Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire and CEO of Millhouse Capital, was born in Lithuania to a Jewish family on October 24th, 1966. After loosing his parents at the age of 4 he went to live with his grandmother and uncle.
In early life, Roman Abramovich did several odd jobs which included working as a mechanic at local factories, working as street trader in black market and selling perfume, toothpaste and shaving cream etc. In 1987, he set up a small plastic toy company. In coming years, he kept expanding his business by purchasing and selling small and medium size companies.
He became a well known business personality when he purchased the Chelsea Football Club of U.K in 2003
According to The Guardian:
“By 1996, at the age of 30, Abramovich had become so rich and politically well-connected that he had become close to President Boris Yeltsin, and had moved into an apartment in the Kremlin at the invitation of the Yeltsin family. In 1999, and now a tycoon, Abramovich was elected governor of Russia’s remote, far eastern province of Chukotka, and has since lavished £112 million (€ 132 million) on charity to rebuild the impoverished region. The identikit image being pieced together for us was of a self-made man who was not only powerful and wealthy, but acutely aware of those who had done less well in the tumultuous 1990s, when the Soviet Union fell”
According to Forbes, as of September 2012, he is the world’s 6th richest business person whose net worth stands about $19.6 billion.
Philanthropic work:
he founded Pole of Hope charity and assisted people of Chukotka.
After becoming the governor of Chukotka in 2006, he contributed millions of dollar for developing education system.
Quotes:
“The goal is to win. It’s not about making money. I have many much less risky ways of making money than this (buying Chelsea football club). I don’t want to throw my money away, but it’s really about having fun and that means success and trophies.”
I have no Napoleonic dream. I’m just hard-working and pragmatic.
Investors have very short memories.
