Oleg Tinkov is a billionaire who built Tinkoff Bank from scratch

In his biography, already from childhood, Oleg Tinkov faced the difficulties of life. In his youth he discovered how to deal with it, in his youth he formulated the secret of a successful business, and in his adulthood he became a billionaire and a legend.

Childhood and parents of Oleg Tinkov

On December 25, 1967, a son was born into the family of Yuri Timofeevich and Valentina Vladimirovna Tinkov, who was named Oleg. The parents of the current successful businessman lived in one of the mining villages of Leninsk-Kuznetsky, located in the Kemerovo region. Oleg's father worked as a miner, and his mother worked as a seamstress in a local studio.

The living conditions of the Tinkov family were not comfortable: they huddled in workers’ barracks, where there were no amenities or running water. And yet the current billionaire remembers this period with warmth.

As a schoolboy, Oleg Tinkov became interested in cycling and achieved high results in it. His sports assets included more than 30 victories, multiple championships in Kuzbass, participation in regional and regional teams, as well as the title of Master of Masters, which Oleg earned at the age of seventeen.

Thanks to cycling, the young man began to visit various cities of the Soviet Union, including the southern regions, where he could acquire scarce goods. A trip to a training camp in Leninakan, the first farce in the form of resale of foreign jeans brought Oleg significant profits for those times, and then the young man began to think seriously about entrepreneurship.

After graduating from school, Oleg Tinkov got a job at a mine, where he was listed as an apprentice electrician. However, he did not stop cycling, hoping that getting into the SKA sports club would save him from the army. However, the young man’s hopes were not justified, and from 1986 to 1988 he served as a border guard in Nakhodka and Nikolaevsk-on-Amur

Having been demobilized, Tinkov decided to return to the mine. An accident that occurred in 1988, sending him to a hospital bed and taking the life of his girlfriend, changed Oleg’s plans.

Biography of Tinkov

Oleg Tinkov was born on December 25, 1967 in the village of Polysayevo, Kemerovo region. He grew up and was brought up in a simple family. His father worked as a miner, and his mother was a dressmaker.

Childhood and youth

As a child, Oleg was fond of road cycling. He devoted all his free time to cycling. He participated in many competitions, winning many victories.

When Tinkov turned 17 years old, he received the rank of candidate master of sports. After receiving the certificate, the young man went to the army. The future oligarch served in the border troops in the Far East.

Returning home, Oleg Tinkov left for Leningrad to enter the local mining institute. Many foreign students studied at the university, which opened up good prospects for trade. As a result, during that period of his biography the guy was actively engaged in speculation.

Oleg bought various imported goods from fellow students, and then resold them at a large markup.

During his trips home, he sold Siberians things brought from Leningrad, and when he returned to study, he brought Japanese equipment purchased from miners.

Every year his business gained more and more momentum. By the third year of study at the institute, Tinkov already had many business partners, including Andrei Rogachev, the owner of the Pyaterochka supermarket chain, Oleg Leonov, the founder of Dixie stores, and Oleg Zherebtsov, the creator of the Lenta supermarket chain.

Education

In order to quickly forget about the tragedy, Oleg Tinkov decided to leave Leninsk-Kuznetsky. In 1988, he became a student at the Leningrad Mining Institute. Having discovered a wide field for commercial activity at the university, Oleg took up speculation.

Acquaintance in 1989 with Rina Vosman (who later became his wife) opened the way for Tinkov to Poland, and soon the businessman in Oleg Yuryevich finally defeated the student.

In 1990, the failed miner left the walls of his alma mater and devoted himself entirely to entrepreneurship.

And yet, in his further biography, already an established businessman, the entrepreneur realized the importance of higher education and decided to improve his level of knowledge. In 1999, Tinkov studied at the University of Berkeley in California for six months. Here Oleg Yuryevich learned the intricacies of marketing.

Childhood and adolescence

In 2021, Oleg Tinkov took 79th place in the list of the richest people in Russia, and $1.2 billion is his fortune. Tinkoff was born in 1967, and the small homeland of the future businessman is the small town of Polysayevo, which is located in the Kemerovo region. Oleg's parents are ordinary people, his father worked in a mine, his mother was a dressmaker.

The family lived quite modestly in a two-family barracks, where there was neither water nor central heating. The upbringing in the family was quite strict. Later, the founder of the empire found the roots of the nobles and the family coat of arms.

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Polysayevo is the birthplace of Oleg Tinkov, the hometown of the businessman

Did you know that Oleg Tinkov was seriously interested in road cycling at school? Playing sports was not amateur at all, Tinkov was a multiple champion of Kuzbass, was on the regional and regional teams, and his number of victories exceeded three dozen.

Surprisingly, it was in adolescence that entrepreneurial abilities were born , trading wisdom was mastered in practice, obtained from life. Already at the training camp, the future owner of the bank in the southern regions bought winter clothes, which were not in demand there due to weather conditions, and then sold them at a much higher price.

Career and business of Oleg Tinkov

Since the early 90s, Oleg Tinkov began developing his formula for a successful business. In 1991, when trips to Poland lost their attractiveness, the entrepreneur began transporting cars from Siberia to the Northern capital. Disillusioned with this business, in 1992 he began transporting electronics from Singapore.

Cheap Asian electrical equipment brought fabulous profits, and in 1993 Tinkov decided to create his first company, called Petrosib. In 1994, the businessman opened his own SONY store in St. Petersburg, which became the prologue to the creation of the Technoshock chain of stores. After 3 years, the network included a dozen stores located in St. Petersburg, Kemerovo, Omsk and Novosibirsk.

Simultaneously with Technoshok, the MusicShock chain of stores was created, specializing in music products, and the SHOK-Records recording studio, which gained recognition among famous musicians and performers.

When the profit from the Petrosib chains no longer satisfied Oleg Yuryevich, he sold the company and switched to catering and food products. He made his bet on the production of beer and dumplings.

In 1998, Oleg Tinkov opened a beer restaurant in St. Petersburg and gave the establishment his last name. The businessman named the dumpling production company “Daria” (that’s the name of Oleg Yuryevich’s daughter).

In 2001 it was sold to Roman Abramovich.

The deal brought Oleg Tinkov a net profit of $21 million, and he focused on the beer business. By 2004, the businessman owned two breweries and a chain of beer restaurants, where beer was produced and sold under the Tinkoff brand.

The products of this brand occupied 1% of the Russian beer market. In 2005, Oleg Yuryevich sold his factories to InBev, earning $80 million (the restaurant chain was sold in 2009).

Having said goodbye to the beer business, in 2006 the entrepreneur became interested in banking. His first purchase was Khimmashbank, which was almost immediately renamed Tinkoff Credit Systems Bank. This financial organization is distinguished by the originality of its work, it does not have branches or ATMs, and provides clients exclusively with online services.

The Bank survived the global financial crisis painlessly. Moreover, his profit during the crisis year of 2009 was increased 50 times. In 2013, TKS Bank added insurance to its assets. The new alliance became known as Tinkoff Online Insurance. In 2015, the financial group was renamed Tinkoff Bank and became a member of the London Stock Exchange.

Despite the habit of frequently changing the field of business, Oleg Tinkov is not yet going to part with his bank. The entrepreneur here owns a controlling stake of 51%.

Business

Oleg Tinkov's first major business project appeared in 1992. Then, in his 3rd year, he decided to quit college and devote himself to his dream of big business. At that time, the student opened a company that sold Singaporean office equipment.

A year later, Tinkov’s business began to grow - the entrepreneur opened a Sony household appliances store in St. Petersburg, and a year later he founded the Tekhnoshok chain of electronics stores.

In the mid-90s, Oleg Tinkov expanded his business and acquired the Shock Records recording studio, whose first client was Leningrad frontman Sergei Shnurov. Later, the entrepreneur reorganized his studio into the MusicShok music store.

Soon the businessman got bored with his field of activity, so he created Russia’s first brewing restaurant, Tinkoff, which literally became a successful chain within a year. The products of Tinkov’s beer company were a success among both Russians and Americans, due to which they sold well in Russia and the USA. In 2005, Oleg Yuryevich sold his brewing business to a Swedish company for $200 million.

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A post shared by Oleg Tinkov (@olegtinkov)

Banker Oleg Tinkov now
Along with the restaurant business, the entrepreneur opened the Daria semi-finished products factory, specializing in the production of dumplings. At the same time, he was engaged in the production of products under other trademarks, such as “Tsar-Father”, “Dobroy Product”, “Fat Cook”. In addition to his own business, Tinkov took part in the development of Vladimir Dovgan’s dumplings brand.

One of the businessman’s latest creations was Tinkoff Bank, which in 2006 was Russia’s first financial institution with remote services. To obtain a banking license, the entrepreneur acquired Khimmashbank, on the basis of which he created a registered bank.

Tinkov is known for his publications. Previously, the entrepreneur wrote his column in the Finance publication. Since 2010, he began producing the program “Business Secrets with Oleg Tinkov.” He has several books to his credit, including “How to become a businessman”, “Revolution. How to build the largest online bank in the world."

Tinkoff Bank raises questions and receives negative reviews on the Internet due to the communication policy followed by bank employees and Oleg Yuryevich himself.

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A post shared by Oleg Tinkov (@olegtinkov)

Oleg Tinkov is involved in cycling.
For example, in the spring of 2021 there was a scandal over a businessman’s post on Instagram. The company timed a beauty contest to coincide with International Women's Day, the prizes of which were 100 thousand rubles, a crown and the title “Queen of Tinkoff Bank”. A couple of days before summing up the results, a young bank employee was photographed wearing this crown. A businessman posted the photo on his Instagram account with an offensive comment.

This treatment outraged subscribers. The online community reminded the banker about business etiquette, as well as common courtesy and respect. Tinkov later deleted this post.

The degree of dissatisfaction with the actions and words of the businessman and the bank he owns grew so much over time that the YouTube channel “Nemagia” created an author’s review in which he criticized Oleg Yuryevich. In a video filled with obscene expressions, bloggers said that the bank is deceiving clients, and Tinkov does not respect employees.

In response, the businessman demanded that the authors of the video remove the critical video, apologize, and also pay the banker 500 thousand rubles. as compensation for moral damage. This demand was not fulfilled, and the entrepreneur filed a lawsuit to protect his business reputation, accusing the bloggers of libel.

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Oleg Tinkov and his sons Pavel and Roman
A community of bloggers, as well as people in one way or another connected with the Internet and the IT industry, came to the defense of Nemagia. Pavel Durov called for distributing the critical video, Nikolai Sobolev and Ilya Varlamov made their own videos in support of the guys.

Tinkoff Bank withdrew the lawsuit and filed a statement of dismissal of the cases filed against bloggers. Prior to this, Oleg Yuryevich publicly promised to end the trial in an interview given to Amiran Sardarov on the YouTube channel “Khach’s Diary”.

The US Tax Service initiated legal proceedings against Tinkov, who was in the British capital in 2021, regarding concealment of US taxes. He was accused of falsifying the declaration for 2013.

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Oleg Tinkov with his wife and children
By that time, Oleg Yuryevich had already had American citizenship for 17 years. The indictment documents stated that the Russian indicated an income of $330 thousand, while the amount of assets at that time exceeded $1 billion. A few days after this, the businessman renounced his US citizenship.

An arrest warrant was issued for the Russian businessman, but he remained free thanks to a £20 million bail. Tinkov was given an electronic bracelet, and he checked in at the police station three times a week. Hearings in the criminal case of the Russian took place at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London.

Due to a developing illness, Oleg Yuryevich announced that he was leaving the post of chairman of the board of directors of Tinkoff Bank. This position was taken by Stanislav Bliznyuk. Despite the dramatic events in the banker’s life, in 2020 Forbes chose him as businessman of the year.

In the summer, it became known about the launching of a private icebreaker yacht, which was completed for Oleg Tinkov by the Dutch company Damen Yachting. The entrepreneur stated that he would mainly use the vessel for rent.

Oleg Tinkov's net worth

The development of new areas of business and the constant work of Oleg Yuryevich’s capital for a long time did not allow the entrepreneur to join the “Golden Hundred” of Russia. However, it seems that from 2021 he is no longer going to leave the elite club of the Russian oligarchy.

Today, the billionaire's main assets are concentrated in shares of Tinkoff Bank, where he owns a share of 53.52%.

Based on the dynamics of changes in Oleg Tinkov’s fortune, provided by Forbes magazine over the last five years, one can imagine how successful one or another of his businesses was (years - $, billion/place in the ranking of the 200 richest people in Russia):

• 2013 – 0,7/151;
• 2014 – 1,4/75;
• 2015 – 0,5/169;
• 2016 – 0,5/169;
• 2017 – 1,2/79;
• 2018 – 2,2/43;
• 2019 – 22/47;
• 2020 – 1,6/62.

Biography of Oleg Tinkov

Oleg Tinkov is a Russian billionaire, banker and entrepreneur who managed to escape from a provincial mining town and build a powerful business empire. All of his projects, sometimes the most unexpected, invariably became commercially successful and brought in millions in income. Tinkov himself explains this phenomenon by the constant need to try something new, testing one’s strength each time. According to Forbes, in 2021 Oleg Tinkov's fortune was estimated at $1.6 billion.

In the photo: Oleg Tinkov

The private life of Oleg Tinkov

Unlike most oligarchs, Oleg Yuryevich does not try to hide the details of his personal life from his biography. In 1988, Tinkov met Zhanna Pecherskaya, who might have become his wife. However, a car accident put an end to these plans - Zhanna died.

The oligarch's current wife, Estonian Rina Vosman, lured Oleg Yuryevich into her network in 1989, and since then the couple has been inseparable. Interestingly, Rina and Oleg officially registered their marriage only after 20 years of living together. For Oleg Tinkov, Rina Valentinovna became a faithful wife and a reliable business partner.

The Tinkov family has three children - a daughter and two sons. All the entrepreneur’s children received an excellent education. Daria graduated from King's College London, her eldest son Pavel graduated from St. Edward's School in Oxford, and the oligarch's youngest son, Roman, also studied there.

Among the entrepreneur's hobbies, it is worth noting alpine skiing, and in its extreme form - freeride.

And, of course, Oleg Yuryevich continues to be a fan of cycling. A tribute to the billionaire’s youthful passion was the creation of the Russian cycling team “Tinkoff,” which competes at the international level. Oleg Tinkov is not only a sponsor, but he himself is still not averse to riding a road bike as part of the team.

Personal life of Oleg Tinkov

Oleg met his future wife, Estonian Rina Vosman, in 1989 at a student disco. He fell in love with the slender, spectacular brunette at first sight and made every effort to win her affection. The girl did not resist for long - she was won over by the young man’s temperament, his generosity and adventurism.

Oleg Tinkov and Rina Vosman in their youth

Rina herself had business acumen and soon became a reliable partner in the overall family business. Together they were engaged in fartsovka, traveled on shuttle buses to Poland and Germany, and opened their first stores. It is interesting that Tinkov and Vosman formalized their relationship only after twenty years of marriage. The wedding took place on the shore of Lake Baikal; only the closest and dearest people were present at the ceremony.

Oleg Tinkov with his family

Rina gave birth to Oleg three children - daughter Daria and sons Pavel and Roman, who received a good education and help promote the family business. Tinkov considers his family the main achievement in life and, despite his rather scandalous reputation, he has never given any reason to doubt it.

Oleg Tinkov with his wife and children

Thanks to regular exercise, Tinkov always managed to be in excellent physical shape and withstand excessive loads. In 2004, he again took up road racing professionally, began participating in international competitions and assembled his own team, Tinkoff Credit Systems. The successful performances of the cyclists attracted the attention of sponsors from Gazprom and Russian Technologies, and the Russian Katyusha team was created on the basis of Tinkoff Credit Systems.

Tinkov had his own cycling team

Until 2015, Oleg trained along with his athletes and repeatedly took part in prestigious international competitions. But for a number of reasons, he was forced to stop funding (having spent $50 million on sports over 10 years), and in the fall of 2021 the team was disbanded.

Oleg Tinkov today

Today's life of Tinkov is full of events. He continues to reform the financial system, provides all possible support to educational institutions and encourages young talents.

Among the latest events, it is worth noting the development activities of the entrepreneur, represented by the construction of the mountain resort of Courchevel.

Recently, negotiations were completed on the purchase by the Tinkov group of the GDR TCS Group Holding holding and its merger with Tinkoff Bank.

As usual, the businessman’s plans include original startups. In particular, Oleg Yuryevich conceived the idea of ​​building the world’s first icebreaker for private trips to Antarctica and the Arctic. The project, in which the billionaire invested $50 million, is called La Datcha, which translates as “pure hobby” or “billionaire’s whim.” Construction of the vessel will begin after the completion of the facility located in Cabo San Lucas.

On March 6, 2021, Oleg Tinkov announced that he was fighting leukemia, which he was diagnosed with in October 2021. He has already completed several courses of chemotherapy.

Oleg Tinkov now

Oleg Yuryevich's family trust lost control over the bank - at the beginning of 2021, the Tinkovs' share in the total number of votes of TCS Group decreased to 35.1%. The businessman himself spoke positively about the conversion. According to him, thanks to this event, corporate governance opportunities are expanding.

Earlier it became known that the entrepreneur did not agree to a deal with Yandex to sell Tinkoff Bank. The parties did not agree on the price. The banker expected to earn $200 million more than his partner was willing to pay him. The businessman wrote a letter to his employees in which he called Yandex a bureaucratic company.

Despite the failed deal, the capitalization of Tinkov’s company doubled and by the beginning of 2021 exceeded $10 billion, although the entrepreneur himself planned to reach this mark in 2022.