Roman Abramovich is best known as a Russian billionaire. He owns 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 before Roman was two and his father, Arkady Abramovich, was killed in a construction accident less than two years later. As a result, Roman was raised by his paternal grandparents in the chilly Arctic climate of their hometown in Lithuania. Roman Abramovich attended the Industrial Institute in Ukhta before the Soviet Army drafted him a soldier. After his return from the army, Abramovich attended the Moscow State Auto Transport Institute for a brief period before leaving the academic world for good.
When Mikhail Gorbachev allowed small business development in post-communist Russia 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. Between 1992 and 1995, Abramovich created companies that acted as resale intermediaries and he eventually focused his attention on the purchase and sale of oil. 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, but after stock value jumped shortly after the acquisition, many Soviets began to question the estimated worth prior to sale. In 2000, Berezovsky left Russia over a fraud scandal and sold his shares to Abramovich.
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. Although Chukotka works as a tax haven for Sibneft, Abramovich's work has provided employment opportunities to the locals and given them priceless opportunities for growth and education. 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 United Kingdom. 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.
