In brief
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (born 21 April 1964) is a Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman and philanthropist, co-founder and largest shareholder of Alfa Group, a private conglomerate that operates Russia's largest non-state bank, Alfa-Bank, alongside interests in energy, retail, and telecommunications.
Born in Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, to Jewish parents, Fridman moved to Moscow in 1980 to study metallurgical engineering at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, from which he graduated with honors in 1986. During perestroika, he engaged in small-scale trading and cooperatives before co-founding Alfa Group in 1989 with partners including Petr Aven and German Khan, initially focusing on commodities and expanding into finance and oil through ventures like the TNK-BP joint enterprise with BP, which was sold to Rosneft in 2013. As of 2025, Fridman's fortune, derived primarily from banking, oil, and telecom stakes, stands at approximately $14.9 billion, positioning him as one of Russia's wealthiest individuals despite international sanctions.
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman was born on April 21, 1964, in Lviv, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, to parents of Jewish origin who worked as engineers.
Photographs
Hero photograph: Wikimedia Commons
