Fridman Mikhail Maratovich is the owner of one of the largest industrial and financial associations in the Russian Federation, the Alfa Group , and has shares in Alfa Bank, one of the largest banks in Ukraine, the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation; "X5", "A1", "Alpha Insurance", and is the head of the Russian Jewish Congress, a member of the Council on International Relations, the Union of Industrialists, and the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.
Owner of Alfa Group Mikhail Fridman
Childhood and youth of Mikhail Fridman
On April 21, 1964, in the west of Ukraine, in the city of Lvov, a son, Mikhail, was born into the Jewish family of Evgenia Bantsionovna and Marat Shlemovich. My parents were quite wealthy people and worked at a Soviet defense plant as engineers. The father of the future oligarch, Marat Shlemovich, made a great contribution to the development of Soviet technology and made the development of navigation devices for military aircraft. After some time, he was appointed laureate of the State Prize of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Maratovich was the second child in the family. His older brother was much older than him; now he and his family live in Cologne, Germany.
Mikhail Fridman in his youth
From an early age, the future billionaire was surrounded by love, care and attention. They said “the child is positive” and everyone around him loved him. But he did not go to kindergarten; his mother and grandmother looked after him. At school, Mikhail showed himself to be a very good student; he preferred exact sciences, such as physics, chemistry and mathematics, and often won Olympiads in these subjects. He also studied at a music school, took a piano class, and with his initiative and the help of classmates, a school vocal and instrumental ensemble was organized. He was very popular in those years.
After graduating from school in 1981, the young man had a choice between the leading universities of the countries. He decided to apply to the famous and very prestigious Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, but he was not accepted. There were two versions of this guy’s failure, the first was that he didn’t have enough points for admission, and the second was his nationality. They say that it was because of his nationality that he, being an excellent student and an exemplary student, did not receive a well-deserved gold medal. And after all, another failure awaited him, related to his nationality; he was also not accepted into graduate school.
Fridman and Medvedev
The young applicant did not give up after the first fiasco, but purposefully wanted to enroll, and the second attempt was crowned with success. He applied to the capital's university, which specializes in steel and alloys, to the faculty of non-ferrous and rare earth metals. The young man lived in the very center of Moscow, where there were always concerts and festivals, and popular artists performed. The future billionaire often attended the performances of Yuri Vizbora and Vladimir Vysotsky .
Already in the third year, the student decided to provide for his life independently. His career life began with entrepreneurial activity. He resold theater tickets and foreign goods at high prices, but despite this obstacle, he had many buyers. Within the walls of his native university, he was famous as a “mass entertainer.” He organized youth parties, discos, theater evenings, invited aspiring pop stars and paid them the appropriate money for it.
Fridman and Putin
And already in 1986, Mikhail Maratovich graduated from a university, and he was sent to work at a well-known Moscow region, he was enrolled in an internship, and later he was given a position as an engineer in a design bureau. But the future oligarch did not want to work in his specialty, and he needed initial capital to open his own business. And he worked for a short time at a metallurgical plant
Business and career of Mikhail Fridman
After graduating from university, the young engineer was assigned to work at a metallurgical plant, where he worked as an engineer in a design bureau. In parallel to this official position, he had profit from his small business. He organized a small cleaning company, thereby helping students have additional income on top of their scholarship.
Ksenia Sobchak and Mikhail Fridman
At the same time, the future philanthropist, together with his cousin Dmitry, created small companies that sold equipment. A company was also opened to sell photographic materials and deliver food products. The oligarch had a good income from each company, but he did not stop there and in the late 1980s, together with Alexey Kuzmichev and German Khan they created the profitable bank Alfa Bank . It was created with the help of Academician Alfimov, and the holding of the owners was named in his honor. To begin with, the Alfa-Photo cooperative was organized, it ensured the sale of devices and the Soviet-Swiss joint venture, Alfa-Eco was created for the export of metallurgical and petroleum products. This corporation became the first brick in the Alfa Group empire.
Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman
At the beginning of the 1990s, the businessman’s activities were very diverse, his companies processed oil and gas, traded food companies, provided telecommunications services, dealt with the latest technologies of the time, insurance and investments, but mainly specialized in the banking sector.
Closer to the new century, Alfa Group opened a new branch, Alfa Bank. It was the first private bank to serve individuals and legal entities in the Russian Federation. Today, this bank serves a huge number of people, namely, about 14 million individuals and 200 thousand legal entities. Also, mobile operator companies not only in Russia, but also in Ukraine: Beeline, Life, Kyivstar, and the Turkish mobile operator Turkcell. The Mikhail Maratovich Fridman group owns, and this company includes a chain of supermarkets in the Russian Federation and Ukraine: Pyaterochka, Karusel, Perekrestok, Kopeyka and the A5 pharmacy chain.
Mikhail Fridman
Already in 2013, the statesman founded the international investment group “LetterOne”, which specializes in technical and energy areas. And at the beginning of 2021, this holding invested $200 million in the development of the profitable Uber taxi service. The company invested its assets in the Norwegian branch of the German energy concern E.On.
Nicolas Sarkozy and Mikhail Fridman
The oligarch is engaged not only in managing and selling assets, buying shares, but also loves to do good to people and is involved in charity. The Life Line Foundation was developed on his initiative, and he finances it. The fund aims to finance the treatment of children with severe cardiac diseases. Also, the businessman pays for treatment abroad for many seriously ill children, financially supports families during the period of rehabilitation and outside his center. It equips regular hospitals and cardiac centers with the latest equipment to make correct diagnoses.
Mikhail Fridman
In 2014, Mikhail Fridman, taking Alfa Bank , held the first international festival in Nizhny Novgorod dedicated to the latest technologies and modern music, it was called Alfa Future People. This event brought together not only residents of Nizhny Novgorod, but also residents of the Russian Federation and guests of the country. And after a couple of years, the festival was held again and attracted about 50 thousand spectators.
Fridman Mikhail Maratovich
Social and political activities
In 1996, Fridman became the founder of the Russian Jewish Congress, taking up the position of vice president and head of the cultural committee. He actively supports Jewish initiatives in Russia and Europe. For example, he helps develop the European Jewish Fund, which works to strengthen the national identity of Jews and fight against assimilation. Fridman also supported Leonid Parfenov in the creation of the film “Russian Jews”.
Previously, Fridman was a member of the Banking Council and the Entrepreneurship Council under the Government of the Russian Federation.
In 2014, Alfa-Bank, with the participation of Fridman, held the international music and technology festival Alfa Future People in Nizhny Novgorod. The event was successful, the number of participants grew every year and after two years the festival was attended by 50,000 people.
And in Lvov, the businessman’s small homeland, Alfa-Bank annually organizes the Alfa Jazz Fest.
Personal life
While a student at Moscow University, Mikhail Fridman married fellow student Olga Aiziman, with whom he lived for 20 happy years of marriage. Two daughters were born - Larisa, born in 1993, and Ekaterina, born in 1996. Their marriage was happy, but after a while quarrels began and even the children could not save the marriage; already at the beginning of the new century the couple divorced. The billionaire supported the family, and after the divorce provided for his daughters, but he and Mikhail’s ex-wife moved to Paris, where Olga received her second higher education as a fashion designer.
Mikhail Fridman with his ex-wife Olga
They say that the marriage was dissolved because of her husband’s mistress, because in 2000 (immediately after the divorce), former Alfa Bank employee Oksana Ozhelskaya gave birth to Friedman’s son Alexander, and six years later a daughter, Nika, was born. But this marriage was also dissolved. The couple does not comment on the reasons for the separation.
Mikhail Fridman with his son Alexander Ozhelsky
The oligarch lives in London; he does not lead a public life. He does not have accounts on social networks, and tries in every possible way to hide his personal life from the press. Mikhail Fridman has a hobby; he loves collecting samurai swords and tries to frequently add to his collection. He likes to spend his free time playing chess and music, but he also enjoys active recreation and enjoys driving fast off-road vehicles. In 2015, Mikhail fulfilled a small dream and spent his time in a very extreme way. I traveled the entire territory of Iran in a jeep.
Mikhail Fridman and Oksana Ozhelskaya
Friedman's personal life
The first wife of Mikhail Fridman was Olga Aiziman. They met at the institute, their marriage lasted twenty years and gave the couple two daughters - Laura and Katya. At the moment, Laura graduated from Yale and signed a contract with the Israeli State Ballet. Katya also graduated from Yale and remained in New York, since August 2018 she has been working at Teneo.
The second lady of Friedman’s heart was Oksana Ozhelskaya. The girl worked at Alfa Bank and immediately attracted the tycoon. Although Mikhail never proposed to her, the couple had two children - son Alexander and daughter Nika. A few years later, Mikhail and Olga broke up. Friedman's only son, Alexander, is graduating from the British Sevenoaks School this year and plans to enroll in the United States. In addition to his studies, Alexander is fully involved in business: he is a co-founder of the event agency “Artist Bank” and the company AFF Hookah, which provides hookahs outsourced. Nika's youngest daughter is now studying at school in Moscow.
A few years ago, Friedman said he planned to give all of his wealth to charities rather than to children. The businessman claims that the worst thing he can do for his children is to give them a large sum of money.
Most of the time the businessman lives in London. Despite his status as an oligarch, Friedman leads a rather closed life: he does not use Instagram and other social networks, and rarely gives interviews. The businessman does not like to rest; he spends most of his time at work. As a hobby, he collects samurai swords, drives SUVs, travels and plays chess. In an interview, Friedman admitted that he does not read books on business and prefers fiction.
Mikhail Fridman now
Recently, in the fall of 2021, Amsterdam Trade Bank, a branch of Alfa Bank in Holland, was searched. The Dutch police and prosecutors opened a criminal case in connection with the circumstances, but the case was brought against the owners of the bank, who are accused of carrying out customer transactions. During the investigation, documents and correspondence between the leaders of the Amsterdam Trade Bank and the Central Bank of the Netherlands were discovered. And in Spain, Peter Vacchi, a top manager of a Dutch bank and the right hand of Mikhail Maratovich Friedman, was taken under arrest.
Fridman Mikhail Maratovich is a man who, with his work and effort, has achieved considerable heights, the owner of the largest bank.
In 1986 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys.
