"Statistically you win." Businessman Mikhail Ivanov about life in the USA

On the nineteenth of December, Republic held another meeting with subscribers from the Republic Talk cycle. About whether there is life in exile, said Mikhail Ivanov , co -founder of the publishing house "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber". Three years ago, he sold his share in this business, participated in the American lottery Green Card and won. Together with his family, Mikhail moved to America and now lives in Colorado. About why a successful entrepreneur made such a decision whether it was a step and how hard it was to find himself in a new place, Ivanov told the Republic subscribers (the publisher Maxim Kashulinsky led the discussion).

- Why did you decide to move, because your things went well here? What's happened?

- From a material point of view, everything was really good. I created the Publishing House "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber" and led them for nine years. During this time, we grew up, became large, the company felt quite well. But at first I participated in the Green Card lottery (annually the US government allocates 55 thousand immigration visas, which are subsequently played out among the participants in the lottery. - Republic ), then won it and, in the end, consulted with his wife, decided that this was a good chance to live in another country. It was clear that at the same time it would be necessary to part with the business here - you cannot, being for nine or ten time zones, manage a growing company. The way out of business was a serious solution for us.

When I was just starting to build a business, I always thought that he should have several characteristics. On the one hand, it should have a cost, and on the other hand, it should have liquidity. This means that your business should be potentially interesting to someone so that you can sell it. The story of my way out of business was quite interesting. I knew in advance that we would leave. Our company at that moment was profitable (remains so now), with transparent reporting, with good management. I met with a dozen investment banks, we discussed the purchase of this business, but in reality no one was ready to buy. Ultimately, another shareholder - the Eksmo Publishing House - bought my share. We closed the deal just the day before Crimea was taken. After this happened, all, absolutely all transactions were frozen for an indefinite time. We were just very lucky what we managed to sell.

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