Mikhail Maratovich. Mikhail Maratovich Fridman. Biographical note. Ticket to big business

Biography

State

Partners

Competitors

Area of ​​interest

Personal life

Biography

Parents worked as engineers at the plant, and my father was even awarded a state award for developing identification systems for military aviation. After school, Mikhail decided to follow in the footsteps of his parents - he went to Moscow to enter the Physics and Technology Institute.

He passed the exams with flying colors, but did not pass the competition, after a failure he returned to Lvov, worked as a laboratory assistant at the Institute of Physics and Mechanics and was preparing for the second attempt - before the army he had a year left. But a year later, history repeated itself. Then Fridman easily entered the Institute of Steel and Alloys at the Faculty of Nonferrous and Rare Earth Metals. At the institute, he studied at the Faculty of Semiconductor Materials and

instruments together with his cousin Dmitry Lvovich Fridman. In his 3rd year, Mikhail Fridman organized an informal youth club " strawberry meadow” is the prototype of modern nightclubs. At the institute, he was one of the leaders of the student

"Theater Mafia", students involved in the resale of tickets to the Bolshoi Theater.

In 1986-1988. works as a design engineer at the Elektrostal plant in the city of Elektrostal, Moscow Region.

In 1988 Fridman, together with his institute friends, organized the Courier cooperative, which specialized in window cleaning.

Since 1988 Mikhail Fridman is a private entrepreneur, the founder of the Alfa-Photo company, which was engaged in a very versatile activity: it sold computers, copiers and even exotic oriental carpets self made.

Since 1989 - took over as director of the Alfa-Eco joint venture, 80% of whose capital is owned by the Courier cooperative and 20% by the Swiss company ADP Trading

According to media reports, a significant contribution to the replenishment of capital was the participation of Alfa-Eco in operations to convert rubles into dollars.

In the early 90s. "Alfa-Eco" was held in the sensational "Fischer case" about $ 140 billion. As a result of the investigation of this case law enforcement many deals had to be cancelled.

In 1990 - creates "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 (ORT).

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, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of OAO SIDANCO Oil Company.

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.

Since 1998 - Member of the Board of Directors of CJSC Trading House Perekrestok.

In February 2001 included in the Council for Entrepreneurship under the Government of the Russian Federation.

Since 2001 — Member of the Bureau of the Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs

Condition

Summer 2001 Mikhail Fridman was included in the list of the richest people on the planet compiled by Forbes magazine. The magazine estimates that Friedman is worth $1.3 billion.

At the end of 2002 the same magazine estimated Mikhail Fridman's fortune at $4.3 billion. was $ 1.8 billion. According to the magazine EuroBusiness (Great Britain), the fortune of Mikhail Fridman (2002) reached 2.5 billion euros.

Mikhail Fridman owns approximately 70% of the total assets of Alfa Group.

For 2001-2002 Alfa Group acquired new assets: Alfa-Eco bought a 37.5% stake in the Volgograd Krasny Oktyabr plant; insurance company Alfa-Garantiya received a license for 37 types of insurance activities; "Alfa-Capital" buys the insurance company "Ostra-Kyiv"; Alfa-Bank receives permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to acquire a controlling stake in Kyivinvestbank; Alfa-Eco, one of the largest producers of alcohol in Russia, bought a 50% stake in the trading house P.A. Smirnov and Descendants in Moscow.

Lobby

In structures Russian authorities and large private companies today employ people from Alfa-Bank and Alfa Group. In particular, Vladislav Surkov was Deputy Chairman of the Board of Alfa-Bank, and currently holds the post of Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation; Alexander Abramov was the head of department at Alfa, now he is the deputy head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation; Andrey Popov in the 1990s worked at Alfa, then was a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, currently heads the Main regional administration the President of the Russian Federation; Andrei Rappoport in 1991-1996 was the chairman of the board of Alfa-Bank, then he worked at Yukos, and now he is the first deputy of Anatoly Chubais at RAO UES of Russia.

Gleb Fetisov, delegated from Voronezh region. Prior to that, he worked for a long time at Alfa-Eco.

In 1998 Oleg Sysuev, who left the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, became the first deputy chairman of the board of directors of Alfa-Bank.PartnersMikhail Fridman's main partner is the president of Alfa-Bank, Petr Aven. The main partner of the Alpha group is Renova, controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of the board of the Tyumen oil company and co-owner of SUAL-Holding.

Dmitry Zimin, founder and president of OJSC VimpelCom, in which Alfa structures control 25% plus 1 share, is also a partner and manager of Alfa and its owners.

Competitors

The main competing structure of Alfa Group is the MDM group. In particular, two oligarchic structures fought for a long time for control over Tagmet OJSC. Alfa-Bank fought with MDM-Bank for Conversbank. After the resignation of Alexander Rumyantsev (Minister of Atomic Energy, supporter of MDM) in the spring of 2001. Atomic scientists, with the support of Alfa-Bank, began to fight for the return of control over Converse, but MDM managed to bring its stake in Converse to 85% and emerge victorious.

Area of ​​interest

Telecommunications

IN Lately Among the priorities of "Alpha" is the telecommunications sector. At the beginning of 2001 in Alfa-Eco, a telecommunications department was created, headed by Stanislav Shekshnia, a specialist in this field. During the year, a controlling stake in OJSC Golden Telecom and a blocking stake in OJSC VimpelCom were purchased.

Alfa-Telecom LLC (a division of Alfa Group) in the summer of 2002. gained control over 32.39% of shares in Kyivstar GSM by purchasing a 50.1% stake in the Ukrainian company Storm, which owned a 32.39% stake in Kyivstar GSM.

Oil and gas

Alfa, together with Renova, controls the Tyumen Oil Company, which is actively expanding in the Russian and foreign markets, both in the production and sale of oil and oil products. In particular, in 2002-2003. TNK has been and is fighting for control over Slavneft. The TNK needs new refineries and gasoline distribution networks. TNK also aims to become a major independent gas producer. TNK, together with Yukos, controls the gas production company Rospan International and is considering plans to increase production and sale of gas, especially it is interested in exporting this fuel.

Financial services.

Alfa-Bank and Alfa-Insurance are among the leaders each in their respective sectors, actively capturing new market niches and regions.

Pipe and metallurgical industry

Versions about the purchase of the Ukrainian company Interpipe by Alpha structures have not yet been confirmed, but since the beginning of 2003. it was headed Russian manager Evgeny Bernshtam, who worked as First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Alfa-Bank before his new appointment.

Consumer market, retail business, food

Alpha structures since 1994. owns a controlling stake in CJSC Trading House Perekrestok. United Food Company is an agricultural sub-holding of the Alfa Group consortium. The company controls eight sugar refineries in Krasnodar Territory, Oryol and Belgorod regions and 10 elevators, which store about 30% of the grain grown in the Krasnodar Territory.

Personal life

According to colleagues, Mikhail Maratovich has a high capacity for work. Any employee can enter Friedman's office - Friedman's business principle: "If a person believes that he must tell me something personally, he should have such an opportunity." He likes to travel, jeep racing is especially revered. In 1997, while crossing the desert in Brazil, Friedman rolled over in his car and severely injured his head. The wife - before marriage, a classmate and a dormitory neighbor (according to other sources, the dormitories at MISiS are separate) - with her two daughters Katya and Laura constantly lives in Paris. According to rumors, Friedman practically does not maintain contacts with his wife. After the scandal with Alexei Mordashov's wife (Mordashov's wife sued the head of Severstal for the division of property), Mikhail Fridman allegedly urgently increased the maintenance of his family. Parents permanently reside in Germany. Yuli Gusman, Mark Rozovsky, Marat Gelman and Evgenia Albats belong to a narrow circle of personal contacts.

Fridman Mikhail Maratovich was born on April 21, 1964 in Lvov in a family of engineers. Father is a laureate State Prize USSR 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 Board Bureau Russian Union 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).

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. owns 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 still retained a pathological craving for trading operations, as well as for cash, as well as former leader 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, Russian life not interested.

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?

- No! 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 time 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 a deputy director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, where Fridman ended up by distribution (thanks to tickets. - "!").
Fridman and Kiselev together established the Alfa-Photo cooperative, which was engaged in the supply of computers. And Alfa-Photo, in turn, acted as one of the two founders of the Alfa-Eco JV, of which Kiselev became the director.

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 former boxer(participant of the Seoul Olympiad. - "!") 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 railway. 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 a drug. 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 middle lane 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.

To the KGB and special services Mikhail in student years was absolutely loyal.

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 makes good money counts 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 Iordan (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 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 were they talking about former minister Russia and the former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, 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 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 "Rosregionals", 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 about 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.

The oligarch, who entered the history of the domestic elite as an honest and respected businessman, was repeatedly named in the media as a prudent and authoritative intellectual with an aggressive form of doing business while ignoring the interests and opinions of other parties, and was also declared a European business leader, the most influential and outstanding entrepreneur of the year .

His fortune in 2015 was estimated by Forbes magazine at $14.6 billion. Thus, he ranked 68th in the world ranking of the richest people and second among Russian businessmen after Roman Abramovich.

Childhood and family of Mikhail Fridman

Since childhood, Misha has been surrounded by love and care from his mother, grandmother and other relatives. He did not attend kindergarten, he was an excellent student at school. The boy studied music in the piano class and then organized a school vocal and instrumental ensemble, a type of musical creativity that was popular in those years.

Upon graduation in 1981, the young man entered the country's leading university - the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, but he was not accepted. According to one version - he did not pass the competition, according to another - the fateful “fifth column”, that is, nationality, became the reason for the failure. Allegedly because of her, he, being an excellent student, also did not receive gold medal at school and subsequently failed in graduate school.

Mikhail's second attempt to become a student was crowned with success - he entered the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. Choice educational institution determined, as it were, its location in the very center of Moscow, as well as the presence of a good House of Culture in it, where pop stars such as Yuri Vizbor and Vladimir Vysotsky performed with concerts.

3 Qualities of Billionaire Mikhail Fridman

Mikhail's student life was eventful. In addition to studying professional subjects, he was engaged in the resale of theater tickets, carpets, imported goods, and also created a youth night club acting in the institute hostel under the auspices of Komsomol organization, organized discos, performances of artists. During that period, he met Pyotr Aven, who moved in the same circles, being the head of the Moscow State University music club.

The beginning of the career of Mikhail Fridman

At the same time, he organized a cooperative for washing windows, then - for the delivery of products, created, together with his cousin Dmitry, who graduated from the same institute a year earlier, firms that traded in computer equipment.

In 1988, together with German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev and with the assistance of Academician Alfimov, whose name allegedly served as the basis for the formation of the name of the current financial and investment empire, Friedman set about creating it.

The Alfa-Photo cooperative for the sale of copiers and the Soviet-Swiss joint venture Alfa-Eco for the export of petroleum products and metallurgy products were the very first at the birth of Alfa Group.

Among the consortium's many areas of activity - gas and oil processing, art and food trade, insurance, telecommunications services, advanced technologies, investments - Alfa-Bank is considered the cornerstone, the first in the country among private banks, which the businessman has headed since his inception. institutions in December 1990. Subsequently, he owned a 37% stake in a financial and credit institution (Khan owned 23%, Kuzmichev - 18%, bank president Petr Aven - 14%).

Mikhail Fridman's advice: How to get a job at Alfa-Bank

In 1995, the oligarch was a member of the ORT collective leadership body, in 2002 he headed the Conference of the Leaders of Jewish Organizations of the Russian Federation, he always supported Jewish initiatives in the country and abroad in every possible way.

In 2005, Alfa Group bought X5 Corporation for a billion dollars. It includes the Perekrestok and Karusel supermarket chains and Pyaterochka discount stores.

In 2008, the tycoon gave his senior position in the bank to his deputy, a ratings manager from Prague, Petr Schmide. In 2009, Mikhail Maratovich headed the oil company TNK-BP.

Personal life of Mikhail Fridman

Married to her, they had two daughters, Larisa and Ekaterina. They were born and live with their mother in Paris, and in the summer they usually go on vacation to St. Tropez.

Girls attend a school where teaching is English language. They communicate with friends and acquaintances, of course, in French, and with their parents in Russian. That is, the daughters of an oligarch develop mental flexibility from childhood.

Many people talk about Friedman as a hardworking and talented entrepreneur, inclined towards charity, who achieved everything on his own, with his own work, thanks to his mind, and not to theft. He finances the foundation for helping children "Line of Life"

One of the most famous businessmen in the Russian Federation remains a non-public person, lives closed. Today he is an Israeli citizen, lives in London, loves fast driving, movies, music, chess, collects samurai swords. His parents at the beginning of the new century moved from Lviv to Cologne.

In 2001, Mikhail bought a house in the elite suburb of the French capital of Neuilly, previously owned by the ex-wife of Alain Delon, model and artist Mireille Dark. Next to the oligarch's estate are the mansions of the legendary actors Jean-Paul Belmondo and Sophie Marceau.

In order to realize himself as part of the Jewish people, in 2012 Friedman, as part of a group of 12 Russian businessmen, made a three-day pilgrimage through the Israeli Arava desert to the holy city of Jerusalem. They spent the night in tents and covered almost 20 kilometers every day.

Mikhail Fridman today

As of the end of 2015, Alfa-Bank served 14 million individuals and 194 thousand legal entities. Number of branches and branches financial institution, opened in Russia and abroad, including subsidiaries in the USA, the Netherlands, England, Cyprus, reached 775.

Main achievements

Fridman is the creator of one of the most powerful and influential financial and industrial holdings in Russia. The largest assets of a businessman: Alfa-Bank (100%), Vimpelcom (48%), X5 Retail Group (48%). Owns the brands "Beeline", "Pyaterochka", "Crossroads".

Biography

Mikhail Fridman was born on April 21, 1964. in Lviv. Graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys in 1986. During his studies, he met Vladislav Surkov, Petr Aven and Alexander Kasyanenko, and has been in contact with them ever since. After graduation, he worked as a design engineer at the Elektrostal plant. In 1988 organized the Courier cooperative, specializing in window cleaning. A year later, together with M. Alfimov, G. Khan and V. Kuzmichev, he created and headed the Alfa Photo company, which was engaged in the sale of photographic materials, computers and copying equipment. In 1989 founded the Soviet-Swiss enterprise Alfa-Eco, which was engaged in the export of oil and metallurgical products. The firm became the basis of Alfa Group. In 1991 Friedman headed the board of directors of Alfa-Bank, part of the capital was invested in Belarusian projects: Alfa-Bank, Life operator, Belmarket and BelEvroset retailers.

By the early 2000s, Alfa-Bank became a universal credit institution, which carried out all types of banking operations, and one of the largest banks in Russia in terms of assets and equity.

By 2000 "Alfa Group" included trading house "Crossroads", headed by Kasyanenko. In 2005 as a result of a cross deal, Alfa Group acquired a controlling stake in X5 Retail Group N.V., which merged Russia's largest retail chains Pyaterochka and Perekrestok.

In 2003 British concern British Petroleum acquired a 50% stake in the Tyumen Oil Company for $6.75 billion. Friedman became chairman of the supervisory board of TNK-BP.

Strokes for a portrait

In 1996 with the participation of Fridman, the Russian Jewish Congress was created, the businessman became its vice president and head of the culture committee. Provides significant support to Jewish initiatives in Russia and Europe.

IN different time From 1995 to 1998, he was a member of the board of directors of the Public Russian Television (ORT) association, the board of directors of the SIDANCO oil company and the Perekrestok trading house.

Alfa-Bank finances the Life Line charitable foundation, which helps children with severe cardiac diseases.

Divorced, he was married to Olga Fridman, whom he met at the institute. The businessman has two daughters. In 2000 Friedman's parents moved permanently to France.

He is fond of cinema, music, chess; likes to fly by helicopter to a recreation center in the Tver region, where negotiations with business partners are often held. For a long time I was into jeep racing.

Billionaire Mikhail Fridman bequeathed his entire fortune, estimated in 2016 at $14.2 billion, charitable foundation Genesis.

Gossip

In his student years, he organized an informal youth club "Strawberry Glade", where discos and bard performances were held. While still at the institute, he became a peddler, engaged in the resale of theater tickets.

In 1995 Friedman's structures were suspected of drug smuggling, the businessman's competitors tried to stir up a scandal, despite the fact that the businessman himself did not appear in criminal cases. Since then, accusations have been periodically slipping in the media that Friedman and Aven did business on drugs.

In 2005 Fridman and former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov appeared in the media in connection with the so-called "dacha case" - accusations of illegally acquiring state-owned real estate (dacha complexes "Sosnovka-3" and "Sosnovka-1"). In 2006 the court declared the auction for the sale of real estate to Fridman illegal and demanded that the entire complex be returned to state property.

In 2009 President Dmitry Medvedev had to intervene in a corporate conflict between Fridman's Alfa Group and Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element holding. The head of state held a working meeting with Fridman, after which both businessmen announced that there was no conflict between the holdings, and they themselves have been friends for a long time.

April 2012 together with others Russian businessmen made a pilgrimage through the Israelite desert to Jerusalem.

According to rumors, it is Fridman’s structures that are behind the “Navalny project”: allegedly, Alfa Group supplied the blogger with materials that served as the basis for revealing posts, and even had a hand in mitigating the punishment against the lawyer in the Kirovles case.