was drafted into the Soviet Army. After a brief stint, he went on to make a small fortune in a series of oil export deals in the early 1990s. Referred to as the “stealth oligarch”, Abramovich’s meteoric rise is largely attributed to his association with oil magnate Boris Berezovsky, who introduced him to the Boris Yeltsin’s inner circle in 1992. Together they made a fortune acquiring oil giant Sibneft at a fraction of its market price. In 2000, when Berezovsky fell out of favour with Vladimir Putin’s new regime, fleeing the country on fraud charges, Abramovich bought out his stake in Sibneft and also acquired significant shares in Russia’s national airline, Aeroflot and Russian Aluminium. He retains these investments through his holding company, Millhouse Capital, an investment fund registered in Britain. He also branched out into politics, and reportedly spent millions of dollars in building new homes, supermarkets, hotels and cinemas in his province of Chukotka, where he’s governor. Critics have alleged that this is part of a larger gameplan by Abramovich to gain control over the region’s resources and fuel his larger political ambitions. More recently though, Abramovich has attracted media attention for his purchase of the Chelsea Football Club, at a price of £140 million. He also owns three luxury yachts, a private jet and two helicopters. Recently, Abramovich opted for an upgrade from his old Boeing-737 jet, to the latest Boeing-767 at an estimated cost of $100 million. However, the final price could be as much as $1billion, when he finally gets around to using it. That’s not surprising, given that the interiors of the jet are being redecorated with the most fancy fittings and luxuries money can buy, like mahogany and gold plating, plasma TVs and even an anti-missile system, making it one of the most well-equipped and secure aircraft after Air Force One, the US Presidential jet. According to the Mail on Sunday Rich Report 2004, Abramovich has been ranked as Britain’s richest person, beating the likes of Tetrapak billionaire Hans Rausing (2nd), steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal (4th) and Virgin’s Richard Branson (9th) with a wealth that’s “enough to buy his football club more than 51 times”. The report also indicated that besides Chelsea, Abramovich had bought two homes in Britain and had stated his intention to educate his children there. He has also been steadily investing in prime properties in other exotic locations like Nice, St Tropez and Austria. However, Abramovich’s trailblazing streak may be up against some roadblocks in current Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly hard-line regime. Earlier this year, the Russian Audit Chamber declared Chukotka bankrupt after examining its 2003 budgetary performance. |
| [size=1]If you want a rainbow, you have to put up with little rain...[/size] | |
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7:29 PM Jul 11