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Roman Arkadievich Abramovich was born October 24 in Saratov, Russian SFSR, USSR. |
1966 |
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Abramovich lost his mother at the age of 18 months. |
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| 4 yrs |
Roman lost his father, who was killed in a construction accident, at the age of four. |
1970 |
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He was raised by his paternal uncle in Komi and later by a second uncle in Moscow, both were very harsh and taught him how life is. |
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Abramovich attended the Industrial Institute in the city of Ukhta before being drafted into the Soviet Army. |
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| 23 yrs |
Abramovich started his commercial activity in the late 1980s when Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms permitted the opening of small private businesses, known as co-operatives. |
1989 |
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He began his business career selling plastic ducks from a grim Moscow apartment. |
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| 26 yrs |
In 1992-1995 Abramovich founded five companies that conducted resale and acted as intermediaries, eventually specializing in the trade of oil and oil products. |
1992 |
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In July, 1992, the Moscow deputy prosecutor approved the questioning of Abramovich under article 90 of the Russian criminal code. This case was sent to Ukhta, Komi republic for further investigation. He was accused of stealing diesel fuel from an Ukhta enterprise worth 4,000,000 rubles. The investigation determined that this fuel was transported to Riga using forged documents (which said that the fuel was supposed to be delivered to the Army) and sold there. Abramovich was later cleared of wrongdoing. |
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Abramovich obtained the majority of his wealth thanks to assets acquired cheaply during president Boris Yeltsin's program of privatizing state companies in the mid-90's. With the help of his then-partner Boris Berezovsky, he became the majority shareholder in Sibneft, a major oil company. |
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Abramovich and Berezovsky acquired half their shares in Sibneft through the so-called "loans for shares" program, in which the state mortgaged and later sold shares in several major enterprises to obtain loans for the government. The other half of the company was privatized through a series of auctions in the mid-1990s. |
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| 33 yrs |
Abramovich was elected to the State Duma as the representative for the impoverished Far East region of Chukotka. |
1999 |
| 34 yrs |
He started the charity Pole of Hope to help the people of Chukotka, especially children, and in December was elected governor of Chukotka, replacing the corrupt Alexander Nazarov. |
2000 |
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Since then he has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Chukotka, for example building a college, a hospital, a pre-school and hotels in Anadyr, renovating the airport, and funding new or renovated schools in many small towns and villages. |
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| 37 yrs |
In June he became the owner of the companies that control Chelsea Football Club in the United Kingdom. |
2003 |
| 38 yrs |
In March, Sibneft agreed a three-year sponsorship deal worth USD 58 million (approx. GBP 30 million, €44.5 million, RUR 1.6 billion) with the Russian team CSKA Moscow. |
2004 |
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Roman Abramovich made another big purchase. This time he acquired an airplane for about $1bn.
In addition to a Boeing 737, he owns as well a yacht with a helicopter landing pad and a submarine. |
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| 39 yrs |
In September Abramovich sold 72.663% of Sibneft to the Russian-government controlled Gazprom for $13.01 billion (€10.81 billion, £7.4 billion). |
2005 |
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Abramovich said that he would not run for governor again after his term of office expired in 2005, as it is "too expensive" - and he rarely visits the region. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin changed the law to abolish elections for regional governors, and on 21 October 2005 Abramovich was reappointed governor for another term. |
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| 40 yrs |
Abramovich used his power as governor to help out the explorer Karl Bushby who was deported from the region for border violations after walking from Alaska into Russia during his attempt to walk round the world. |
2006 |
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He owns four superyachts and is building a fifth that will be the largest in the world. |
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