Estimated Worth:
$4.3 billion
Current Position:
Chairman, Alfa Group
Major Holdings:
TNK-BP (formerly Tyumen Oil) and AlfaBank
Other Interests:
Telecom businesses Golden Telecom and Vimpelcom; retailer
Trade House Perekriostock, which operates a leading chain
of supermarkets, and vodka producer Smirnov Trade House
Political Connections:
Fridman's partner, Peter Aven, was Russia's minister of
foreign economic affairs. Fridman was one of the Big Seven,
the original group of oligarchs who bankrolled the 1996
reelection of President Boris Yeltsin and who claimed
to then control 50 percent of Russia's assets.
New Plays:
Fridman recently sold 50 percent of Tyumen Oil to British
Petroleum in a landmark $6.75 billion deal, creating TNK-BP,
the 10th-largest private-sector oil and gas company in
the world in terms of production.
Lifestyle:
Fridman is known for keeping a low profile, although his
Moscow flat is said to be larger than 12,000 square feet;
Fridman's wife and two children live in Paris.
Notoriety:
The oil tanker Prestige, which sank off the Spanish
coast in 2002 and released an oil slick that spread 250
miles, was chartered by a company owned by Fridman.
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