Chapter 4 Chapter 3 British Roman Abramovich: The Red-Capped Businessman Playing Football

Before 2003, everyone thought that the richest man in Britain who would appear on the "Forbes" Global Rich List next year would be the Duke of Westminster. Since 2003, he has been ranked first among the 1,000 richest people in the UK for three consecutive years. In 2003, due to the soaring global real estate, he was ranked 35th on the Forbes Global Rich List with a net worth of 4.9 billion pounds. A year later, the situation changed suddenly.A name that maybe 99% of the British people do not know has occupied the position of the richest man in the UK, and easily squeezed out the duke who just bowed to the feet of the 47-year-old famous cosmetics brand owner Mrs. Chanel - his name is Roman Abramovich Qi, formerly the second richest man in Russia, became the richest man in Britain after he settled in the UK because his personal wealth greatly surpassed that of the Duke of Westminster. In March 2004, Abramovich became a once-in-a-century subverter in British history with a personal net worth of US$10.6 billion on the Global Rich List published by Forbes; and the history continues. In March 2005, Abramovich Mović continues to lead the country's rich list with a fortune of $13.3 billion.

Who is Abramovich?what does he doWhy did he come to England?How much wealth does he have?And—could he be English?These seem to be the questions of self-important British gentlemen. The Russian Abramovich quickly diverted people's doubts. After officially settling in the UK, the Jew did not settle down. He chose to enter the field that is most likely to attract attention in the UK-football. In June 2003, Abramovich, who loves football, bought the Chelsea club with 150 million pounds (equivalent to 270 million U.S. dollars), and paid off the club's 80 million pounds (equivalent to 140 million U.S. dollars) debt in one fell swoop .

Roman Abramovich: The red-capped businessman who played football shocked the British even more. After becoming the owner of Chelsea, Abramovich poached the CEO of Manchester United with a high salary and used 220 million US dollars to recruit big-name players , Turning a heavily indebted football club into a luxury team worth billions of dollars. In this regard, Chelsea's former Italian coach Ranieri proudly told the media: "Abramovich once asked me, what do you need? I said, I need a certain player, and he replied, OK, then you buy it." As a result, a group of superstars such as Veron, Crespo, and Mutu gathered under the banner of Chelsea, making this middle-strength team an aircraft carrier of the Premier League, and the limelight was close to Real Madrid, the football dream team.

Subsequently, Abramovich offered Chelsea a record bounty of 1.2 million euros (equivalent to 1.5 million U.S. dollars) each for winning the league title.In this regard, the British media joked that the property owned by the owner of Chelsea can do such a thing: host an Olympic Games by itself, and then use the remaining money to renovate London's famous Wembley Stadium nine times. From 2003 to 2004, for Chelsea, Abramovich was more than just throwing money.Abramovich must be in the stands when Chelsea play. He is the most prominent young man in international football. His team has a world-class striker, a first-class midfielder and a first-class chief executive.His goal is to use his own financial resources to build Chelsea into a super-class football club that can compete with Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Inter Milan.What Abramovich enjoyed was the cheers from the fans that no owner in Chelsea history has ever enjoyed. When Abramovich appeared confidently in Chelsea's home and away games, the fans affectionately called him "Abramovich" .Every home game, his fans will chant "We are fucking loaded" (we fucking use endless money).

Chelsea was the starting point for Abramovich to step into the sun, and after this incident, his life began to be infinitely magnified, and many media in the world began to spread his deeds: He once spent 100 million US dollars from Microsoft Vice President Paul Allen bought a 100-meter-long yacht, which is said to be the fourth largest private luxury yacht in the world; in Moscow, he went in and out of a Mercedes-Benz with a bulletproof function, followed by nearly 30 people Bodyguards; In 2004, Roman Abramovich spent nearly 560 million pounds to build the most luxurious private jet in the world today - "Abramovich Sky", which has 266 seats. Even if the flight safety system of a high-end aircraft is compared with that of Bush and Putin's presidential planes...

What kind of wealth experience does Abramovich, who is only 39 years old, have? They all fell down, only him, still a popular man! Roman Abramovich was born in Saratov, 800 kilometers southeast of Moscow, in 1966.His father is Jewish and his mother is from Ukraine.Abramovich's mother died of a miscarriage the day before his first birthday, at the age of 28. Eighteen months later, his father was run over by a crane and killed.After that, Abramovich was raised by his uncle.His uncle was the director of the supply department of a large local company. He had two daughters but no sons, making Abramovich the only male heir to the Abramovich family.

When Abramovich was only 9 years old, he began to plan his own life. He once said to the people around him: "My life will never be wasted in this unknown little place." With the desire to leave that small place, he was sent to the capital Moscow to study.This ordinary orphan started his legendary career since then. In his early years, Abramovich boldly smuggled cigarettes and perfume. At that time, if caught, he would face at least five years in prison.His ex-wife said: "Roman knows how to make money by nature. If he can make money under the conditions of the Soviet Union at that time, then he can make a fortune in any country in the world."

At the age of 17, Abramovich failed to realize his ideal of going to university, but was forced to serve in the military and joined the army as a truck driver.During his service, although he was strict with himself, he did not get the chance to be promoted.However, he was still actively involved in life in the military camp. When he retired two years later, he had already made many friends, including Lebezovsky, who later became the richest man in Russia. At the age of 20, Abramovich retired from the army and returned to the city of Ukta, entered the city's industrial college, and later graduated from the Moscow Gubkin Oil and Gas Institute.After Gorbachev's reforms allowed the creation of private enterprise in the Soviet Union, the ambitious Abramovich seized the opportunity and in 1987 established a small company that produced plastic toys.Relying on selling his own products on the Moscow free market, dumping imported cigarettes and perfumes, and reselling second-hand car tires, Abramovich completed the primitive accumulation of capital.

The turning point in Abramovich's life happened when he was 29 years old. Relying on his special relationship with Lebezovsky, the former richest man in Russia during his military service, Abramovich became the partner of then Russian President Yeltsin. The guest, the relationship is very close. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the privatization movement followed.Abramovich used the accumulated funds on hand to buy a large number of auctioned state-owned assets from Yeltsin's government, including buying the Siberian oil company at a price of less than 8% of the actual value.With excellent negotiation skills and superb management methods, Abramovich became one of the main distributors of Omsk oil refinery products, and successively controlled 80% of the shares of Siberia Petroleum Company, the fifth largest oil company in Russia, Half of Rusal, 26% of Aeroflot, and 25% of Russian International Film and Television.He also bought nearly half of the shares in Rusal, the second largest aluminum production plant in the world. At the same time, his influence rapidly expanded to fields such as electric power, automobiles, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Almost every industrial sector in Russia is related to him. The empires are more or less connected.

Like many red-top businessmen who emerged during the same period, Abramovich became a beneficiary of the collapse of the former Soviet Union, and his wealth expanded rapidly.After getting rich, Abramovich has a closer relationship with Yeltsin and other high-level national leaders. It is said that some "special expenses" of the Yeltsin family have been financially operated through companies such as Abramovich and others. In 1998, Abramovich was accused of buying property and a speedboat in Germany for Yeltsin's daughter.Abramovich admitted that he was a friend of Yeltsin's daughter, but denied that he was the "cash machine" of the Yeltsin family.

After Putin came to power, the lives of the Russian oligarchs became more and more difficult, but Abramovich quickly realized the role change. As a state contractor, he bought the shares of the Russian public television station from Berezovsky, and then resell it to the government. Not only that, but he also devoted himself to politics. First, he became a member of the State Duma from the Chukotka Autonomous Region, and later, with his strong financial resources and influence, he was elected the chief executive of the autonomous region. In Chukotka, Abramovich was popular with many.When he was elected the local chief executive in 2000, his vote rate was as high as 99%.His campaign platform included inviting 12,000 local schoolchildren to vacation at a Black Sea summer camp, all at his own expense.As a Chukotka resident, he pays as much as 50 million U.S. dollars in taxes to the local area every year, and he requests that all this money be included in Chukotka's financial budget.In addition, he personally contributed $350 million to the local budget.After Abramovich became the chief executive of the region, there was no shortage of commodities in Chukotka, and the large amount of money invested made his achievements even more remarkable. In addition to these, Abramovich is also ready. In 2002, Abramovich sold his Siberianneft stake to Yukos for $3 billion, and later sold his stake in Rusal for a $3 billion profit.With a lot of cash, he began to think about leaving Russia. The above-mentioned settlement in the UK to acquire Chelsea in 2003 is another good hand after Abramovich became the chief executive of Chukotka.Chelsea became his new calling card, opening the door for him to Europe, allowing him to dispose of his wealth at will, and keeping Russian politics at arm's length.Therefore, today he is the Abramovich of the fans, the Abramovich of Europe.Some fans said earlier that if Putin dared to treat Abramovich like Khodorkovsky, fans all over the world would never agree... and this situation was created by Abramovich. Lebezovsky went into exile, Khodorkovsky was imprisoned, and the powers of the governors of the states were cut. When these Russian celebrities were defeated one after another, Abramo, who also relied on Russia's privatization to make a fortune, Wei Qi still became the most popular businessman. On March 3, 2003, the Russian tax department accused Abramovich's oil company of evading taxes of 1 billion US dollars, and Abramovich rushed back to Moscow in time.Some media speculated that Putin was going to do something, but he was still fine. In October 2003, after Khodorkovsky, the largest shareholder of Russia's largest oil company Yukos, was detained by the Russian government, Abramovich also returned to Russia and had a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.Then the government forcibly canceled the merger of the two major oil companies Yukos and Siberia through the arbitration court, making Abramovich a net profit of 3 billion US dollars in "merger costs".With such a big bargain, Abramovich will definitely pay the $1 billion in taxes.As an oligarch, Abramovich is quite aware of the rules of the game between politics and economics, and the interests that can be kept are the interests. A critic of the "Independent" said: "Abramovich is a market prodigy, and he can always make things develop in his own favor with impunity." The famous Chubais said: "Abramovich may be the most influential tycoon in Russia. Berezovsky and others are too naive. They always want to show their influence, but the result is counterproductive. Abramovich Veitch is a new generation figure, much smarter than his predecessors." When Abramovich evaluates himself, there is only one sentence: appear at the right place at the right time. Abramovich has always been a skilled user of interpersonal relationships, which is the same as a large number of Russian rich people-using good government and personal relationships to obtain the initial accumulation of wealth. Abramovich made his fortune through Berezovsky, a Russian media mogul in the 1980s who first met Abramovich on a friend's yacht.Many years later, he recalled to his friends that when they met for the first time, he felt that Abu was the most talented young man he had ever met. One month later, when Berezovsky was considering buying Siberia Petroleum, he thought of Abramovich, who had already entered the oil exploration industry at that time. They met, and their earliest cooperation and good relationship began at this time of.After that, he brought Abramovich into Yeltsin's circle of life. Abramovich is indeed a person who always reminds people. When he joined the army, it was between two wars.At that time, although the Soviet army was full of veterans bullying recruits, he was able to establish a good relationship with veterans and even officers. Abramovich's biographers Dominique Mijili and Chris Hawkins, a well-known British journalist, revealed that during his time in the army, a recruit named Edil Aitnazarov came to the army.The boy came from a small village in Kyrgyzstan, so he didn't speak much Russian.Abu enthusiastically introduced the situation of the camp to him, and offered to help him learn Russian.Later, Abu also taught him how to pick mushrooms - Kyrgyzstan does not grow mushrooms.A year and a half later, due to an accident at home, Aitnazarov was demobilized early, and Abramovich gave him all his money.Now, Edir Aitnazarov and many comrades in arms at that time still remember the excellent qualities of Abramovich, who is now calling the wind and rain. Earlier, in 1974, Abramovich entered the No. 232 Primary School in Moscow.Later, the billionaire built a new gymnasium, a resplendent cafeteria and a computer center for the elementary school.The school also published a booklet dedicated to Abramovich, which contains a letter to the alumnus: "When we exercise in the gymnasium, we will think of you. When we eat in the cafeteria, we will remember you." Thinking of you. When we use the computer, we think of you..." During his tenure as the administrator of the Chukotka Autonomous Region, Abramovich invested 300 million US dollars there, established medical institutions, schools, supermarkets, improved the infrastructure there, and opened charities.A resident of the Chukotka Autonomous Region once said to the cameras of the world: He has brought us happiness.He knows what it means to have a good life. This is the convincing Abramovich, and one of the reasons for his success seems to be his impressive manner in the face of opportunities.An old friend of his commented on him this way: "His behavior style is good at analyzing the psychology of others and relying on his own network to do things. He has a gentle temperament and never takes merciless actions. He only uses people he trusts, That's a plus. Abramovich never wanted to be an oligarch, it was more important for him to survive. He was very cautious." In the book "Abramovich: A Billionaire Descended from the Sky", the author once vividly described the story of Abramovich's smuggling. The plane took off slowly at the capital Moscow Airport in the night, and a young man on board breathed a sigh of relief.Because his bag was full of contraband such as Marlboro cigarettes and Chanel perfume.In order to bring these things onto the plane, he really had to work hard, desperately fighting with the police and security personnel for a long time before successfully breaking through.Once this matter is discovered, he may be sentenced to at least five years in prison and sent to a remote and cold Siberia labor camp to serve.Naturally, this was the worst thing for him. This young man who has been described countless times is Abramovich. In fact, there is another version of the story.The story was revealed by his wife Irina. 16 years ago, during the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Irina met Abramovich, who was penniless at the time, and the two began to do business together.Irina was a stewardess, and she brought back various small items from the West during a stopover during her trip, and then Abramovich made "pirated" copies in that small apartment. One of his classmates recalled: "Abramovich is a very shrewd person. He used his friends and family in Moscow and his small apartment to sell some cigarettes, cosmetics and jeans. I took an hour-long flight to the northern city of Ukta to sell, and we were both studying there at the time. At that time, the Soviet Union banned private enterprises and imposed heavy sentences on those who did business. He had to use money to open up many joints. If If one of them denounces him to the government, he will face disaster." Abramovich, who initially relied on smuggling on planes, later owned 26% of the shares of Aeroflot, and he developed step by step by relying on the planes of this airline at the beginning. "Romain knew how to make money by nature," said his ex-wife Olga. The big change for Abramovich, who started out as a smuggler and trafficker, came after Boris Yeltsin came to power.Russia has accelerated the pace of economic reforms, but the relevant legislative work lags behind real life.Many people at the time understood that there was a lot of money to be made in the oil business, and it didn't have to be drilling.Since the price of domestic oil in Russia is far lower than the international market price, as long as you can obtain an oil export license and carry out oil export trade, you can quickly obtain high returns.And Abramovich was one of the first to see this prospect. Entering oil trading was a major decision in his life. Abramovich started to open his own oil trading and related companies.Later, it was precisely because of his experience in oil trading that he had the opportunity to cooperate with Berezovsky to develop the Siberian Petroleum Company. Taking chances bravely is one of Abramovich's great secrets of success.Later, on the issue of Putin's presidential election, he once again proved his grasp of opportunities.In order to help Putin enter the Kremlin, Abramovich and Berezovsky organized the "Unity Party" and provided financial support to it.According to the original goal, the "Unity Party" should help Putin become the president of Russia.Abramovich's personal relationship with Putin has also been further strengthened throughout the election process, with Putin visiting his 99-acre estate in Moscow several times.Later, the oligarchs began to feud with the president - Berezovsky wanted to get a government job, but Putin told him that everything would be his own responsibility.At this time, Abramovich immediately sided with Putin.He made it clear that he was ready to strictly abide by the new rules of the game. This directly made Abramovich one of the very few economic oligarchs who could stand alone when Putin began to liquidate the oligarchs in Russia a few years later. When Abramovich evaluates himself, he always says one thing: appear at the right place at the right time. In fact, this is exactly the case. Before 1997, Abramovich rarely gave media interviews, and was rarely photographed or videotaped.Of course, after buying Chelsea in 2003, his name became one of the most exposed names in the UK. (This is why Abramovich has made himself the Abramovich of the world, the Abramovich of the United Kingdom, and the Abramovich of fans out of the consideration of breaking away from Russia.) After Yeltsin stepped down in 1998, Abramovich began to step from behind the scenes of the political arena to the front. In December 1999, Abramovich abandoned business and entered politics and was elected as a representative of the Russian State Duma, which gave him immunity from parliamentarians.This is the first seat Abramovich found for himself after losing his political backing. And with Putin, who has a good relationship with him, came to power, Abramovich once again chose a suitable seat for himself.He was "far away" from Moscow, the political center, and set his sights on the Chukchi National Autonomous Region, the "small land" at the easternmost point of Russia.Chukotka faces Alaska in the United States across the sea, with a population of less than 80,000, an area of ​​more than 730,000 square kilometers, and 50% of which are located in the Arctic Circle. It is always ice and snow, and the environment is harsh. It is regarded as a wild place by the Russians. .In the Russian Federation, each state and autonomous region has its own legislative power, and Abramovich, who is far away from Moscow, can leave Moscow's political whirlpool here. In 2003, in the storm of liquidating oligarchs in Russia, Abramovich took the most important step and started a football journey called the "immigration plan" by the Russians. Abramovich not only settled in the UK, but also transferred his wealth by buying world-renowned clubs.Then he also announced that he would not run for the post of the next chief executive of the autonomous region. He not only changed from a Russian to a British, but also made football his own talisman. Too ostentatious wealth will arouse great resentment among the Russian people. After entering the UK, Abramovich refused to be interviewed by any media on the grounds that he could not answer in English. He chose silence when his high-profile claims were most needed.He knew that at this time, someone would naturally speak for him. He has found a way out, but will Putin still use him? The Russian government announced in 2003 that it would investigate tax evasion of the Siberian oil company in 2001 and 2002. This once made the media predict that Putin would attack Abramovich. Pick it up yourself. In fact, in Putin's fight against oligarchs, Abramovich's role has always been vague, and it can even be said that he has acted as a middleman between the older generation of oligarchs and the government.When Berezovsky, the founder of the Siberian company, was forced to transfer his equity in a national TV station to Abramovich after a stalemate with Putin, Abramovich immediately transferred the equity to the government to help the government control media public opinion .Some reports even say that he is likely to be "the invisible hand of the Kremlin". When the Russian Taxation Ministry accused Abramovich's fifth largest oil company, Russia's Siberia Petroleum Company, in 2000-2001, for evading a total of 1 billion U.S. dollars in taxes, and asked the company to pay this part of the huge amount of taxes, Abramovich made another timely statement. Back to Moscow. In October 2003, when Khodorkovsky, the largest shareholder of Russia's largest oil company Yukos, was detained by the Russian government for a few days, Abramovich also returned to Russia and had a meeting with President Vladimir Putin . Russian exiled tycoon Berezovsky interpreted: "People around Putin are redistributing wealth. The new generation of oligarch Abramovich is working with Putin to do good things." However, public opinion generally believes that Putin will not completely give up the handling of Abramovich, and all signs indicate that Putin will continue to pursue the former oil tycoons. In addition, due to well-known reasons, the social phenomenon of disparity between rich and poor has appeared in the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries.The popular periodical "Questions Weekly" published in Poland published a "Ranking List of Rich People in Socialist Countries in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe". There are a total of 50 rich people on the list.According to the magazine's estimates, the total assets of these 50 rich people are as high as 73.1 billion U.S. dollars.There are as many as 31 Russians in this ranking!Among these 50 people, the richest man is Russian Khodorkovsky (already arrested).Ranked second is also a Russian, and he is Roman Abramovich.Ranked third and fifth are also Russians. "Question Weekly" also specifically pointed out: Against the background of the "rich people" in Russia and Ukraine, the four Eastern European countries of Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, as well as the former Soviet republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, The rich there appear "too shabby and rustic". The magnification of the gap between the rich and the poor is undoubtedly one of the triggers that caused the people of the former Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist countries to be extremely angry with the economic oligarchs—they injected the efficiency of capitalism into the huge, underdeveloped The market was able to amass huge wealth, relying more on the possession of national resources during the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, and those resources should have belonged to this country and its people. Abramovich seems to have stayed away from the political storm in Russia, but in the wrestling with politics, who can guarantee that he is not the next Khodorkovsky? I have realized: wealth itself, especially huge wealth , Never set a man free.