Background

Alisher Usmanov was born on September 9, 1953, in Chust, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, now Chust, Uzbekistan. His father, Burkhan Usmanov, served as a public prosecutor in the Uzbekistan capital, Tashkent where he spent his early years.

Education

As a youngster, Alisher Usmanov was instinctively drawn towards fencing and went on to excel in the sporting discipline, though his portly form might belie the fact he was once a champion fencer. Nursing ambitions of becoming a diplomat, he relocated to Moscow during his youth and attended the Moscow State Institute for International Relations.

Alisher Usmanov graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations with a degree in international law in 1976, and he received a degree in banking from the Finance Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation in 1997. He is fluent in English, French, Russian, and Uzbek.

Career

After graduation, Usmanov returned to Tashkent as Director of the Foreign Economic Association of the Soviet Peace Committee, which is believed to have been a front for the KGB. In 1980, he was convicted on unspecified fraud and extortion charges and sentenced to eight years in a Tashkent prison. In 1986, he was conditionally released for good behavior and for expressing remorse.

By the time Alisher Usmanov was released from incarceration, Russia was unwittingly caught in the paroxysms of the twin forces of "glasnost" (openness) and "perestroika" (restructuring). He found himself back in the Russian capital, finalizing plans for establishing a plastic bag manufacturing firm in partnership with a KGB official. He made his first fortune producing plastic bags, a commodity so scarce in the former Soviet Union that people washed and reused them. He was able to make over 30,000 bags that sold at close to a ruble each from a ton of polymer that cost 437 rubles.

By 1992, Russia had become a free-for-all. The Soviet Union had collapsed, and the economy was in ruins. But there was still a lot of value amongst the rubble. He pooled all his accumulated assets to buy stakes in mining, steel, natural gas, timber, and electrometallurgical businesses. He founded the mining and metallurgy enterprise, Metalloinvest by partnering with Vasiliy Anisimov and used it as a front company for overseeing his stakes in the metal sector.

Alisher Usmanov also created a trust company - USM Holdings - for monitoring his interests as an independent investor in iron and steel, mining and metallurgical, media, online technology, and pharmaceutical segments. Through Metalloinvest, he manages stakes in Ural Scrap Company, Ural Steel Mills, and Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant. Metalloinvest owns the second-largest iron reserves in the world. Usmanov’s assets have fluctuated greatly with the metal markets. In mid-2014, his assets are valued at $19.6 billion as compared to $1.6 billion in March 2009.

Usmanov has invested in many large Internet-based businesses in Russia and abroad including Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, and Alibaba through Mail Ru Group, Usmanov’s Internet, and technology holding company. In 2006, Usmanov bought the business daily, Kommersant from Boris Berezovsky after he was pushed out of Russia. Kommersant has a very strong Internet presence. He currently owns over thirty Russian local and national television stations in Russia.

Usmanov ventured into sports in 2007 by buying a 14.58% stake in the English soccer club Arsenal FC which he increased to 30% in 2008. He loves the club and said: "It is not something you can sell." But later Usmanov sold his 30% stake in Arsenal Football Club for nearly $700 million in cash in 2018.

He has a 56% stake in MegaFon, the 3rd largest landline and the 2nd largest mobile telephony company in Russia. He sits on the board of Gazprom Invest Holdings - the holding firm of Gazprom, Russia’s largest natural gas extraction and marketing company as well as the biggest firm in terms of revenue. As the General Director of Gazprom Invest Holdings, he transformed Gazprom into a profit-making public enterprise, retrieving the majority of its resources and assets. His investments in the media industry which started in 2006 peaked with the buying out of Kommersant - a national daily.

He purchased majority stakes in 7TV, a sports TV channel and MUZ-TV, a music TV channel in 2006 and 2007 respectively. He also co-owns UTH - a media trust company that owns a 51% stake in Disney Russia and full stakes in U and MUZ-TV channels.

Achievements

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  Alisher Usmanov is a successful entrepreneur and a renowned international investor. He is one of the world's most generous philanthropists. Forbes and Bloomberg have ranked him among the most influential people globally. Alisher Usmanov is internationally recognized for his ground-breaking investments in Facebook and Alibaba, his longtime shareholding in Arsenal FC, as well as for his many charitable actions, including the purchase and return of a Noble Medal to its recipient, James Watson, and the restoration of cultural monuments in Rome.
  
  In 2013, Usmanov was awarded the Order for Service to the Fatherland IV class for his services to the state, as well as his active community and charitable activities. He was also awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky and the Order of Honour of the Russian Federation for his professional achievements and long-term contribution to the business, as well as the Medal for Contribution to International Cooperation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Order of Friendship of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
  
  In 2016, for his considerable philanthropic and societal contributions, Alisher Usmanov received the Distinction For a Good Deed, as well as the highest award of the Russian Council of Muftis, Order of Al Fakhr I class for strengthening mutual understanding between people of different nationalities. In 2017, Alisher Usmanov became a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. In 2018, he received the Order for Merit to the Fatherland III Class for his investment in the development of the Russian economy, culture, and sport, as well as the Order of Friendship (Dostyk) from the Republic of Kazakhstan for strengthening friendship and cooperation between nations.

Religion

Usmanov is a Muslim. However, he married Irina Viner, who is Jewish in 1992.

Politics

After Russia invaded Ukraine, Usmanov remained loyal to Kremlin’s policy and criticized the West for its sanctions. In mid-2016, Usmanov met with Putin in the Kremlin, a visit that was reported on prime television channels. Usmanov’s key message was that of support for government policy. He said that sanctions were negatively impacting the Russian economy but that his company was faring well due to the steps it had taken to improve efficiency and boost workers’ morale.

Views

Alisher Usmanov attaches great significance to philanthropic activities. Usmanov founded his Art, Science, and Sport Charity Foundation in 2006. Alisher Usmanov has donated generously to several fencing bodies, including the Russian Fencing Federation, through his International Charity Fund for the Future of Fencing.

Alisher Usmanov has donated the original 1892 manuscript of the manifesto of the Olympics to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. The original 14-page copy of Pierre de Coubertin's speech, in which the French aristocrat first outlined his vision of the modern Olympic Games, was bought at a New York auction for $8,806,500 in December 2019.

His charitable efforts extend to more than 60 countries. Over the past 15 years, Alisher Usmanov's companies and his charitable foundations have invested more than $2.6 billion in the development of the sport, as well as supporting cultural, scientific, educational and medical initiatives.

For many years he was named the most charitable giver in Russia by Bloomberg and has been ranked by The Sunday Times Giving List in the top hundred most generous philanthropists in the United Kingdom for several years in a row.

Quotations: "I have been very fortunate to be successful in business, and I believe that it is right that people who have this type of wealth should give something back into society."

"It was always a challenge for me to prove that a Russian financial investor can be as successful in the West as back at home in Russia."

"Making money from money is like aerobatics."

Personality

A native of Uzbekistan, Usmanov uniquely combines personal humanity, Eastern wisdom, and genuine business acumen, which often helps him to predict global trends, while he sees his business activity as a means to invest in charitable causes globally.

According to people familiar with Usmanov, "charity is in his nature." Usmanov’s approach to charity is perfectly reflected by the story of James Watson’s Nobel prize medal. Along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, Watson shared the 1962 Nobel prize in medicine for discovering the double-helical structure of DNA and sold the medal to raise money for his Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory in Long Island, where he used to work for years.

The anonymous buyer, who paid $4.1m for the medal at an auction at Christie’s in New York City, was later revealed as Usmanov. He said that "a situation in which an outstanding scientist has to sell a medal recognizing his achievements is unacceptable… and his award for the discovery of DNA structure must belong to him." Usmanov returned the medal to the recipient.

Interests

• Martial arts

• Politicians

  Vladimir Putin

• Writers

  The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

• Artists

  Frans Hals

• Sport & Clubs

  fencing, soccer

• Music & Bands

  Mstislav Rostropovich

Connections

Alisher Usmanov had befriended Irina Viner, a rhythmic gymnastics trainer, in his youth. Years later, they rekindled their friendship and married in 1992. The couple does not have any children of their own but are parents to a son from Irina’s earlier marriage.

Father:

Burkhan Usmanov

Spouse:

Irina Viner-Usmanova

Step-son:

Anton Viner

Friend:

Roman Abramovich

References

• Famous People: Alisher Usmanov Biography
  2020