Roman Abramovich - more money than sense?
Victoria Barrett
night I chanced on this passage (p. 95):
"Giambattista Pastorello, our [Verona] supposedly niggardly president.
'You can say what you like about his bow-tie, and his miserliness,"
someone else writes, 'but in the end, I'd rather have a president with
a head on his shoulders who knows about football and makes the right
connections, than someone hopeless freak with more money than sense.'"
And my thoughts immediately turned to Abramovich, of whom few us know
very much I would wager.
I wonder if Roman Abramovich, Forbes listed at the 49th richest person
in the WORLD, will turn out to be this dreaded "freak with more money
than sense"?
He reputedly, it was revealed today, tried to go after Man United
first before purchasing a controlling interest in Chelsea Village plc,
but was put off by the £70million price tag. For a man with a fortune
estimated at £3.6 billion, that seems like small potatoes, and then my
cousin Maudie stepped in to enlighten me as to why Chelsea.
But more about that anon. :)
Here, firstly, is Roman Abramovich's biography, as per Ananova:
ROMAN ABRAMOVICH, b, 24 October 1966 (He's therefore just 36!)
1966: Born October 24 in Saratov on the Volga River in southern
Russia.
Lost his mother to illness when he was 18 months old and his father is
then killed in a construction accident when he was four.
Adopted by his father's brother, he lived for a time in Moscow and
then with his maternal grandparents in the northern region of Komi.
Attended the Industrial Institute in the city of Ukhta in Komi, before
he was drafted into the Soviet army.
Concentrates his business activities on trading oil products out of
Russia's largest refinery in Omsk, western Siberia.
1992: Investigated, but eventually cleared, for alleged
misappropriation of 55 railroad wagons full of diesel fuel from the
Ukhtinsky petroleum processing plant.
He has a controlling interest in Russian oil giant Sibneft, as well as
shares in national airline Aeroflot, and a television company, among
other holdings, through Millhouse Capital, registered in Britain.
Also founded the charitable foundation Pole of Hope, which has sent
children to summer camps on the Black Sea and sent shipments of food
aid to Chukotkan villages.
He owns a Russian ice hockey team and owns a 42-hectare country estate
near Moscow with his wife and four children.
1999: Elected a member of the Durma (Russian Parliament) representing
the remote region of Chukotka, which is just across the Bering Strait
from Alaska.
2001: Elected governor of Chukotka and begins radically building up
the infrastructure of the province.
Listed by Forbes magazine as the second-richest man in Russia, worth
around $3billion (£1.8bn).
2003: Forbes list Abramovich as the 49th richest person in the world,
with a new worth of $5.7billion (£3.42bn), while the Sunday Times
claim he is worth £3.8bn.
July 1 - Agrees a deal with Chelsea owner Ken Bates to buy his
majority shareholding in the Barclaycard Premiership club for
£29.6million and also agrees to underwrite their substantial debts of
Chelsea Village.
...okay in comes old cousin Maud, a minor player in the active London
social scene, who once dated the odious tennis player, Theo
Theodoracopolus (sp?). Benny will be pleased as he never served
underhand. He just IS underhand.
Anyway, according to her latest gossipy email today, the sudden crop
of Russian emigrés has reinvigorated the Sloane scene no end.
These are some of the Russians with new money who have made London
their new home:
Grigori Yavlinsky, whose son Alexei attends Imperial College, London.
Who is Yavlinsky you ask? Well he's none other than Putin's possible
opponent in the 2004 Russian elections.
Two other Russians of note in London are Boris Okulov, Boris Yeltsin's
grandson, and billionaire oligarch, Boris Beresovsky.
I did a quick search on Google and found that in the past decade, over
200,000 Russians have made the UK their new home.
Now the question is, will other brand-spanking new Russian
kajillionaires buy other clubs in Europe, specifically in the UK, and
how might this affect our sport.
We'll just have to wait and see...
Victoria Barrett
http://images.forbes.com/images/2001/06/21/energyabromovich_400x260.gif
MMcC
<vbar...@the-beach.net> wrote:
>Roman Abramovich
Here's the Rusnet entry for Abramovich ..... some interesting
background info on him and his business and political dealings, seems
to have been very closely associated with Boris Berezovsky.... makes
you wonder.
uselesses
"Victoria Barrett" <vbar...@the-beach.net> wrote in message
news:9u36hvgq3ggjqgpjf...@4ax.com...
> I'm still in the opening chapters of "A Season with Verona" but last
> night I chanced on this passage (p. 95):
>
> "Giambattista Pastorello, our [Verona] supposedly niggardly president.
> 'You can say what you like about his bow-tie, and his miserliness,"
> someone else writes, 'but in the end, I'd rather have a president with
> a head on his shoulders who knows about football and makes the right
> connections, than someone hopeless freak with more money than sense.'"
>
> And my thoughts immediately turned to Abramovich, of whom few us know
> very much I would wager.
>
> I wonder if Roman Abramovich, Forbes listed at the 49th richest person
> in the WORLD, will turn out to be this dreaded "freak with more money
> than sense"?
>
> He reputedly, it was revealed today, tried to go after Man United
> first before purchasing a controlling interest in Chelsea Village plc,
> but was put off by the £70million price tag. For a man with a fortune
> estimated at £3.6 billion, that seems like small potatoes,
You missed out a 0 it was £700 million.
Victoria Barrett
>Here's the Rusnet entry for Abramovich ..... some interesting
>background info on him and his business and political dealings, seems
>to have been very closely associated with Boris Berezovsky.... makes
>you wonder.
>
>http://www.rusnet.nl/encyclo/a/abramovich.shtml
May I just say, "eek"?
P.S.: As I mentioned elsewhere, his power reminds me chillingly of
Pablo Escobar's; he too built his villages vital public works such as
hospitals, schools, paved roads and donated houses to the poor of
Medellin. The result is natural and human -- to this day, his name and
reputation are untouchable for the people he helped, and who excuse
his brutality, corruption and way of life because of "charity". Now, I
may be getting the wrong end of the stick here, and maybe time will
tell a different tale about Roman, but when you mix a lack of strong
central government (and oversight), political ambition, personal
profit, and an obliging and forgotten poverty-striken people, you have
a recipe for disaster.
P.P.S.: In the Rusnet account of his gaining 92% of the vote, I am
reminded that in the Soviet bloc, voting percentages were amazingly
ridiculous. One election, 99.4% of the vote. The following year,
99.5%. The year after that 99.8% of the vote. You show me 92% of human
beings who can agree on anything, and I'll show you sainthood,
delusion, or dishonesty. Sometimes all three. It's that clearcut.
P.P.P.S.: When I was visiting my parents in Brazil in 1990, during the
first truly free and general Presidential elections there, I remember
seeing lorryloads of rice, black beans, and manioc being lifted up to
the favelas. When I asked what they were doing, the lorry driver said,
"Politicians do this near election day to make sure people know who to
vote for." Some days later, a guy running for Congress handed me and
all the women entering this mall (Rio Sul) a rose. "Vote for me", he
said. Same difference, and in fact, I would've preferred the rice and
black beans.
Renaud Dreyer
Victoria Barrett <vbar...@the-beach.net> wrote:
>
> P.P.S.: In the Rusnet account of his gaining 92% of the vote, I am
> reminded that in the Soviet bloc, voting percentages were amazingly
> ridiculous. One election, 99.4% of the vote. The following year,
> 99.5%. The year after that 99.8% of the vote. You show me 92% of human
> beings who can agree on anything, and I'll show you sainthood,
> delusion, or dishonesty. Sometimes all three. It's that clearcut.
In the last 50 years, the reelection rate of incumbents in the U.S.
House has been more than 90%. Who has the most cash accumulated usually
wins. Ciao,
Renaud
Victoria Barrett
>House has been more than 90%. Who has the most cash accumulated usually
>wins. Ciao,
Apples and oranges with a cherry on top.
Victoria Barrett
Renaud Dreyer
Victoria Barrett <vbar...@the-beach.net> wrote:
The root of all evil is green. Ciao,
Renaud
Victoria Barrett
Almost correct. The root of all evil is absence of green. ;)
gaborzinho
(in message <mmk6hv02dkf2pdh94...@4ax.com>):
Almost correct again. The root of all evil is evil people.
Renaud Dreyer
Victoria Barrett <vbar...@the-beach.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 01:01:29 GMT, Renaud Dreyer
> <rdr...@math.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>
> >In article <7cj6hvo8rj9o2e5vq...@4ax.com>,
> > Victoria Barrett <vbar...@the-beach.net> wrote:
> >
> >> On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 23:20:40 GMT, Renaud Dreyer
> >> >In the last 50 years, the reelection rate of incumbents in the U.S.
> >> >House has been more than 90%. Who has the most cash accumulated usually
> >> >wins. Ciao,
> >>
> >> Apples and oranges with a cherry on top.
> >
> >The root of all evil is green. Ciao,
>
> Almost correct. The root of all evil is absence of green. ;)
According to the original author, the love of green... And as we all
know, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Ciao,
Renaud
03:15:38 GMT
>Here's the Rusnet entry for Abramovich ..... some interesting
>background info on him and his business and political dealings, seems
>to have been very closely associated with Boris Berezovsky.... makes
>you wonder.
>
>http://www.rusnet.nl/encyclo/a/abramovich.shtml
Here's a more critical piece on Abramovich:
http://exile.ru/155/155040001.html
(The "shocking blowjob penned by Zarakhovich" is the RusNet article.)
--
Ari <fun...@all.at>
Matt LaFontaine
A wonderful book that will help you understand Russians of Abramovich's ilk
is "Sale of the Century" by Chrystia Freeland. It's an account of the
transition from state-owned industry to the robber-baron capitalism that
governs Russia today, the history of the Oligarchs, how they came to control
so much of Russia's industrial wealth, and how they became entangled in
contemporary politics. Besides giving a richly detailed account of the
process by which state assets were sold off, it's a fascinating story told
pretty darn well. Worth adding to your summer reading list!
Matt LaFontaine
"Ya za Spartak!"
PS-The Russian press had Abramovich linked to Man Utd. several months back -
you'd know that if you read my posts more carefully ;)
"Victoria Barrett" <vbar...@the-beach.net> wrote in message
news:9u36hvgq3ggjqgpjf...@4ax.com...
Victoria Barrett
>is "Sale of the Century" by Chrystia Freeland.
Brilliant! Thanks Matt. :)
> It's an account of the
>transition from state-owned industry to the robber-baron capitalism that
>governs Russia today, the history of the Oligarchs, how they came to control
>so much of Russia's industrial wealth, and how they became entangled in
>contemporary politics. Besides giving a richly detailed account of the
>process by which state assets were sold off, it's a fascinating story told
>pretty darn well. Worth adding to your summer reading list!
What I want is a book about the "Bitch Wars", an event which is one of
the few things I've learned from the History Channel.
Sven Mischkies
> What I want is a book about the "Bitch Wars", an event which is one of
> the few things I've learned from the History Channel.
I bet TAFKAR won. :)
Ciao,
SM
--
The Sunday Times about 'The Two Towers':
'The darkness of this film comes not just from the hideous collection of
creatures - orcs, Uruk-hai, wargs and Liv Tyler...'
Victoria Barrett
Mischkies) wrote:
>Victoria Barrett <vbar...@the-beach.net> wrote:
>
>> What I want is a book about the "Bitch Wars", an event which is one of
>> the few things I've learned from the History Channel.
>
>
>I bet TAFKAR won. :)
"The athlete formerly known as Ronaldo". Yes. ;)