Boris Ivanishvili was born in Georgia, before moving to Russia. The source of his wealth is metals and banking. Forbes's description of the secret of his success could apply to dozens of other oligarchs. "He bought firms that nobody needed for tens of millions of dollars and sold them for billions of dollars." He got his start in the 1980s selling computers, moved on to importing what was then a novelty in Russia, push-button phones, before moving into banking. He began to build his empire in 1990 when, with partner Vitaly Malkin, he set up Rossiysky Kredit Bank. It is still his biggest holding. Over the years, sold other businesses he accumulated during country's privatization era and invested proceeds in Russian stock market. Also has interests in hotels; a Russian chain of drugstores called Doctor Stoletov. Redeveloping a former factory in downtown Moscow into a deluxe housing development, the first blocks of which are supposed to be completed by 2011 or 2012. Deutsche Bank was reportedly going to acquire a 10% stake in the project in October 2008, but the deal fell through due to the much changed economic conditions[citation needed]. Recently Ivanishvili became the subject of some interest in the art world, following his reported purchases of works by Pablo Picasso and the contemporary artist Peter Doig at auctions for prices well above their estimates. Ivanishvili now lives in the Georgian village of Chorvila, where he was born. In October 2011 Ivanishvili declared that he would form a political party and take part in the 2012 parliamentary elections.
From : www.wikipedia.org
