BUSINESSPEOPLE from Ukraine

Top 4

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Ukrainian Businesspeople of all time. This list of famous Ukrainian Businesspeople is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Rinat Akhmetov (1966 - )

With an HPI of 56.23, Rinat Akhmetov is the most famous Ukrainian Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages on wikipedia.

Rinat Leonidovych Akhmetov (born on 21 September 1966) is a Ukrainian billionaire and businessman. He is the founder and president of System Capital Management (SCM), and is the wealthiest man in Ukraine. As of April 2023, he was listed as the 460th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of US$5.7 billion.Since 2014, his Foundation has provided 13 million food kits to the residents of Ukraine, and aid has reached more than 18 million people. Akhmetov is the owner and president of the Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk. From 2006 to 2007 and 2007–2012, Akhmetov was a member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) for the Party of Regions.

2. Viktor Vekselberg (1957 - )

With an HPI of 50.96, Viktor Vekselberg is the 2nd most famous Ukrainian Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg (Russian: Виктор Феликсович Вексельберг, Ukrainian: Віктор Феліксович Вексельберг; born April 14, 1957) is a Ukrainian-born Russian-Israeli-Cypriot oligarch, billionaire, and businessman. He is the owner and president of Renova Group, a Russian conglomerate. According to Forbes, as of November 2021, his fortune is estimated at $9.3 billion, making him the 262nd richest person in the world.

3. Mikhail Fridman (1964 - )

With an HPI of 48.86, Mikhail Fridman is the 3rd most famous Ukrainian Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; Russian: Михаил Маратович Фридман; Hebrew: מיכאיל פרידמן; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli tycoon. He is one of the co-founders of Alfa-Group, a multinational Russian conglomerate. According to Forbes, he was the second-richest Russian as of 2013 ($16,5 billion), moving down to ninth-richest Russian in 2023 ($12.6 billion). In May 2017, he was also ranked as Russia's most important businessman by bne IntelliNews. In February 2024, Fridman had a net worth of $13.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In 1991, he co-founded Alfa-Bank, one of the largest private banks in Russia. After serving as CEO of TNK-BP, the 50/50 TNK-BP joint venture, for nine years, in 2013 he sold his stake in the company and co-founded the international investment company LetterOne (L1). Until 2022 Fridman was chairman of the supervisory board of Alfa Group Consortium, and also served on the boards of Alfa-Bank and ABH Holdings. Prior to 2022, he was on the supervisory board of directors for VEON (formerly Vimpelcom) and X5 Retail Group. He is a member of the supervisory board of DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, which is owned by LetterOne. Fridman has been a member of numerous public-facing bodies, including the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Public Chamber of Russia, and the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2022, the EU imposed sanctions on Fridman in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Fridman claimed the EU's allegations were false and defamatory. He subsequently decided to step down from the boards of LetterOne and Alfa Group, so that they could avoid sanctions. As reported by several media, Fridman has already filed lawsuits challenging sanctions on at least two occasions, like in July 2022 and in December 2022. In December 2022, a man reported by Russian state media to be Fridman was arrested in London by the UK's National Crime Agency, on charges of money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the Home Office and conspiracy to commit perjury. The UK National Crime Agency did not name the man, stating only that it had detained a 58-year-old "wealthy Russian businessman" at a "multi-million-pound residence". Subsequently, the agency scaled back its probe. In September 2023 the National Crime Agency closed the investigation.

4. Victor Pinchuk (1960 - )

With an HPI of 47.16, Victor Pinchuk is the 4th most famous Ukrainian Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk (Ukrainian: Віктор Михайлович Пінчук, Viktor Mykhailovych Pinchuk; born 14 December 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, Forbes magazine ranked him as 1,250th on the list of wealthiest people in the world, with a fortune of US$1.44 billion. Pinchuk is the founder of EastOne Group LLC, an international investing, project funding and financial advisory company based in London, and of Interpipe Group, one of Ukraine's leading pipe, wheel and steel producers. Pinchuk is the owner of four TV channels and a popular tabloid, Fakty i Kommentarii. He has been a member of the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, for two consecutive terms from 1998 to 2006. He is married to Olena Pinchuk, the daughter of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.