Usmanov’s largest holding is steel giant Metalloinvest. Thanks to Yuri Milner, then chairman of Mail.Ru Group, formerly known as Digital Sky Technologies, Usmanov was an early investor in Facebook. Usmanov owns stakes in Chinese tech giant Xiaomi as well as other telecom, mining and media companies. He also caught the English soccer-team bug, once owning 30% of Arsenal. In 2018, Usmanov sold his stake for $712 million to American billionaire Stanley Kroenke, owner of the Super Bowl-bound Los Angeles Rams, among other valuable properties.
Usmanov has repeatedly fronted for Putin and solved his business problems, according to the expert. In one instance, in
2006, Putin’s telecommunications minister, Leonid Reiman, was revealed as the owner of a stake in Megafon, a company his ministry oversaw.
Soon after, Usmanov bought Reiman’s stake.
In December, Usmanov’s holding company sold its investment in Mail.Ru, which had been renamed VK, to Sogaz, an insurance company that is partly owned by Putin ally Yuri Kovalchuk, whose net worth is $3.6 billion. Usmanov also works closely with Andrei Skoch, another Russian oligarch (net worth: $7.7 billion) whom the U.S. sanctioned in 2018.
Usmanov’s ties with Putin go beyond business. He’s married to Irina Viner, a legendary rhythmic gymnastics coach who helped Alina Kabaeva, widely believed to be Putin’s mistress, win the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.
Given that the Biden administration is targeting oligarchs that have assets in the West, Usmanov fits the bill with vast real estate holdings peppered throughout Europe. He owns two sprawling estates in London–the Beechwood House and Sutton Place–that together are worth nearly $300 million. He also has properties in Munich, Monaco and Sardinia, among other locations
