The richest Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov (No. 40 in the global ranking of billionaires according to Forbes, fortune - $18.6 billion) sold shares of American IT giants Apple and Facebook and invested in Chinese technology companies, the head of USM Advisors Ivan Streshinsky told Bloomberg . USM Advisors manages the assets of the holding USM Holdings Ltd., in which Usmanov combined assets with business partners Andrey Skoch (No. 19 in the ranking of the 200 richest businessmen in Russia according to Forbes, worth $7.9 billion) and Farhad Moshiri .

“Chinese companies account for about 70-80% of our portfolio of foreign investments in the Internet,” Streshinsky said. He clarified that most of the investments are concentrated in Alibaba, JD.com and a number of other companies “with great potential.”

According to Streshinsky, Usmanov recently sold his stake in Apple and is gradually reducing his stake in Facebook. “We hope that our investments in Chinese Internet companies will be able to show the same and even higher profits that we had with American companies,” the agency’s interlocutor said.

Bloomberg notes that China has become Russia's largest trading partner. “We are concerned about possible sanctions against Russia, but we do not see any dramatic consequences for our business. China is unlikely to impose any sanctions. So we will trade in rubles, yuan, Hong Kong or Singapore dollars,” Streshinsky said.

At the end of April 2013, Usmanov announced that he had invested about $100 million in Apple shares. In an interview with Bloomberg, the billionaire said that he believes in the future of the iPhone and iPad manufacturer even after the death of company co-founder Steve Jobs . At the same time, Usmanov predicted that Apple would be a “very promising investment” in the next three years.

Alisher Usmanov became a shareholder of the social network Facebook back in 2009 . Then the businessman, together with his business partner Yuri Milner (No. 988 in the global ranking of billionaires, net worth: $1.8 billion) acquired up to 10% of Mark Zuckerberg’s social network (No. 21 in the global ranking of billionaires, net worth: $28.5 billion). At that time, Facebook’s capitalization was estimated at $6.5 billion. During the IPO in 2012, the social network was valued at $105 billion. Having sold part of their shares during the placement, the partners gained about $1.6 billion, recouping the costs of purchasing the entire package and receiving more than $500 million net profit.

In December 2012, Ivan Streshinsky stated that Usmanov decided to concentrate on the Chinese technology market. In China, USM has invested in such large players as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and 360buy Jingdong Mall. Streshinsky noted that Chinese e-commerce is a strategic interest for the billionaire.

Alibaba Group, China's largest online trading platform, announced on March 16 that it would hold an IPO in the United States. The company did not disclose the expected time of placement. According to Reuters , we are talking about the third quarter of 2014. Analysts estimate Alibaba's value at at least $140 billion.

Alisher Usmanov sold shares of Apple and Facebook