Alisher Usmanov
Encyclopedia
Alisher Burkhanovich Usmanov (born 9 September 1953, Chust
Chust, Uzbekistan
Chust is a city in Namangan province and also city center of Chust Region. The officially registered population of the city in 2006 was 64,966.-Education:*Several colleges and liceums:**Chust College of Pedagogy**Chust College of Medicine...

, Namangan Province
Namangan Province
Namangan Province is a viloyat of Uzbekistan, located in the southern part of the Fergana Valley in far eastern part of the country. It is on the right bank of Syr Darya River and borders with Kyrgyzstan, Fergana Province and Andijan Province. It covers an area of 7,900 km2...

, Uzbek SSR
Uzbek SSR
The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Uzbek SSR for short, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union since its creation in 1924...

, USSR) is an Uzbek-born Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n businessman.
According to the 2011 edition of Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

magazine, the oligarch
Oligarch
Oligarch may refer to:* A member of an oligarchy, a form of government* Business oligarch* Russian oligarch...

 is one of Russia's richest men, with a fortune estimated at US$17.7 billion, and the world's 35th richest person.

Usmanov is married and is a graduate of Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

He has accrued his wealth from mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

, lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....

 and investment
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...

. He is the majority shareholder of Metalloinvest
Metalloinvest
Metalloinvest Management Company LLC is a Russian mining and metallurgy company specializing in the manufacture of steel.Metalloinvest was founded in 1999...

, a Russian industrial conglomerate, which he founded to manage Gazprom's metals interests.

He is also a co-owner of the media holding which comprises 7TV and Muz-TV federal television channels and 33 regional TV broadcasting stations. Besides this, Alisher Usmanov personally owns the Kommersant
Kommersant
Kommersant is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. , the circulation was 131,000.- History :The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.In 1989, with the onset of press...

  and Sekret Firmy Publishing Houses, shares in the company SUP, which controls Internet website Livejournal.com and internet newspaper «Gazeta.ru».

Mr.Usmanov is a co-owner of Russia's second-largest mobile telephone operator MegaFon and Russian investment fund Digital Sky Technologies (DST), which owns stakes in popular web portals like Mail.ru, Odnoklassniki.ru, Vkontakte.ru, Facebook.com and others.

Usmanov is the president of the FIE, the international governing body of fencing as has since invested in fencing programs and fencing development around the globe.

Usmanov is a major shareholder in London's Arsenal Football Club, following in the footsteps of fellow Russians Roman Abramovich
Roman Abramovich
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich is a Russian businessman and the main owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC.In 2003, Abramovich was named Person of the Year by Expert, a Russian business magazine. He shared this title with Mikhail Khodorkovsky...

, owner of rival Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...

, and Alexandre Gaydamak
Alexandre Gaydamak
Alexandre "Sacha" Gaydamak is a French businessman of Russian Ashkenazi Jewish descent, and also holds an Israeli passport. A member of the wealthy Gaydamak family, he is the son of Arcadi Gaydamak....

, former owner of Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...

. In February 2008, his Metalloinvest also became sponsor of Dinamo Moscow
FC Dynamo Moscow
Dynamo Moscow is a Russian football club based in Moscow, currently playing in the Russian Premier League. Dynamo's traditional kit colours are blue and white...

, the Russian capital's football team once funded by the Soviet secret service. His Metalloinvest group's name replaced the Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...

 Corporation's on its players' shirts as part of the $7 million deal. "For me, Dinamo is a first love," said Usmanov, the club's website reported Usmanov as saying. The ballet fan had sidestepped a conflict of interest with Arsenal, London's The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...

reported, 'as Usmanov does not have any shares in the Moscow club. But he is on the board.'

Early life, education, conviction and pardon

Alisher Usmanov was born in 1953 in Chust, Uzbekistan. His father was a state prosecutor in the Soviet republic's capital, Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...

. He studied International Law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

 at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations MGIMO from 1976.

Usmanov was arrested and imprisoned in 1980. The website centrasia.ru reports that he and a friend - the son of the deputy head of the Uzbek KGB - were convicted in August 1980 by the Military Tribunal of the Turkestan Military District for "complicity in an official's receiving bribes and extortion" but was rehabilitated by Uzbekistan's Supreme Court in July 2000, which ruled that the case had been "fabricated".

Usmanov married Irina Viner
Irina Viner
Irina Aleksandrovna Viner is a Russian rhythmic gymnastics coach who is head trainer of the Russian national team. She is Jewish. She has trained sportwomen like:...

, a top rhythmic gymnastics
Rhythmic gymnastics
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which individuals or teams of competitors manipulate one or two pieces of apparatus: rope, clubs, hoop, ball, ribbon and Free . An individual athlete only manipulates 1 apparatus at a time...

 coach, in 1992. In 1997, he attended the Academy of Finance to study banking.

Business interests

Usmanov owns diverse interests including stakes in precious metals, iron ore, steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

, natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 and media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 companies.

Usmanov is the co-owner of Metalloinvest
Metalloinvest
Metalloinvest Management Company LLC is a Russian mining and metallurgy company specializing in the manufacture of steel.Metalloinvest was founded in 1999...

 which he founded along with business partner Vasiliy Anisimov to manage his acquisitions in the metal industry. Metalloinvest owns a wide range of Russia metal and mining businesses including Mikhalovsky GOK, Moldavia Metal, Ural Steel, Ormeto-YUMZ, Olenegorsk iron-ore company, pig-iron company Tulachermet, the Oskol electro-metallurgical plants and the Lebedinski mining-processing combines. His combined holdings make him one of the top 10 steelmakers in Russia.

He is chairman of Gazprominvestholdings, the investment holding subsidiary of Russia's state-owned gas company Gazprom
Gazprom
Open Joint Stock Company Gazprom is the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company. Its headquarters are in Cheryomushki District, South-Western Administrative Okrug, Moscow...

, where his role is to manage what Gazprom calls its "most difficult and sensitive financial transactions."

Usmanov is the sole owner of Cyprus-registered Gallagher Holdings, described as a global conglomerate with main investments in mining and steel industry, technology, oil and gas, media and pharmaceuticals. Since 2006, Usmanov has also acquired stakes in Australia-based mining companies, Medusa, Mt Gibson and Aztec Resources through Gallagher Holdings. He is also the largest shareholder in London-listed Nautilus Minerals, which is prospecting undersea gold and copper deposits off Papua New Guinea.

He has also recently purchased through Gallagher Holdings an interest in Australian Miner - Strike Resources, whom are currently working on a world class iron ore deposit in Peru.

In August 2006, Usmanov began to invest in media. On the encouragement of the Russian government, he bought Kommersant
Kommersant
Kommersant is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. , the circulation was 131,000.- History :The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.In 1989, with the onset of press...

, a newspaper formerly owned by Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky who has fallen into disfavour with the Kremlin and is living in exile. The deal was finalised at US$200 million. Usmanov followed this with the US$25 million purchase of a 50% stake in Russian sports TV channel 7TV in November 2006 and bought 75% of Russian TV music channel MUZ-TV for US$300 million in June 2007.

Arsenal F.C.

Usmanov moved into the football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 arena in August 2007 by acquiring a 14.58% stake in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 team Arsenal Football Club
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

. He and his business partner Farhad Moshiri
Farhad Moshiri (businessman)
Ardavan Farhad Moshiri is a British Iranian businessman and investor, based in London. Moshiri owns and has shares in numerous steel and energy companies in Britain and Russia....

 bought the stake in the club owned by former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein
David Dein
David Barry Dein is the former vice-chairman of Arsenal Football Club and former vice-chairman of the Football Association. He was also the President of the G-14 group of European football clubs between October 2006 and May 2007 and has sat on various committees within FIFA and UEFA including...

 for £75 million. David Dein was appointed as head of their investment vehicle Red and White Holdings  which became the largest shareholder in the club outside of members of the board of directors.

On 28 September 2007 it was announced that Red & White Holdings had increased its shareholding to 23%, making it the second largest shareholder in the club behind Danny Fiszman
Danny Fiszman
Daniel David Fiszman was a diamond dealer, best known as a shareholder in and director of Arsenal Football Club, and played a leading role in the club's move from Highbury to Ashburton Grove, now known as Emirates Stadium....

 on 24%. As of February 15, 2008 he has increased it further to over 24 per cent, giving him a stake just short of Arsenal non-executive director and major shareholder Danny Fiszman's 24.11 per cent. However there was speculation that Usmanov might already be the club's largest shareholder at 24.2% which he later increased to 25% on 16.02.09. On 28 February 2008, Usmanov's investment vehicle, Red and White holdings, confirmed that it was the club's largest shareholder and the company said Red and White has the necessary funding to increase its stake further [but] it has no current intention to make' a full takeover bid for Arsenal 'for six months'. If the stake were to reach 30%, Red and White Holdings would have to launch a formal takeover. Usmanov said he had been an Arsenal fan for seven years and he had a great love for Arsenal.

Usmanov's interest precipitated a 'lock-down' agreement by the Gunners' board, whereby Chairman Peter Hill-Wood
Peter Hill-Wood
Peter Denis Hill-Wood is a British businessman and the current chairman of Arsenal Football Club.-Biography:Hill-Wood was born in Kensington, London. His father, three uncles and grandfather all played first-class cricket for Derbyshire CCC. He attended Eton College where he was a classmate of...

 announced that club directors could sell their stakes only to 'permitted persons' before April 2009 and had to give fellow board members 'first option' on shares until October 2012. However, there was a termination clause in the agreement in October 2010. "The lockdown...makes us bullet-proof," said the then Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman.

In April 2011 American businessman Stan Kroenke, already a major Arsenal shareholder, increased his stake in the club to just over 62% after buying out Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith
Nina Bracewell-Smith
Nina, Lady Bracewell-Smith is an Indian-born, United Kingdom-based businesswoman. She was a major shareholder and former non-executive director of the English Premier League football club Arsenal.-Background:...

, making him the majority shareholder. As Kroenke's stake had risen above 30%, he was obliged to make an offer to buy out the remainder of Arsenal shares. Usmanov refused to sell, however, and maintained his stake, claiming a "love" for Arsenal, despite the fact that his bid for outright ownership of the club is seemingly over.

In June 2011, Alisher Usmanov increased his Arsenal FC share beyond 29%. His company, Red and White holding announced on 20 June 2011 that it had more than 29% stake in Arsenal holdings plc.

Other activities

On 17 September 2007, Usmanov paid more than £20 million for an art collection owned by the late Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...

, days before it was to be auctioned by Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. He gave all the artwork to the Russian state, where it is housed in the Konstantinovsky Palace near St Petersburg. In late September 2007 he purchased the rights to a large collection of Soviet cartoons, which for 15 years had been owned by Russian-born actor Oleg Vidov
Oleg Vidov
Oleg Borisovich Vidov is a Russian actor. He appeared in 50 films since 1961. He was a sex symbol of his generation in Russia, and many of his films are still played on Russian television today....

, who emigrated to the United States in 1985. After the deal, valued at $5–10 million, Usmanov donated the cartoon collection to a newly formed Russian children's television channel.

He is the president of the International Fencing Federation, FIE. He defeated incumbent Rene Roch 66-61.

In May 2009, Digital Sky Technologies, a company he owns a 32% stake in, paid $200m for a 1.96% stake in social networking website Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

.

Usmanov is a member of the Board of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the chairman of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs committee on regulatory activity improvement and removal of administrative barriers. He is also one of the founders of the Arts and Sports Charity Foundation and a guarantor of the Charity project “One Thousand Russian cities”.

According to presidential decree № 365 of March 17, 2004 Alisher Usmanov was awarded with a Medal of Honor of Russia.

Personal life

He now owns the Sutton Place
Sutton Place, Surrey
Sutton Place, 3 miles NE of Guildford in Surrey is a Grade I listed Tudor manor house built c.1525 by Sir Richard Weston, courtier of Henry VIII. It is of great importance to art history in showing some of the earliest traces of Italianate renaissance design elements in English architecture. In...

 estate, near Guildford, UK, a Tudor mansion in extensive grounds, once owned by J. Paul Getty
J. Paul Getty
Jean Paul Getty was an American industrialist. He founded the Getty Oil Company, and in 1957 Fortune magazine named him the richest living American, whilst the 1966 Guinness Book of Records named him as the world's richest private citizen, worth an estimated $1,200 million. At his death, he was...

.

Usmanov has owned two yachts, both named Dilbar after his mother. The first was 66 metres (216.5 ft), built by Oceanco in 2005. In July 2008 it was revealed that Osmanov was the owner of Project Opal
Dilbar
Dilbar is a motor yacht built in 2008 by Lürssen. She is owned by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov and is named after his mother. With a length overall of and a beam of she is one of the largest yachts in the world. Dilbar was designed by Tim Heywood to a specification that includes one helipad...

, a 110 metres (360.9 ft) yacht being completed by Lurssen
Lürssen
Lürssen is a German shipbuilding company based in Bremen-Vegesack.Lürssen designs and constructs yachts, naval ships and special vessels...

in May 2008.
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