Mikhail Prokhorov

Mikhail Prokhorov
Born	May 3, 1965 (1965-05-03) (age 46) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Residence	Moscow, Russia
Citizenship	Russia
Alma mater	Moscow Finance Institute
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	owner of the New Jersey Nets
Net worth	$18 billion.[1]
Height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)[2]

Mikhail Dmitrievitch Prokhorov (Russian: Михаил Дмитриевич Прохоров; born May 3, 1965) is a Russian billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the American basketball team, the New Jersey 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. While he was running Norilsk Nickel, the company became the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium. He is currently chairman of Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, and President of ONEXIM Group.

Prokhorov is the third richest man from Russia and the 39th richest man in the world according to the 2010 Forbes list with a fortune estimated at $18 billion as per the Forbes Billionaire List.^[3]

Family

Born in Moscow to Dmitry and Tamara Prokhorov, he has one sibling, an elder sister, Irina. His paternal grandparents were impoverished kulaks. His maternal grandmother, Anna Belkina, was a microbiologist. His father was the head of the international department of the Soviet Sports Committee, which gave him the rare privilege of traveling abroad. His mother grew up in Moscow and worked as an engineer for a university research group specializing in plastics. Prokhorov's father and mother died within a year of each other from heart disease; both were in their late 50s.^[4]

Career

Early years

In 1989, he graduated with honors from the Finance University under the Government of the Russian Federation, known at the time as the Moscow Finance Institute. From 1989 to 1992, Prokhorov worked in a management position at the International Bank for Economic Cooperation, and afterwards shortly served as head of Management Board of the International Finance Company (MFK). In 1993, aged 28, during the largely un-regulated privatization of former state-controlled industries after the collapse of the USSR, Prokhorov (together with Vladimir Potanin) engineered the acquisition of Norilsk Nickel by Onexim Bank, of which he was then chairman of the board.^{[citation needed]}

Norilsk Nickel

Mikhail Prokhorov (Right-center)

Mikhail Prokhorov (Center)

After selling off most of Norilsk's non-mining assets, Prokhorov moved to modernize a complicated, expensive business venture which required icebreakers to transport metal over the frozen Arctic region. Prokhorov invested in an innovative Finnish freighter that did not require icebreakers. Norilsk Nickel is headquartered in the Siberian city of the same name. Environmental and labor conditions are harsh there, and pollution remains a problem; Prokhorov has invested heavily in pollution control. He converted Norilsk Nickel's gold-mining interests into the $8.5 billion corporation Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, of which he is chairman of the board.^{[citation needed]}

Prokhorov resigned as Norilsk CEO in February 2007 and declared his intention to separate his assets from those of long-time partner Vladimir Potanin. The two engaged in protracted negotiations to separate the conglomerate Interros, co-owned by the two, into separate holdings.^[5] By the end of 2009, the only major asset jointly owned by the two remains the development company JSC Open Investments, which is hard to value due to a volatile situation on the Moscow real estate market.^{[citation needed]}

ONEXIM Group

In May 2007, following the decision to exit Interros, Prokhorov launched the private investment fund ONEXIM Group, with assets valued at $17 billion at the time. As the de-merger from Interros proceeded, and as other industries caught Prokhorov's attention, the group rapidly changed its investment profile. In April 2008, Prokhorov sold his most valuable asset - a 25% plus two shares stake in Norilsk Nickel - to United Company RUSAL, another mining conglomerate controlled by fellow billionaire Oleg Deripaska, in exchange for some 14% of Rusal stock, about $5 billion in cash and an obligation to pay over $2 billion more. The deal has been singled out as a major success for Prokhorov as only three months later, following a dip in oil prices, a disastrous stock market crash halved the value of most Russian companies, including Norilsk. He emerged as one of the very few businessmen to have cashed out in time. However, his wealth has also been affected, as the value of his remaining interests in various companies (including Rusal and Open Investments) declined sharply, and as the remaining payment from Rusal had to be postponed.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2008, ONEXIM Group acquired 50% of Renaissance Capital,^[6] a major Russian investment bank which has reportedly encountered liquidity problems. ONEXIM also purchased a small bank, renaming it IFC (for the bank which Prokhorov had run in the early 1990s).

One of ONEXIM Group's divisions focuses on the development of nanotechnology investing in high-technology projects such as white LEDs. One of the key areas of development is the production of materials with ultra–tiny structures used in energy generation and medicine. In that purpose in 2008 ONEXIM purchased Optogan.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2007, then-Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov announced the formation of the Government Council for Nanotechnology, to oversee the development of nanotechnology in the country. Prokhorov was one of 15 individuals appointed to the council, which was to be chaired by then-First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.

A high-profile media venture is JV!, a media group led by the publisher of Kommersant, Vladimir Yakovlev; the group publishes, among other things, such magazines targeted at the wealthy as Snob and Russian Pioneer.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2009, the shareholders of RBC Information Systems agreed with ONEXIM Group of Mikhail Prokhorov to sell the latest issue of the additional 51% stake for $80 million, half of which went to pay off debts. The deal was closed in 2010. Prokhorov has business interests in mining and metallurgy (Polyus Gold, stake in Rusal), financial services (IFC-Bank, Soglassye insurance company, half of Renaissance Capital), utilities (stake in Quadra), nanotech, media (JV!) and real estate development (stake in Open Investments).^{[citation needed]}

Sports and patronage

In March 2004 he founded the Cultural Initiatives Foundation (as part of the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation). It is headed by Prokhorov's elder sister, Irina, a prominent Russian publisher. At one time, he financially supported CSKA Moscow's basketball, hockey and football clubs, and is a member of the Supreme Council of the Sport Russia organization.^{[citation needed]} Prokhorov currently serves as president of the Russian Biathlon Union.

In September 2009 he made an offer to buy a controlling interest in the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association and half of a project to build a new arena in Brooklyn. ^[7] On May 11, 2010, the NBA approved the sale of the Nets to Prokhorov, making him majority owner of the team with an 80% stake, as well as a 45% interest in their new Barclays Center.^[8][9] He thus became the first non-North American and tallest (he stands 6'8") NBA owner.

A martial arts enthusiast, Prokhorov is, as of 2011, an Ambassador for Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization, committed to serving peace in the world through sport.

Controversies

At a Christmas party for the Russian rich at the French Alpine resort of Courchevel in January 2007, he was arrested for allegedly arranging prostitutes for his guests.^[10] After four days he was released without charge.^[11] In September 2009, Prokhorov was officially cleared from this charge and the judicial case was dismissed.^[12] According to his blog,^[13] he even received apologies from French officials during his visit to France in November 2009.

Prokhorov made headlines in early March 2010 when he was forced to forfeit a £36 million deposit he placed on the £360 million Villa Leopolda in the French Riviera in 2008. Under French property law, once an initial sale contract has been signed, a deposit can only be refunded during a seven day cooling-off period. On March 2, 2010, a court in Nice, France ruled that the villa's owner, 71-year-old Lily Safra, widow of deceased billionaire banker Edmund Safra, could keep the £36 million deposit, plus £1 million in interest.^[14]

Regarding Prokhorov's political efforts and the Right Cause party, critical commentators claim that the entire endeavor is just a project of the Kremlin closely curated by Vladislav Surkov and that Prokorov was effectively appointed a party leader.^[15][16] According to them, the "puppet party" was designed to divert opposition voters by using liberal rhetoric.

Awards

In August 2006 he was awarded the Order of Friendship for his significant contribution to the growth of Russia’s economic potential, when the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, signed an order for the granting of state honours on August 18, 2006. In March 2011, he was bestowed with the French Legion of Honour. France's ambassador to Moscow, Jean de Gliniastrance, presented it at the French embassy in Moscow.^{[citation needed]}

Russian 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 is likely to support President Dmitry Medvedev rather than Prime Minister Vladimir Putin if the latter enters the 2012 presidential race. On June 25, 2011, 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.^[17] In September, 2011, Prokhorov said he had quit Right Cause, "condemning it as a 'puppet Kremlin party' micromanaged by a 'puppet master' in the president’s office ..., Vladislav Y. Surkov," according to a report in The New York Times.^[18]

See also

• List of billionaires
• Ё-mobile

References

1. ^ Forbes Billionaires List
2. ^ "Mikhail Prokhorov's Childhood Nickname Was Giraffe!"
3. ^ Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/profile/Mikhail-Prokhorov. 
4. ^ Prokhorov biodata
5. ^ "Prokhorov, Potanin to split Interros assets", St-Petersburg Times, February 2, 2007
6. ^ "Prokhorov Acquires Half of RenCap"
7. ^ Bagli, Charles V. (September 23, 2009). "Richest Russian's Newest Toy: An N.B.A. Team". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/sports/basketball/24nets.html. "A Russian tycoon with a longstanding passion for basketball agreed to a $200 million deal on Wednesday that would make him the principal owner of the New Jersey Nets and a key investor in the team’s proposed new home in Brooklyn." 
8. ^ NBA Board of Governors approves sale of Nets to Prokhorov
9. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nba/news/story?id=5181478
10. ^ Bryanski, Gleb (January 12, 2007). "French spoil party for Russia's super-rich ski set". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/12/AR2007011200918.html. Retrieved 2010-03-29. "French police held Mikhail Prokhorov, co-owner of the world's biggest nickel producer with an estimated fortune of $7.6 billion, after he was detained with a group of young women in an upmarket Courchevel hotel on Tuesday." 
11. ^ Süddeutsche:Russen im Wintersport
12. ^ "France drops prostitution case against Russia's richest man", Sydney Morning Herald, September 29, 2009
13. ^ Blog
14. ^ Sparks, Ian (March 3, 2010). "Russian billionaire loses £36m deposit he put down on the world's most expensive home ... plus another £1m interest". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1254867/Billionaire-Mikhail-Prokhorov-loses-36m-deposit-worlds-expensive-home.html. Retrieved 2010-03-29. "A Russian billionaire has lost a £36 million deposit he paid to buy the most expensive house in the world on the French riviera, plus another £1,000,000 interest. Basically He is the man." 
15. ^ Schwirtz, Michael (May 16, 2011). "Mikhail D. Prokhorov to Lead a Russian Political Party". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/world/europe/17russia.html. 
16. ^ http://www.rosbalt.ru/main/2011/08/18/880855.html
17. ^ O'Connor, Clare, "Billionaire Nets Owner Prokhorov To Enter Politics…And Take On Putin?", Forbes, May. 16 2011 11:57 pm EDT. Retrieved 2011-06-01.
18. ^ Kramer, Andrew E., and Ellen Barry, "Amid Political Rancor, Russian Party Leader Quits",The New York Times, September 15, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-15.

External links

• Forbes billionaire topic page on Mikhail Prokhorov. Forbes.com. Accessed April 2010.
• Article about his January 12, 2007 arrest
• 2007 Kommersant article about Prokhorov standing down as Norilsk CEO
• "Mikhail Prokhorov: The Russian Is Coming", 60 Minutes, CBS-TV, March 28, 2010
• "The N.B.A.'s Oligarch and His Power Games", The New York Times Magazine, October 28, 2010

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Persondata
Name	Prokhorov, Mikhail Dmitrievitch
Alternative names
Short description	Billionaire entrepreneur
Date of birth	May 3, 1965
Place of birth	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (present-day Moscow, Russia)
Date of death
Place of death