Mikhail Prokhorov is a Russian billionaire and owner of the American basketball team, the Brooklyn Nets. After graduating from the Moscow Finance Institute he made his name in the financial sector and went on to become one of Russia's leading industrialists in the precious metals sector. He is the former chairman of Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, and former President of ONEXIM Group. He entered politics in June 2011.
Career
While he was running Norilsk Nickel, the company became the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium. He is the former chairman of Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, and former President of ONEXIM Group. He resigned both positions when he entered politics in June 2011.
In December 2011, Prokhorov capped a year of higher-profile political activity in Russia with the December declaration that he would run as an independent in the 2012 presidential elections. Russian prime minister and former president Vladimir Putin was the favorite in the race at the time of Prokhorov's announcement. In June 2012 he declared the establishment of new political party "Party of Civic Platform".
He is the seventh richest man from Russia and the 57th richest man in the world according to the 2012 Forbes listing with a fortune estimated at US$13.2 billion.
Politics
In May 2011, Prokhorov announced a plan to join the leadership of the Russian pro-business political party Right Cause. While not antagonistic to the Kremlin, the party was seen as likely to support President Dmitry Medvedev rather than Prime Minister Vladimir Putin if the latter entered the 2012 presidential race. In June, Prokhorov was elected to the leadership of the party at the Right Cause Party Congress of 2011. At the acceptance ceremony, Prokhorov officially criticized the present ruling tandem of Medvedev-Putin, the structure of Russia, and vowed to bring Russia back to a stable development course. However, in September, Prokhorov reversed course and resigned from Right Cause, "condemning it as a 'puppet Kremlin party' micromanaged by a 'puppet master' in the president's office ..., Vladislav Y. Surkov".
In December 2011, after the legislative elections, Prokhorov announced that he would contest the 2012 presidential election against Vladimir Putin as an independent. Prokhorov called it at the time "probably the most important decision of my life".
In the 4 March 2012 presidential polling, Prokhorov gained 7.94% of the vote.In June 2012 he becomes a leader of new party - Civic Platform Party.