From Orphan to Oil Tycoon

Abramovich was born in southern Russia, into poverty. After being orphaned at age 2,

he was raised by an uncle and his family in a subarctic region of northern Russia.

While a student at the Moscow Auto Transport Institute in 1987, he started a small

company producing plastic toys, which helped him eventually found an oil business

and make a name for himself within the oil industry. Later, as sole leader of

the Sibneft company, he completed a merger that made it the fourth biggest oil company in the world.

The company was sold to state-run gas titan Gazprom in 2005 for $13 billion.

He acquired the Chelsea Football Club in 2003 and owns the world’s largest yacht,