As one of the most talked-about figures, Yuri Milner has built a significant fortune. In this article, we dive deep into the assets and career highlights.
What is Yuri Milner's Net Worth?
In 2009, Milner co-founded the venture capital and private equity firm DST Global as a separate entity from Mail.ru Group. The firm primarily invests in late-stage Internet companies, including Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, Alibaba, WhatsApp, and ByteDance. In 2017, it was reported by the New York Times that Milner and DST Global had substantial Kremlin backing for their prior investments in Facebook and Twitter. However, Milner denied allegations that he was colluding with Russia to undermine US democracy via social media. Since 2014, DST Global has had no institutional investors from Russia.
Milner began his business career selling gray-market DOS computers in the Soviet Union; he stopped doing this following the collapse of the USSR. After earning his MBA in the early 1990s, Milner began working as a Russian banking specialist at the World Bank in Washington, DC. In 1995, he was named CEO of the stock brokerage company Alliance-Menatep, which was owned by Russian oligarchMikhail Khodorkovsky. Late the next year, Milner became vice president and head of investment management at Menatep Bank, and soon after that became the Bank's deputy chairperson.
In 1999, Milner decided to take advantage of the dot-com bubble and create his own Internet company. With funding from Gregory Finger and New Century Holding, he co-founded NetBridge, and subsequently became its president. The company found success by transferring various US-pioneered Internet business models to Russia. In doing this, NetBridge created such websites as List.ru, Boom.ru, and Molotok.ru. The company went on to merge with Port.ru in 2001 to form Mail.ru, of which Milner became the CEO. In 2005, Milner founded the investment fund Digital Sky Technologies, and soon became its chairperson. The company was renamed Mail.ru Group in 2010, and went public on the London Stock Exchange. Milner stepped down as chairperson of Mail.ru Group in 2012.
Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
NetBridge and Mail.ru Group
Yuri Milner was born on November 11, 1961 into a Jewish family in Moscow, Russia, in what was then the Soviet Union. He is the second child and only son of Soviet intellectuals Betty and Bentsion. For his higher education, Milner attended Moscow State University, from which he earned his BS degree in theoretical physics in 1985. Although he subsequently became a doctoral candidate in particle physics, he ultimately decided to leave the field behind and pursue a career in business. Milner went on to obtain his MBA degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
Yuri Milner is a Soviet-born Israeli billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, scientist, and philanthropist who has a net worth of $6 billion. Yuri Milner co-founded the investment firm DST Global. Through the firm, he has invested in such major Internet companies as Facebook, Airbnb, Alibaba, and Spotify. Among his many other ventures, Milner co-founded the Russian Internet company NetBridge and the philanthropic science-based Breakthrough Prizes.
Ultimately, Yuri Milner's financial journey is a testament to their success.
Disclaimer: All net worth figures are estimates based on public data.
