Investment issue with the Forbes Woman application on sale from August 22

Abramovich as the Russian dream

Elizaveta Osetinskaya, editor-in-chief

Which businessmen are loved in Russia? According to a recent Superjob study commissioned by Vedomosti and data from Medialogy, Roman Abramovich (No. 13 on the Forbes list) is the most recognizable and second most popular entrepreneur.

Abramovich's popularity is as expected as it is inexplicable. Unlike former presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov, he did nothing to specifically please anyone. He gave his last interview in 1999, he doesn’t say anything about his business, where he invested a significant part of his fortune, no one knows. He is a rare guest on television channels, which occasionally broadcast meetings of the country's leaders with businessmen - straight backs in expensive suits and stern faces.

He has not topped the Forbes list for several years, and Abramovich even made Chelsea, his most high-profile purchase that made him famous throughout the world, 10 years ago. What people recently learned about the history of building his business in the 1990s - krysha, the scheme for buying Sibneft and connections with the Kremlin - could not add points to him in their eyes. (I suspect that few were interested in the details.) The meager information about Abramovich’s spending on Moscow’s Gorky Park is for amateurs. And at the mention of Abramovich and Chukotka, incredulous Russians are more likely to begin to reason in the spirit that he probably made a clever profit from this. How is unclear, but somehow it is necessary.

What is its appeal? In a sense, Roma, unburdened by obligations and conflicts, with his free lifestyle, personifies the dream. Abramovich is associated not just with money, but with money and freedom, and this is not the same thing at all. This is the image of a person who is not only lucky, rich, but also belongs to himself. Who wouldn't want to be like him?

In fact, behind the beautiful wrapper lies a far from glossy story. Abramovich has not been the most successful investor of the last ten years. Having sold the company in the mid-2000s for a seemingly fabulous $13 billion (although against the backdrop of the sale of TNK-BP this amount does not look so gigantic), he placed part of his capital in shares of Evraz and Norilsk Nickel, which only since the beginning of 2013 lost 66% and 36% respectively. Other investments, including foreign ones, are intended to preserve capital rather than increase it. At least Abramovich managed not to lose a significant part of what he earned. But the second time such a miracle, when the invested $22 million turns into $13 billion after 10 years, did not happen.

So is it possible to be a free and at the same time successful investor? This issue contains advice from the creator of the main Russian antivirus, Evgeniy Kaspersky, 10 financial gurus and the experience of other entrepreneurs. For example, the story of Victor Remsha, who made a fortune of $600 million by investing in the Internet. Enough information to create your lucky combination.

Romance holidays

Abramovich was at the top of the Russian Forbes list for three years in a row with a fortune of about $20 billion. But unlike most of his neighbors in the ranking, Roman Abramovich seems to value freedom above money. Is it possible to remain a successful investor with this approach?

Skydive

The owner of Finam, Victor Remsha, created a large brokerage company, but never invested his personal money in the stock market. What helped an investment banker who does not follow the current ups and downs of the market earn almost $600 million?

Best deal

The former owner of Troika Dialog Ruben Vardanyan became the owner of almost a billion dollars. Forbes figured out what brought him such money.

Remnants of former luxury

The distribution of the mineral resource base created back in Soviet times has almost been completed, and the current volume of geological exploration does not allow us to hope for the discovery of medium and large deposits. Even Rosnedra officials admit this. What is left in the unallocated fund?

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