About

Roman Abramovich is a Russian billionaire businessman and oligarch. In the mid-1990s, Russian President Boris Yeltsin engaged in mass-privatization of the nation's state-owned assets. One of the assets that was privatized in this time was oil producer Sibneft, a process that took place through a series of loans-for-shares auctions. The auction, widely described as being rigged, resulted in Roman Abramovich buying a controlling stake in Sibneft (with the help of Boris Berezovsky) for $100 million, a tiny fraction of its multi-billion dollar value. Sibneft grew rapidly, making Abramovich extremely wealthy. In 2005, the Russian government, though its state-owned oil company Gazprom, bought back Sibneft from Abramovich for $13 billion and was subsequently renamed Gazprom Neft. 

In 2003, Abramovich bought English football club Chelsea for £140m. He controlled the club for nearly two decades, selling it in 2022 for £2.5 billion after being sanctioned by the US, EU, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ukraine for his ties to the Kremlin and linked to widespread sanctioning of Russian oligarchs in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The net proceeds of the sale of Chelsea FC went to charity.

Abramovich is known for his ostentatious luxury lifestyle. He has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on luxury real estate in the United Kingdom and the United States. He maintains one of the largest fleets of superyachts in the world, including the 533ft M/Y Eclipse (cost: $500 million) and 461ft M/Y Solaris (cost: $600 million). He uses a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner as his private aircraft.

Well known as a car enthusiast, Abramovich is a VIP customer at both Pagani and Bugatti. His car collection, estimated to be worth more than $70 million, includes three rare Paganis (Zonda R, Huayra BC, and Imola) and four Bugattis (Veyron 16.4 Sang Noir, Chiron, Chiron Sport, and Divo). He also collects track-only racecars including the Ferrari FXX-K, Maserati MC12 Corsa, and Aston Martin Vulcan. Topping off the collection are two 1990s legends: the Porsche 911 GT1 Straßenversion (996) and the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Straßenversion. Abramovich stores his cars in Lausanne, Switzerland.