How Roman built the fortune
Roman Abramovich's wealth was created in the chaotic privatization of Russian industry during the 1990s. After starting out as a trader of consumer goods and then oil products, he teamed up with the businessman Boris Berezovsky to gain control of Sibneft, a Siberian oil company, through the controversial loans for shares auctions of 1995 and 1996. Abramovich gradually took over the management and ownership of the company and became its main shareholder.
The second large step came in aluminium. In 2000 he and his partners combined smelters with those of Oleg Deripaska to create Rusal, a stake he later sold. The biggest payday arrived in 2005, when Gazprom bought his controlling interest in Sibneft for about 13 billion dollars, and the company was renamed Gazprom Neft. That cash allowed Abramovich to diversify into steel, mining and investments outside Russia.
He became one of the largest shareholders in Evraz, a steel and mining group, and acquired a significant stake in Norilsk Nickel. His investment company Millhouse Capital managed these and many other holdings.
Much of this was possible because of the political environment of the time. The loans for shares programme transferred major state enterprises to private owners at prices widely seen as far below their value, and those who took part became known as oligarchs. Abramovich, who was regarded as close to the Kremlin under both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, kept a far lower public profile in Russia than several of his contemporaries, focusing on business while others fell out with the authorities.
Companies and holdings
Over the years Abramovich's main interests have included:
- Sibneft, sold to Gazprom in 2005
- Rusal, the aluminium producer he co-created and later exited
- Evraz, the steel and mining group in which he held a large stake
- Norilsk Nickel, where he has held a significant minority interest
- Chelsea Football Club, which he owned from 2003 to 2022
- Millhouse, the investment firm that managed his assets
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the United Kingdom and the European Union placed sanctions on him, freezing assets in their jurisdictions. Chelsea was sold under a special government licence to a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, and Abramovich has said he wanted the proceeds to go to a foundation for victims of the war. Those funds remain frozen pending agreement with the British government.
Outside Russia he built a large international portfolio of homes, yachts and investments, and he has backed technology and biotech startups through investment vehicles. Many of those assets became subject to freezes, legal disputes or forced sales after 2022, and some holdings in Europe have been the target of investigations by national authorities.
Early life and career
Abramovich was born in 1966 in Saratov, in southern Russia. He was orphaned as a young child and was raised by relatives, spending much of his childhood in Ukhta in the northern Komi region. He studied at a local industrial institute and served in the Soviet army before moving into business as the Soviet economy opened up in the late 1980s.
His early ventures included making plastic toys and trading commodities. By the mid 1990s he had become part of the circle of businessmen close to the Kremlin, which helped him secure Sibneft. From 2000 to 2008 he served as governor of Chukotka, a remote region in the Russian Far East, where he spent heavily on schools, housing and infrastructure. He has held Israeli citizenship since 2018 and Portuguese citizenship since 2021.
Philanthropy and public life
Abramovich has funded a wide range of causes, often without publicity. His foundation supported social programs in Chukotka, and he has given large sums to Jewish institutions and to medical and educational projects in Israel. In Moscow he backed the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 2008 with Dasha Zhukova.
His public life in Britain was dominated by Chelsea, which won numerous domestic and European trophies during his ownership. A 2012 lawsuit brought by Berezovsky in London over the Sibneft deal ended in Abramovich's favour. In 2022 he took part in early prisoner exchange and peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, a role confirmed by both sides, while remaining under Western sanctions.