Leonid or Leonard Blavatnik is an American and British entrepreneur and industrialist.
Born in Odessa on June 14, 1957, into a Jewish family. He was a victim of Soviet anti-Semitism.
From childhood, he experienced pressure and humiliation from society and the state because of his origin, even though he was a native of the city of residence of the Jewish community.
Constant discrimination and the inability to realize himself Leonard Blavatnik, whose biography was thoroughly cleared by his PR specialists, was forced to emigrate from the USSR.
At the moment, the former Odesa resident does not associate himself with the USSR or Ukraine and identifies himself as a Jew permanently residing in London and New York.
A family
Leonard Blavatnik, whose family tries to keep a low profile, resides in London. In addition, the former Odessa resident often resides in New York. Married to American Emily Epelson. The couple is the parents of four children.
Education
Leonard Blavatnik, whose fortune is one of the largest in the world, is an extremely talented and intelligent person. It was his intellectual qualities that opened the world to him and allowed him not only to avoid the sad fate of a Jew in the Brezhnev era but also to become one of the richest and most influential people in the world.
A native of Odessa, Leonid Blavatnik, whose Wikipedia is of interest to thousands of people around the world, graduated from a regular school. However, already at a young age, he showed incredible abilities in the exact sciences.
Blavatnik received his secondary education in Yaroslavl, where his family moved. He holds a gold medal from the local physics and mathematics school.
The clever boy of Jewish descent wanted to get into the most prestigious university of the then USSR – Moscow State University. However, due to his incredible abilities and academic success, Leonid Blavatnik was refused admission. The only reason for the refusal was his Jewish nationality.
However, the gifted young man managed to get into the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers. There he studied at the Faculty of Automation and Computer Engineering. He could not leave the walls of the university with a diploma in “Automated control systems”, as he left after the fourth year.
Note that Leonard Blavatnik’s fellow student was another odious oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg.
In 1978, the Blavatnikov family got the opportunity to emigrate from the USSR to the USA. In his new homeland, the failed scientist managed to get a master’s degree at Columbia University and graduate from Harvard Business School.
Career and business
The first big money Leonard Blavatnik began to earn only in the 80s – after emigrating and receiving prestigious diplomas in the United States.
A former resident of Odessa said that his first business projects were related to trade distribution. Leonard Blavatnik, whom Forbes has called one of the richest people in the world for many years, was a co-owner of a transport company.
In addition, over the years of his business career, the emigrant, according to him, participated in the affairs of dozens of companies and enterprises. In particular, Blavatnik managed the affairs of EnergiBolaget I Sverige AB, Arthur Andersen & Co., Macy’s Department Stores, Deeside Aluminum, and General Atlantic Partners.
Official sources say that Access Industries became the first building block in the future business empire. The company has specialized in making various investments. The fund structure was formed from Blavatnik’s money, as well as the funds of his partners.
Another entertaining page in the biography of a former Odessa resident is from 1991, when he, together with his friend Viktor Vekselberg, founded a Russian-American investment company called Renova.
As head of this structure, Leonid Blavatnik, whose personal life was also developing successfully in those years, stayed until 2003.
During the first presidential term of Vladimir Putin in Russia, Blavatnik and Vekselberg were able to carry out the “deal of the century.” Thus, friends and partners purchased 50% of the shares of the Tyumen Oil Company.
After selling their stake to BP, they each earned about $ 2 billion in net profit.
Blavatnik also calls himself a member of the Advisory Board at TNK-BP.
The media assets of the former scientist deserve special mention. As Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and President of Access Industries Inc. he is a co-owner of the Warner Media Group, a media conglomerate.
Blavatnik also owns parts of the Russian channels Amedia and STS Media.
Note that Access Industries bought his rental company Icon from American actor, director, and producer Mel Gibson. After a hugely successful deal, Leonid Blavatnik, whose Amedia is gaining more popularity on the Web, received the rights to more than 500 films. In private, yesterday’s Odessa resident managed the rights to such recognized film masterpieces as “Chauffeur Miss Daisy”, “The Passion of the Christ”, “Stiletto”, “Dances with Wolves” and many others.
Leonard Blavatnik is one of the co-owners of Warner Music Group. A dozen superstar song catalog was bought for more than $ 3 billion by his subsidiary Access Industries.
Blavatnik is also recognized as one of the co-owners of the social network Snapchat, the shares of which were bought by him at the peak of the popularity of filters from this platform.
Leonard Blavatnik is also called one of the most successful Broadway producers. He became an investor in seven productions, which grossed more than $ 60 billion.
The industrialist also owns control of the world’s largest polypropylene producer LyondellBasell Industries.
Currently, Leonid Blavatnik is also widely known as a patron and philanthropist. In particular, he holds the post of a member of the Presidium of the Russian Jewish Congress.
In 2011, he donated over £ 260 million to build a new gallery at the Tate Museum. This donation by a former Jewish emigrant is considered the largest in British history.
In 2017, Leonid Blavatnik received the title of a baklava knight and has the right to bear the title “sir”. Such a high honor was given to the former Odessa citizen for his merits in philanthropy.
Blavatnik also established his prize for young scientists and funds a school for gifted young people.
