The Russian Oligarch Who Can't Stop Partying: Mikhail Prokhorov

Video Description

This Russian oligarch who has moved to Israel, with a jaw-dropping $10.96 billion fortune as of January 2025, has turned getting rich into an extreme sport, and Mikhail Prokhorov's stake in Norilsk Nickel was perfectly timed to make a Swiss watchmaker jealous. ------------------------------------------ Gain FREE access to secret full-length episodes on wealthy families "too scandalous for YouTube" by joining our newsletter: https://www.substack.com/@oldmoneyluxury ------------------------------------------ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Introduction 1:05 Chapter 1: Bachelor Billionaire of Moscow 3:38 Chapter 2: From Soviet Scholar to Business Pioneer 6:38 Chapter 3: Building a Metals Empire 9:56 Chapter 4: From Metals to Global Ventures 12:55 Chapter 5: Heading To Israel ------------------------------------------ Picture yourself as one of Russia's most powerful billionaire barons after the fall of the Soviet Union, where your mathematical mind transforms communist factories into a capitalist empire worth billions. From your Moscow penthouse, you could spend nights calculating billion-dollar deals or hosting supermodels on a superyacht so massive it needs its own support vessel. Born in 1965 Moscow to a family that survived Stalin's purges, young Mikhail grew up in relative privilege, his father's position in Soviet sports granting rare glimpses beyond the Iron Curtain. His grandmother Anna Belkina, a Jewish microbiologist, worked through World War II producing vaccines while German bombs fell on Moscow - a legacy that would later prove crucial to his survival. At the Moscow Finance Institute, his mathematical mind absorbed international finance knowledge that would prove devastating during Russia's transition to capitalism. By 1992, at just 27, he partnered with Vladimir Potanin to form Interros, positioning themselves to seize industrial crown jewels from the fallen Soviet empire. His genius revealed itself in 2007 when he sold his 25% stake in Norilsk Nickel for $7 billion, mere months before the global financial crisis halved Russian company values overnight. While other oligarchs watched their empires crumble, Prokhorov sat atop a mountain of cash, later purchasing the Brooklyn Nets and living a lifestyle that made other billionaires look like penny-pinchers. His legendary parties culminated in a spectacular 2007 detention at French Alpine resort Courchevel, cementing his reputation as "the bachelor billionaire" though he was cleared of all charges. By 2019, pressure mounted as Putin viewed ownership of an American sports franchise as incompatible with loyalty to Russian interests, leading to the Nets' sale for $3.5 billion. When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in 2022, Prokhorov had already seen the storm coming. Unlike his peers watching their empires crumble under Western sanctions, he maintained careful distance from the Kremlin's inner circle. His grandmother's Jewish heritage provided an escape route to Israel, where the Law of Return processed his citizenship while other oligarchs scrambled to move assets through increasingly narrow channels. Today, from his sanctuary in Israel - whose neutrality in the Ukrainian conflict creates perfect shelter from the gathering storm - Prokhorov's billions remain remarkably untouched by the sanctions crushing Putin's inner circle. This is the story of how a Soviet mathematician became Russia's most flamboyant oligarch - building an $11 billion fortune while throwing the world's wildest parties, and somehow preserving his wealth while other Russian titans watched their empires crumble under Western sanctions.