ProfileRoman Arkadievich Abramovich: Russian BusinessmanFamous for : Becoming a billionaire from oil and for purchasing the English Premiership football club Chelsea F.C.
Born - 24th October 1966 Russia / Living
Current Wealth: US $ 23.5 billion according to Forbes magazine(March, 2008 edition)
Biography
Roman Abramovich is the owner of the investment company Millhouse Capital, the English Premiership football team called Chelsea Football Club, and is the governor of Chukotka in Russia. Despite his influential status in sports, oil, and politics, Abramovich is relatively private, granting few interviews over the years and making almost no public statements about his life or work.
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich was born on October 24, 1966 to a Jewish family in Lithuania. His mother, Irina Ostrowski Abramovich, died whenbefore Roman was two and his father, Arkady Abramovich, was killed in an accident immediately after mother's death. Roman was raised by his paternal grandparents in Lithuania. Roman Abramovich attended the Industrial Institute in Ukhta. After that Abramovich attended the Moscow State Auto Transport Institute for a brief period before leaving the academic world for good.
In the late 1980s, Roman Abramovich began selling plastic ducks from his small apartment in Moscow. After a few years, Abramovich began investing in other businesses, expanding his wealth. In 1995 he partnered with Boris Berezovsky to purchase a controlling share of the oil company Sibneft for a sum of $100 million. At the time the company was estimated to be worth $150 million.
In 1999 Roman Abramovich began charitable work in the Chukotka region in Siberian Russia, a cold, impoverished region of the country. Abramovich was particularly interested in helping children and established the Pole of Hope charity to help the people of Chukotka. In December of 2000, Abramovich was elected governor of the region and has since invested millions of pounds in the development of its educational system, hospitals, and a college in Anadyr. Abramovich wanted to leave his position as governor in 2005, but Russian President Vladimir Putin eliminated the ability to elect regional governors and Abramovich was reappointed as regional governor to Chukotka for another term.
In 2003 Roman Abramovich purchased the Chelsea Football Club in the UK. The acquisition changed the marketing strategies of the game as well as the ability to "purchase" players. Due to Abramovich's personal wealth, he had the ability to build state of the art facilities and offer large salaries to players to join his team regardless of the financial status of the team itself. As a result, other teams have had to redirect wealth in order to keep up.
Roman Abramovich currently resides in West London and is known as the second richest person in the United Kingdom.
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