Alexei Mordashov

Alexey Alexandrovich Mordashov (Алексей Александрович Мордашов; born 26 September 1965) is a Russian billionaire businessman.

He is the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia's largest steel and mining company.

As of March 2022, Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated Mordashov's personal net worth at US$21.2 billion, making him the second-richest person in Russia.

In the Forbes 2021 ranking, which takes into account the assets of the whole family, Mordashov ranks first among Russian billionaires ($29.1B).

In the Forbes 2023 rating, the Mordashov family moved to fifth place with a fortune of $20.9 billion.

When he was 37, Forbes ordained him (along with Oprah) as a "new arrival" in the world of billionaires.

Mordashov was mentioned in the Panama Papers and FinCEN files leaks – a company associated with Mordashov paid for a number of Vladimir Putin's pet projects and gave generously to close Putin associates.

He is under sanctions due to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

According to the EU, Rossiya Bank, in which Mordashov owns a financial stake, is the "personal bank" of the senior officials who benefitted from the annexation of Crimea.

In November 2023, the New York Times reported as part of the Cyprus Confidential leak that accounts connected to him paid Hubert Seipel, a German author, to write a book about Putin.

Mordashov is the son of Russian parents, who were both steel mill workers.

According to Mordashov, his family used welfare coupons, allowed only 200g of butter and 400g of sausages per month.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Leningrad Engineering-Economical Institute, currently known as ENGECON.

In 1988 he joined Cherepovetskiy Metallurgical Plant after graduation from Leningrad Engineering-Economical Institut as an economist.

By 1992 he became finance director, shortly before the company was privatised.

When the plant's elderly director instructed him to acquire shares to keep them out of the hands of an outsider, he formed two investment funds and, by buying up workers' shares, built a major stake in the factory.

In 1996 he was appointed as CEO of the company.

He went on to build a conglomerate, Severstal, acquiring steel, coal and mining companies.

He later gained an MBA from Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 2001.

In an address to students at the European University at Saint Petersburg, Mordashov spoke about his decision to study in Leningrad rather than Moscow and the value his undergraduate studies played in his search for employment and eventual career path.

Returning to Cherepovets, he started his career by joining the same steel plant where his parents had worked.

In 2003, Mordashov became a co-owner of Rossiya Bank.

In 2004, Mordashov started investing in US steel companies, purchasing companies in Dearborn, MI and Columbus, MS. The acquisition included the Rouge Plant in Dearborn.

He received a loan from the United States Department of Energy to renovate and refurbish the manufacturing plants in Dearborn.

Between 2004 and 2014, Mordashov and Severstal invested up to $3 billion in both the Dearborn and Columbus plants.

In autumn 2007, Mordashov purchased shares in TUI Travel.

After ten years of not getting environmental and land clearances, his company opted out in 2008.

As he increased his stake to the largest single shareholder through his S-Group Travel, TUI Travel under Michael Frenzel expanded into Eastern Europe and Russia in 2008, China and India in 2009, and sold off its shipping interests, Hapag-Lloyd AG, to the Albert Ballin Consortium in March 2009.

In 2008, Mordashov, Surgutneftegas and Rossiya Bank created the National Media Group, which now owns packages in TV channels (Fifth, First, REN TV)

In 2011 he sold a number of US assets in Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia to the Renco Group, owned by industrialist Ira Rennert.

In 2011, Mordashov purchased 25% of the shares in steam turbine manufacturer, Power Machines, from Siemens.

The value of the loan, over $370 million, was revoked in 2012, after growing political tensions between the US and Russia.

In 2012, Mordashov consolidated Severstal's gold mining assets into one company, Nord Gold N.V. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: NORD LI).

In 2013, with partner Yuri Kovalchuk, Mordashov bought 50% of Tele2 Russia, the country's 4th largest mobile phone operator.

In 2013, Nord Gold was awarded a license to embark on gold exploration in Siberia.

By 2014 all of Severstal's US investments had been sold for a total of $2.3 billion.

His company Severstal planned a multibillion-dollar project in joint venture with POSCO in eastern India.

In 2014, he held a blocking stake of more than 25% in TUI Travel when TUI Travel was absorbed by TUI Group.

In 2017 Mordashov announced plans to delist Nordgold from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) citing unfair valuation as the reason.

In October 2018, he has a 24.9% stake in TUI Group through his S-Group Travel and has been on the TUI Group supervisory board since 2016.