- Billionaire Roman Abramovich was once the richest known man in Russia.
- Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s organization named Abramovich one of 35 Russian individuals who should be considered for sanctions, The Guardian reported.
- Abramovich is now scrambling to offload his assets, including London real estate and Chelsea FC.
His net worth peaked in 2008 at $23.5 billion.
Ambramovich, 55, is known for his collection of superyachts, luxury cars, private planes, and homes around the world. The Wall Street Journal once nicknamed his global collection of extravagant possessions “The Roman Empire.“
The billionaire is the largest shareholder of Evraz, one of the world’s top producers of steel. He also owns stakes in the world’s largest producer of refined nickel, according to Bloomberg.
Most of Abramovich’s vast fortune comes from proceeds from selling Russian state-owned assets after the fall of the Soviet Union. He owned stakes in industries like airlines, oil, and aluminum.
In 2003, he sold a 26% stake of Russian airline company Aeroflot to the National Reserve Bank. In 2005, he sold his 70% stake in Russian oil company Sibneft for almost $10 billion. He also offloaded his aluminum assets for more than $2 billion.
Abramovich did not respond to Insider’s request for comment for this story.
During his tenure, he spent $1.3 billion of his own money on the region.
Sibneft, the oil company of which he owned nearly 70%, was registered in the region until Abramovich sold his shares to the state-run energy company in 2015.
His most recent marriage was to Dasha Zhukova, with whom he has two children. The couple cofounded the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow and the New Holland Island cultural center in Saint Petersburg. In 2017, the couple announced they would be separating after 10 years together.
Abramovich was previously married to Irina Malandina for 16 years. They have four daughters and one son. At the time of their 2007 split, he was worth $18.7 billion. Although Russian courts usually award a wife half of the wealth built up during a marriage, Malandina settled for $300 million — 1.6% of Abramovich’s fortune.
Little is known about Abramovich’s first marriage to Olga Yurevna Lysova, except that it lasted for three years, from 1987 to 1990.
In the aftermath of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s organization named Abramovich one of 35 Russian individuals who should be considered for sanctions, The Guardian reported. To date, Abramovich has not been named among the Russian oligarchs who have been sanctioned by the US or the EU, a list that includes the Kremlin’s press secretary and a former Putin KGB coworker.
Even so, billionaire is rushing to offload some of his assets — including Chelsea Football Club.
Abramovich bought London-based Chelsea FC in 2003 from long-time chairman Ken Bates for $233 million. Abramovich is “a keen follower of sport and international football,” a statement said at the time.
In a statement in March, Abramovich announced that he will be selling the club. “This has never been about business nor money for me, but pure passion for the game and Club,” Abramovich said.
He also said all the net proceeds from the sale will go to those affected by the war in Ukraine. Bloomberg reported that he is seeking a bid of 3 billion pounds ($4 billion).
Abramovich is understood to have turned down a £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) offer in late February or early March, per SkyNews.
It was worth about $3.2 billion in 2021, per Forbes. While the club has amassed millions of fans around the world, not all are happy with its stance on Ukraine.
Chelsea FC posted a controversial statement in February, where it failed to mention Russia or Abramovich’s ownership.
“The situation in Ukraine is horrific and devastating. Chelsea FC’s thoughts are with everyone in Ukraine. Everyone at the club is praying for peace,” the club said in a statement on its website at the time.
Upon moving to Tel Aviv, Abramovich became the richest man living in Israel. In 2020, local media reported that the billionaire had dropped $57 million on a seafront hotel in Tel Aviv.
In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, several high-profile Israelis — including the chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum and a chief rabbi — have urged the US not to impose sanctions on Abramovich, according to The Times of Israel.
The representatives wrote a letter to the US ambassador in February commending Abramovich’s investments, philanthropy, and contributions to Israel, the Times of Israel reported.
The museum’s chairman told the Washington Post that Abramovich was the museum’s second-largest private donor.
The billionaire has homes all over the world, including a $118.4 million home in Kensington Palace Gardens in London, an area nicknamed “Billionaires’ Row,” according to The Guardian.
“He’s terrified of being sanctioned, which is why he’s already going to sell his home tomorrow and sell another flat as well,” Labour MP Chris Bryant told the UK Parliament in March, per Bloomberg.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson declined to comment in Parliament if the UK would impose sanctions on Abramovich, according to Reuters.
“It’s not appropriate for me to comment on individual cases at this stage,” Johnson said.
Abramovich paid $96 million for four townhouses on New York City’s Upper East Side with plans to turn them into one megamansion. He also bought another property two blocks away.
In September 2018, Abramovich transferred four of the five properties, all in a row on East 75th Street, to his third ex-wife, Zhukova, for about $92 million as part of their divorce proceedings, the New York Post reported, citing city property records.
Abramovich bought the Chateau de la Croe, a mansion that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea, in 2001, per Bloomberg.
In 2018, A French court found that Abramovich had undervalued the holiday home and had not paid enough wealth tax in 2006 and 2007.
The 70-acre estate is replete with Balinese bungalows with ocean views, tennis courts, swimming pools, and music pavilions, per the Journal’s 2009 report.
Abramovich bought the superyacht Pelorus in 2004. At the time, it was the 11th-largest yacht in the world, per Yacht Harbour.
Abramovich’s second ex-wife, Malandina, got the yacht in their divorce settlement.
At 533 feet long, Eclipse was once the world’s largest yacht. It has since been overtaken in title by the the 590-foot Azzam, which launched in 2013, and later too by REV Ocean, a sleek, 600-foot yacht that launched in 2019.
Among Eclipse’s amenities+are+two+helicopter+pads,+cabins+to+host+36+guests+and+space+for+70+crew,+a+52-foot+swimming+pool,+and+a+missile+detection+system.
The+yacht+is+currently+moored+in+the+Caribbean+and+was+in+a+Barcelona+shipyard+last+year+for+renovations,+The Guardian reported in February.
Abramovich has reportedly owned at least three other yachts in his lifetime, including Le Grand Bleu.
Abramovich reportedly has dropped more than $11 million on luxury vehicles, including the above limited edition Ferrari FXX. Only 29 were made.
Abramovich also bought a Pagani Zonda Roadster, one of only 15 ever to be made, according to The Telegraph. He has also reportedly bought a Bugatti Veyron, a Mercedes AMG GT3, and an Aston Martin Vulcan.
The customized interior of the aircraft includes a banquet hall that seats 30 people, a kitchen, an office, and a bedroom.
Abramovich previously owned a Dassault Falcon 900, which his ex-wife Malandina got in the divorce settlement, per Boss Hunting.
In 2008, he spent $34 million on a piece entitled “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” by Freud.
The very next night at Sotheby’s, Abramovich paid $86.3 million for Francis Bacon’s “Triptych, 1976,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
But Abramovich’s art collection could soon be under scrutiny. Several countries are looking to freeze Russian billionaires’ foreign-owned assets, which could include some of the most valuable pieces in the world, reported The Art Newspaper.
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