Alexander Mamut

Alexander Mamut was born on 29 January 1960. His father is Leonid Solomonovich Mamut, a lawyer and one of the authors of the Russian Constitution. His mother, Cicilia Ludwigovna, is a defense attorney. In 1977, Mamut graduated from Moscow gymnasium #17.

He then studied law at Moscow State University, graduating in 1982.

In 1990 together with Andrey Gloriozonov, Mamut founded "Business and Cooperation” Bank, that was renamed in 1991 into Commercial Bank “Imperial”. The bank was founded to service companies in the field of fuel and energy. Its biggest clients were Gazprom and Lukoil. In 1990 Mamut founded “ALM-Consulting” law firm (ALM abbreviated after Mamut’s name) and served as Managing Partner there throughout 1990–1993. Mamut founded the Company of Project Financing in 1993, and served as its chief executive officer until 1998. Meanwhile, he was the co-founder and director of Sedmoy Continent from 1993 to 1997. He was the founder of ALM Development and remained an investor until 2001.

He founded the SUP Company in 2006, and acquired LiveJournal Russia in 2007.

In 2007, he also founded the “Most” Restaurant and Club. Mamut’s “A&NN” Investment Company acquired 100% of shares of Evroset from Evgeniy Chichvarkin and Timur Artemiev in 2008. By October 2008, he sold 49.9% to VimpelCom.

A&NN acquired the Moscow movie theaters “Pioneer” in 2008 and the Khudozhestvenny in 2016. They later acquired movie chains Cinema Park and Formula Kino in 2017.

Mamut acquired 60% of the Spar Moscow Holding in 2009. He also acquired the “Torpedo-ZIL” football club for the symbolic price of $1. Two years later, in 2011, he invested in the Nomos-Bank. He is a large investor in Ingosstrakh, the insurance company, and Troika-Dialog, an investment bank. He has also invested in Polymetal International, a mining company, and PIK Group, a construction company.

In May 2011, Mamut acquired Waterstones, a UK-based bookstore chain, through Capital Fund Management Limited, a subsidiary of his A&NN company for the equivalent of $66 million. He later sold off a majority stake in April 2018, valuing the company at $250 million.

Mamut became the sole owner of the SUP Media in December 2012. By 2014, he became the Chairman of Rambler&Co. He is also the owner of Lenta.ru, a news website.

He acquired sports betting firm Rambler in 2016, selling a 46.5 percent stake to Sberbank in December 2019. Mamut was subsequently involved in an intellectual property rights dispute between Rambler and Sberbank.

Alexander Mamut profile: probably the most powerful oligarch you have never heard of

While Russian billionaires Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska are well-known names, Alexander Mamut has largely remained below the radar.