Short biography of Alisher Usmanov

Usmanov Alisher Burkhanovich is one of the most successful Russian entrepreneurs of modern times. According to Forbes magazine, in 2013 he became the richest businessman of the country. He became well known to the general public several years ago, when he helped to restore to Gazprom the assets withdrawn in the nineties.

Early biography of Alisher Usmanov

The future businessman was born in September 1953 in a small town of the Uzbek Republic. He is the eldest son in the family, where besides him there was another child. The main hobby of Alisher's childhood was fencing. Being only fourteen years old, he was a member of the junior team of the Uzbek Republic in this sport. And soon received the title of Master of Sports and joined the national team of the Union. In 1971-1976 he studied at the most prestigious university in the country - MGIMO, majoring in International Law. After graduation, the young man enters the Academy of Sciences and becomes a junior research assistant there.

Biography of Alisher Usmanov: difficult years

It would seem that such a successful start to a career in the state system should lead the guy to brilliant results. However, here the successful biography of Alisher Usmanov for some time changes its direction. In 1980, a young man was arrested on charges of embezzlement, fraud and extortion. The future oligarch received eight years in prison. However, already in 1986, he was conditionally released ahead of schedule from prison. Later, the businessman said that this was political repression, and in 2000 the Supreme Court of the Uzbek Republic was fully justified and rehabilitated.

Biography of Alisher Usmanov: the way to billions

Coming out of prison, a 33-year-old man decides to start a business. In the same year he founded a travel company that was engaged in providing exotic hunting for wealthy foreigners in the Pamir Mountains. A little later Usmanov moved to Russia. Here, during almost all the nineties, he holds the post of deputy director of the company "Intercross", which produces telecommunications equipment. In parallel, he establishes his own companies. In 1993, the businessman joined the board of directors of the "First Russian Independent Bank", becoming a very serious figure in Russian business. In 1997, Alisher Usmanov linked his activities with the country's gas structures, taking up the post of deputy head of the company Gazprominvestholding. In this post, he stayed until 2000, after which he himself became a director.

In parallel with this activity, the businessman holds the post of one of the directors of the society "Arkhangelsk Diamonds". And at the very beginning of the two-thousand becomes an advisor to the board of Gazprom. A successful Russian entrepreneur, Alisher Usmanov, whose biography describes ups and downs, begins to buy mass media from the mid-2000s . So, in 2006, he acquired all 100% of the shares of the publishing house Kommersant. And in the same year he became co-owner of TV channels "Muz-TV" and "7TV". A year later, the oligarch acquires part of the London Arsenal football club and becomes one of its co-owners. According to Forbes, he is today the richest man in Russia.