Background and career
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska (Russian: Олег Владимирович Дерипаска; born 2 January 1968) is a Russian oligarch and billionaire. Deripaska began his career as a metals trader after the breakup of the Soviet Union. He used accumulated funds from trading to acquire stakes in the Sayanogorsk aluminium smelter from a consortium of businessmen who privatized it in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Sayanogorsk aluminium smelter served as the foundation of what later became the world's largest aluminium company Rusal. Deripaska is the founder of Basic Element, one of Russia's largest industrial groups, and Volnoe Delo, Russia's largest charitable foundation. He was the president of En+ Group, a Russian energy company, and headed United Company Rusal, the second-largest aluminium company in the world, until he quit both roles in 2018. He has been characterized as a victor in the "aluminium wars" in Russia during the 1990s, which were frequently violent conflicts between businesspeople to obtain state-owned assets. In 2000, Deripaska founded Rusal, the result of a partnership between Sibirsky Aluminium and Roman Abramovich's Millhouse Capital. In 2007, Rusal merged with SUAL Group and Glencore International AG to form UC Rusal, with Deripaska as chairman. He was once Russia's richest man, but lost a substantial part of his fortune during the 2008 financial crisis. As of July 2025, his wealth was estimated by Forbes at $4.1 billion, making him the 887th richest person in the world. In 2017, Deripaska obtained a Cypriot citizenship through the country's 'golden visa' program, which allows major investors in the economy to apply for a national passport. He was placed under U.S. sanctions in 2022 for reasons relating to the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia. Deripaska was one of seven oligarchs sanctioned by the British government over the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, including asset freezes and travel bans. As early as 2022, Deripaska was one of a handful Russian businessmen to openly denounce the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After making his statements, he faced pressure from the Kremlin, leading to the seizure of a major asset he owned, valued at USD 1 billion. Nonetheless, he returned to the subject in early August 2024, when he characterized the invasion as "madness" and called for it to be stopped immediately. He came under strong fire from the pro-Putin camp in Russia for his statements, notably from the ultranationalist Alexander Dugin.
Deripaska was born to a Jewish family in Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Soviet Russia and grew up in Ust-Labinsk, Krasnodar Krai. His parents came from Kuban. Deripaska grew up on the family's small farm, where from the age of 5 or 6, he learned how to live off the land from his grandparents, who primarily raised him after his widowed mother, an engineer, had to leave to find work. Deripaska credits his grandparents for teaching him the discipline of hard work along with farming. Both his grandfathers fought in the Second World War. His maternal grandfather returned to Russia after the war ended. His paternal grandfather Timofey Deripaska (1918-1945) – an ethnic Ukrainian – was killed in battle and buried in a mass grave in Austria — in his memory, Deripaska built a Russian Orthodox church in the town Laa an der Thaya. Deripaska's first job was at the Ust-Labinsk plant where his mother worked. At age 11, he became an electrician's apprentice doing maintenance on electrical motors. His talent for math allowed him to enroll at the physics faculty of Moscow State University in 1985. One year into his studies, he was conscripted into the armed forces and served in the Soviet Strategic Missile Forces in the Trans-Baikal district of Siberia from 1986 to 1989. In 1993, Deripaska graduated with honors in physics from Moscow State University; however, the collapse of the Soviet Union greatly reduced academic funding, making it impossible for him to continue his studies as a theoretical physicist. There were no available stipends or grants for students. "We had no money. It was an urgent and practical question every day. How do I earn money to buy food and keep studying?" he recalls. In 1996, he earned a master's degree from the Plekhanov University of Economics.
At the age of 25, teaming up with fellow physicists, engineers and rocket scientists, Deripaska set up his first metal trading company, VTK. He adopted a systematic, scientific approach to commodity trading. "I represented companies that were buying and selling raw materials", Deripaska said. Deripaska undertook export arbitrage, buying metal at low Russian prices and selling it abroad at significantly higher international market prices. Deripaska traded primarily through the Baltic state of Estonia, as the Russian system of export licenses was in disarray. "I started my business at an unusual moment in history. The country in which I was born and raised had disappeared, although the new country was not fully formed. The first one gave me an excellent education; the second one gave me the chance of success", Deripaska recalled in an interview with Metal Bulletin. He used nearly all his arbitrage and trading profits to acquire his initial package of shares in the Sayanogorsk aluminium smelter in Southern Siberia. In 1994, Deripaska became director general of the plant at the age of 26. In 1997, he founded Sibirsky (Siberian) Aluminium Group, which in 2000 merged with Roman Abramovich's Millhouse Capital to create RUSAL. In 2003, businesses led by Deripaska increased their stake in those companies under common management to 75% by acquiring half of the interest managed by Millhouse Capital. In 2004, the consolidation of RUSAL's ownership by companies related to Deripaska was completed with the acquisition of the remaining 25% equity interest in RUSAL managed by Millhouse Capital. Deripaska was named businessman of the year in 1999, 2006, and 2007 by Vedomosti, a Russian business daily. RUSAL went on to become the largest aluminium producer in the world, until the China Hongqiao Group surpassed it in 2015. In 2010, under Deripaska's leadership, Rusal became the first Russian company to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Beyond metals, which as of 2016 remained at the core of his diversified industrial holding, Deripaska has acquired stakes in a wide range of companies in various sectors, including energy, manufacturing, commercial vehicles, auto components, financial and insurance services, leasing businesses, construction, aviation, and agriculture. Among his assets are a Siberian power company EuroSibEnergo, that is Russia's biggest private energy company; he owns 10% of Ingosstrakh, one of Russia's largest insurance companies; GAZ Group, a producer of cars, trucks and buses, founder of agricultural business (Kuban Agro Holding). He established a transport company to run airports in the Krasnodar region, including Sochi and Krasnodar. All these assets form part of the diversified investment and industrial group Basic Element. Deripaska is the founder of Basic Element, a diversified investment group established in 1997 which has been managing investments in the following sectors: energy, metals and mining, machinery, financial services, agriculture, construction, and aviation. The major investments under Basic Element management included stakes in United Company RUSAL (the world's largest aluminium and alumina producer), GAZ Group (an automotive company), Aviakor aircraft manufacturer, EuroSibEnergo (ЕвроСибЭнерго (an energy supply company) Glavmosstroy (Главмосстрой) (a construction company) Kuban Agroholding (an agricultural company) and Basel Aero (an aviation business comprising the three largest airports in the Krasnodar territory, and a joint venture with Changi Airports International). Basic Element has been managing Deripaska's investments into companies in Russia, the CIS countries, Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe and Latin America, which employ as many as 250,000 people. Strikeforce Mining and Resources (SMR) is also controlled by Basic Element. Basic Element built several Olympic facilities for 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, including the Coastal Olympic Village, Imeretisnkiy sea port, Doubler of Kurortny Avenue in Sochi, renovation of the Sochi International Airport. The total investments account for over $1.4 billion. During the 2008 financial crisis, Deripaska temporarily had to sell his 25% stake in Austrian construction company Strabag, but bought them back in 2010. In return, Strabag obtained a 26% stake in Transstroy.
In 2008, whilst Deripaska was involved in a bid to buy the Daimler Chrysler Group, The Guardian reported that the United States canceled his entry visa due to "criminal associations and relationships". The Wall Street Journal likewise reported that it could have been because Deripaska has been accused of having links to organized crime in Russia and cited as their sources two unnamed U.S. law enforcement officials. The New York Times reported on 27 August 2018 that the visa had been revoked on concerns Deripaska might attempt to launder money through real estate transactions. Deripaska had received a multiple-entry visa in 2005; a U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman refused to comment. Lobbying on his behalf had been done by former Senate Republican leader and 1996 presidential candidate Bob Dole and his law firm, Alston & Bird, Senate records show. Alston & Bird was paid about US$260,000 in 2005 for work on "Department of State visa policies and procedures" tied to Deripaska. In 2009, Deripaska was again allowed entry and visited the United States twice. The Wall Street Journal reported that according to two unnamed FBI administration officials, Deripaska met with agents regarding a continuing criminal probe, the details of which were not known or reported. During Deripaska's visits, he met with leading management figures from investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The aluminium company that Deripaska headed, United Company RUSAL, was in preparations for an initial public offering. The easing of Deripaska's visa issues, which were an issue for possible investors, helped to reassure bankers. The State Department has never said why it revoked his visa and refused to comment on his 2009 visits. The visits were arranged outside of the usual process as the U.S. continues to have concerns about Deripaska's business associations. Deripaska has repeatedly denied a connection to any organized crime and said business rivals have caused the visa to be revoked by smearing him. When interviewed by the BBC in July 2009, Deripaska said that the authorities in the United States had been attempting to blackmail him by revoking his visa and thus affecting possible investors in a negative way and thereby hoping to push Deripaska into cooperating with them. NBC News reported in October 2021 that Russia had given Deripaska diplomatic status, allowing him to enter the U.S. with immunity.
In May 2007, Magna International chairman Frank Stronach announced that Deripaska was becoming a strategic partner in Magna. In 2007, Deripaska's Veleron investment vehicle acquired stock in Magna through a $1.2 billion loan from BNP Paribas, with Magna shares serving as collateral. Morgan Stanley was involved in the deal through a swap agreement with BNP Paribas where the US bank assumed the risks of the loan in return for a fixed payment from Paribas. In September 2008, Magna's stocks plummeted, hit by the global economic downturn. BNP issued a $93 million margin call to Veleron. Morgan Stanley, in turn, learned that Veleron was unlikely to meet the call and sold the stock short. Deripaska claimed that Morgan Stanley abused its duties and engaged in unlawful insider trading that resulted in significant financial damage to Veleron, estimated at $15 million to $25 million. In 2015, Deripaska filed a lawsuit against Morgan Stanley, accusing the bank of using insider information to short sell Deripaska's $1.5 billion investment in shares of Canadian-based Magna International in 2008. The New York jury determined in November 2015 that Morgan Stanley had "acquired inside information and traded on it despite a duty to keep it confidential and not trade on it", finding as well that Morgan Stanley did not have the intent to defraud Veleron. Veleron strongly disagreed with and said it would file an appeal.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
