The wife of the Russian multimillionaire Yulia Milner: creative career and family. The wife of the Russian multimillionaire Yulia Milner: a creative career and family Yulia Milner biography

Childhood

The future entrepreneur was born in Moscow, as they used to say, in a good Jewish family. His father was an economist, his mother worked in a sanitary and epidemiological laboratory.

Education

Considering the positions of his parents, it is not surprising that Yura easily entered the Physics Department of Moscow State University. After graduating in 1985, the young man went to work at the Physical Institute of the Academy of Sciences. By the way, Vitaly Ginzburg himself was Milner's leader. Despite this, the future businessman and philanthropist did not see any special talents in himself as a scientist. Five years after graduation, he went to the States to study at the Wharton School of Business.

Entrepreneurial activity

After graduating from the business school, Yuri Borisovich began to develop as an outstanding talented entrepreneur.

His new place of work was the World Bank, where he worked for three years as an expert. Then there was the Alliance-Menatep company - the entrepreneur headed it as a general director, and two years later he took the post of deputy chairman of the board and headed the investment fund of Menatep Bank. A year later - a new position, director at Alliance-Menatep. He enjoyed authority and respect among his colleagues - he was considered an extremely promising and talented employee.

1999 turned out to be a significant year for his career: the businessman was one of the founders of NetBridge. In less than a year, his brainchild turns into a clear market leader. The company stood at the origins of a number of successful projects: List.ru, Molotok.ru, 24x7 online store.

Then there is another important event - the merger of NetBridge and Port.ru, which owns the mail service Mail.ru. In early 2003, the businessman headed the Neftyanoy concern and joined the board of directors of Atomenergosbyt.

In 2005, the entrepreneur founded the DST investment fund, and four years later the company acquired a small stake in the well-known social network Facebook. In 2010, she changed her name to Mail.ru Group and took control of the following projects: Mail.ru, Odnoklassniki, ICQ, VK.com, OSMP and others.

In 2012, the businessman ended his career at Mail.ru Group in order to focus exclusively on large foreign Internet projects.

patronage

The billionaire does not spare money for science, regularly taking financial part in various projects. The loudest, perhaps, was the establishment by him of a prize for research in the field of fundamental physics. The first winners of the prize each received three million dollars, and the prize itself became the largest award in the field of physics in the world.

Family status

Is officially married. The wife of a millionaire, Julia, is a creative person - a recognized artist and famous model.

As the owner of a solid part of Russian social networks, this person minimizes his personal communication on the Internet. Yuri Milner is called a techno-billionaire, because he made his fortune on the promotion of promising projects, in the success of which others did not believe. A failed physicist has created a venture empire whose influence spans the entire globe and seeks to expand far beyond its borders.

For Benzion Zakharovich and Betty Iosifovna Milner, Yura became the second child. By November 11, 1961, a couple from Moscow was already raising an eight-year-old daughter, and the birth of a boy became a significant event for the Jewish family. The fate of the parents of the future billionaire was closely connected with science. Yuri's father studied and taught economics and in this area was the leading scientist of allied significance. The boy's mother was a doctor and worked in one of the capital's epidemiological laboratories.

From childhood, Yuri showed interest in science and developed beyond his years. The games of his peers were of little interest to him, the boy preferred the society of older children and adults, from whom one could always draw new knowledge.

Education

The next important stage in the biography of Yuri Milner was the Moscow State University. At the end of school, as befits a native of a family of scientists, the young man entered the Physics Department of Moscow State University without any problems. One of his mentors was the most famous theoretical physicist Vitaly Ginzburg in the Soviet Union and the world.

Yuri Borisovich (Bentsionovich) Milner

Having completed his studies at the university, in 1985 the young specialist joined the staff of the Physics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. However, the career of a scientist turned out to be unattractive for Milner. Dreaming of outstanding achievements and concluding that he would not be able to fully prove himself in physics, Yuri decided to follow in his father's footsteps and became interested in economics.

In 1990, the unfulfilled physicist went to the United States, where he was a student at the Wharton School of Business for two years.

Career and business of Yuri Milner

Yuriy received his first entrepreneurial experience in his biography, being scientific worker. In the late 90s, he tried his hand at selling computer equipment.

After completing his studies at the Wharton School of Business, the future "techno-tycoon" did not leave America, and from 1992 to 1995. was an expert of the World Bank. Work in this organization gave Milner invaluable knowledge, which he successfully applied in the future.

Returning to his homeland in 1995, Yuri Borisovich continued his career as a businessman. Having joined the group of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the entrepreneur headed the Alliance-Menatep company. Here Milner quickly earned authority and was recognized as an invaluable collaborator. Experience, constant improvement of the level of knowledge and diligence allowed him to quickly move up the career ladder.

After 2 years, he replaced the head of the board of Menatep Bank and headed the investment department of this financial institution, and a year later Milner headed the investment fund New Trinity Investments.

A significant milestone in the fate of the current billionaire was the year 1999. Having become interested in the Internet business and using the experience gained in America, Yuri Borisovich acts as the founder of NetBridge, a company that invests in promising projects on the World Wide Web. Grigory Finger, representing the American investment holding New Century, becomes Milner's partner and sponsor in this endeavor.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the businessman holds the post of president of Netbridge Services Limited Liability Company. In a short period of time, the new organization received the status of the leader of the Russian Internet market. With her active participation a number of online stores were created, including: List.ru, Molotok.ru and Boom.ru.

The merger of netBridge and Port.ru in 2001 was the beginning of the formation of the Mail.ru company, with Milner as CEO. After 2 years, the businessman expanded the scope of interests. Having taken possession of a solid share in the Neftyanoy concern, Yuri Borisovich became its general director. At the same time, the entrepreneur is a member of the board of AtomEnergoSbyt.

In 2005, Milner founded the Digital Sky Technologies venture fund. A year later, the businessman heads the board of this organization. Acquaintance with Mark Zuckerberg in 2008 provided Yuri Borisovich with becoming one of the shareholders of the world's largest social network Facebook.

Since 2009, Milner has been on public service, being a member of the modernization commission under the patronage of the President of Russia. In 2010, DST is renamed Mail.ru Group and the new company enters the global arena. Thanks to this achievement, Yuri Borisovich is recognized in Russia as the businessman of the year. His organization fully controls the most popular social networks in Russia.

In 2011, the entrepreneur gets access to the assets of Y Combinator. Owning shares in this startup incubator significantly increases the influence of Milner and his organization in the Internet environment. The billionaire becomes the owner of the award of the prestigious men's magazine GQ, which proclaimed the Russian businessman "man of the year."

Leaving the post of head of Mail.ru Group in 2012, Milner completely switches to foreign projects. Since this year, in the world press, the name of the businessman appears on a par with such investors as Bill Gates and Ewen Jones.

Until now, almost no serious Internet startup has taken place without the participation of Milner and his foundation. DST Global investments affect science, medicine, media space and much more.

Yuri Milner's fortune

Being one of the thirty largest investors in the world, Yuri Milner is firmly entrenched in the lists of the richest people in Russia. A photo of a successful businessman often appears on the pages of the financial media, which describes another project that brought incredible profits to the techno billionaire.

Of the main assets of the venture investor, his stake in DST Global should be noted. To trace the dynamics of Yuri Milner's enrichment, the data published by Forbes magazine (city - fortune $, billion / place in the Russian ranking of the richest businessmen) allow:

• 2011 – 1/99;
• 2012 – 1/92;
• 2013 – 1,1/102;
• 2014 – 1,8/57;
• 2015 – 3,2/32;
• 2016 – 2,8/32;
• 2017 – 3,5/31.

Such relatively modest figures are due to the constant presence of Milner's capital in work. By the beginning of 2018, the entrepreneur's fortune reached $3.7 billion, which allowed him to maintain the 31st position among the richest Russians.

In addition to the elite Moscow penthouse, the billionaire owns a huge mansion located in California in the Silicon Valley area. The living area of ​​the estate reaches 2.5 thousand m², the land around it is 4.5 hectares. In 2011, this property cost Milner $ 70 million. Another property owned by a businessman is a house on the Volga, however, Yuri Borisovich has not appeared there for more than a decade.

According to some reports, in 2017, Yuri Borisovich became the owner of a luxurious yacht, reaching a length of 107 m. Ulysses is valued at $195 million. The vessel is equipped with 15 luxury cabins and can accommodate up to 30 guests. On board it has a platform for a helicopter, a swimming pool and a pleasure catamaran tender, the speed of which exceeds 50 knots.

To quickly overcome long distances, Milner uses his own aircraft, represented by a jet business jet.

Private life of Yuri Milner

Yuri Borisovich is not only a successful and hardworking entrepreneur. Although not much is known about his personal life in his biography, he also excelled in this area. His chosen one and life partner was a native of Novosibirsk, born in 1981, a professional model in the past, and now an artist and photographer Yulia. The oligarch provided his soul mate with all the conditions for creativity. The works of the billionaire's wife are frequent participants in prestigious exhibitions and occupy a worthy place in private collections. In addition, Julia often takes part in her husband's direct work and helps him promote startups.

The Milner couple have two daughters, but their names and personal lives are not advertised anywhere.

The lion's share of Yuri Borisovich's activities can be safely attributed to charity. By investing in risky projects, the billionaire paves the way for young scientists and entrepreneurs. The IT space remains the main area of ​​support. In 2012, at the expense of the businessman and his partners, the Prize Fund was created, which makes it possible to reward the most talented physicists. The amount of the award reaches $3 million, which is 2.5 times higher than the well-known Nobel Prize.

His wife calls Yuri a robot, and partners and partners call him an incorrigible workaholic. As the billionaire himself admits, he simply does not have time for a hobby, although given the specifics of his work, it can often be compared with a hobby. So since 2015, the entrepreneur has been a sponsor of projects to search for extraterrestrial civilizations and a flight to Alpha Centauri. Until his death, Milner's partner in these developments was the eminent scientist Stephen Hawking.

Yuri Milner managed to prove himself in the writing field. On the basis of his idea and with the help of the entrepreneur, the book "Lessons of Red October" was published.

For his contribution to the development of global business and philanthropy, Milner has received numerous world-class awards.

Yuri Milner today

Now, at 57, Yuri Borisovich does not feel aged at all, and continues to actively expand the area of ​​investment, while he prefers projects that have “Russian roots”. When trying not to advertise his person too much, a businessman often ends up on the pages of financial and political media. In early April 2018, having only hushed up the scandal that arose around the “Kremlin report”, Milner was struck out of the top fifty most successful venture investors.

In June 2018, the Milner Foundation began investing in an Indian food delivery service. DST Global allocated $210 million to this campaign, two months earlier the same amount was allocated to the financial and technical project Revolut.

Yuli Milner's artistic strategy sensitively and clearly reflects the rapid changes in our technogenic world.

Yuli Milner's intrusion into photography happened swiftly and vividly. The 24-year-old artist in her project "Actual Mobility" has demonstrated her own style with such spontaneity and freedom, which is given only to very talented and very strong people. Her exhibition became one of the sensations of the International Moscow Biennale Fashion and Style in Photography 2005. She made self-portraits, portraits of friends and acquaintances from a “close distance” with a mobile phone with a built-in camera. With the help of the same phone, she paints and transforms photos with childish spontaneity, resulting in bright and expressive images. Julia Milner draws her characters into a game that can reveal or, on the contrary, retouch their egos. In any case, she manages to find an unbanal move, bright and cheerful. An open mind, freedom of internal communication with his characters, a sense of humor are the key to the success of the young author, who subtly and gently ironizes himself and the surrounding world of glamor.

Enlarged to large monumental formats, the works of Yuli Milner transformed the "defects" of shooting with a mobile phone into the articulated style of a new direction - Mobilography.
Mobilography, as a new technology, generates new type artistic reflection, expanding the existing boundaries of the art territory.

In the video project “Universe”, Yulia Milner uses scientific photographs of the Universe: space galaxies, ring nebulae, lunar eclipses, spots on the sun, solar wind, etc., created with the help of sophisticated equipment by astronomers, and described by them in a scientific and at the same time metaphorical and poetic language. Through the cosmic landscapes in her works, images of the female sexual principle appear, as totem signs of the eternal femininity of the Universe. The dynamics of gender changes taking place, including in art processes, leads to a change in emphasis from male totem signs to the feminine. The artist turns her project into a fun and at the same time serious game.

The exhibition at the European House of Photography (MERE) also features Yuli Milner's Internet project “Click I Hope”, shown in the Russian Pavilion at the 52nd Biennale of Contemporary Art in Venice.

Creating her version of a new cyber-behavior game, net-art 2.0, focused on the latest Web 2.0 technologies, the artist appeals
to the natural vital energy of a person, moving from a reflective paradigm to an action strategy.

The installation presents an LED screen displaying the net-art project “Click I Hope” (www.clickihope.com), as well as a touch-screen, thanks to which viewers can become participants in the project.
The phrase "I hope" floats across the screen in 50 languages. Following the “Click I Hope” instruction, project participants who visit the site click on one of the suggested languages. More often, they choose their native language, receiving an interactive response in the form of a phrase that comes to life, blinking at them.
At the time of the click, a counter appears next to the selected language, showing the results of the activity of participants who select this language. Captions in different languages ​​either grow or decrease in proportion to the number of users clicking in the same language in any part of the planet. The total counter on the screen shows the number of project participants at the moment. We do not know the motives for which a person clicks "I hope" in a particular language. But the “I Hope” click is not the “I Kill” click, which is what most computer games teach us and this is what is promoted by a huge amount of mass media. “Click I Hope” is a virtual accumulator of hope that each of us needs.

The project, which started in June 2007, collected more than one million two hundred clicks in a year. Milner's appeal to Internet art and new interactive technologies that have emerged in cyberspace quite recently is a regularity, yet anticipating the art of the future. It will inevitably appear as a reflection of a new type of communication that has arisen in virtual world increasingly crowding out the real world and direct human communication. In this virtual space, the artist acts as a demiurge, setting the rules of the game, and the work itself arises and develops due to the accumulation of the actions of each of the project participants.

Olga Sviblova,
Director of the Museum "Moscow House of Photography"

The owner of a huge fortune, Yuri Milner, has gone from a theoretical physicist to an Internet entrepreneur, co-owner of Mail.ru Group and DST Global. He is known as a philanthropist, founder of investment funds and founder of awards.

Billionaire family

The Jewish Milner family lived in Moscow. The second child, who was born on 11/11/61, was named Yuri by the couple. His father, Benzion (Boris) Zakharovich, by that time had achieved considerable success on the path of a scientist-economist. Mother's career took shape in the SES laboratory.

There is practically no information about the personal life of the multimillionaire. His wife, Yulia Milner, is a famous artist and model. She walked the runways in Paris, New York and Tokyo for 8 years. She returned to the Russian capital in 2003 and was seriously interested in drawing and photography.

Her works are kept in private Russian and foreign collections. Thanks to Yulia, the mobilography of Russia (shooting on phones) has risen quite high. In 2007, she traveled to the 52nd Venice Biennale with the Click I hope interactive project.

The success of his wife is associated solely with her talent, says Yuri Milner. Children (a married couple have two), according to Yulia, are an inspiration, an impetus to a creative flight.

In 2011, Yuri Borisovich purchased a mansion in California. The spacious house, located in the part of Silicon Valley where the city of Los Altos is located, cost him $ 70 million.

Education

After school, the young man brilliantly passed the exams at Moscow State University, at the Faculty of Physics. In 1985, after successful studies at the university, he became a graduate in the field of "theoretical physics". After 5 years, Yuri Milner decided to leave his career as a scientist. He went to the US to study economics at the Wharton School of Business.

Career

The first business project of Yuri Borisovich - the sale of computers - turned out to be a profitable business. He became great start for the development of entrepreneurial activity of Yu. Milner. Since 1992, for three years, a talented economist has been working as an expert in one of the branches of the World Bank.

Armchair CEO in "Alliance-Menatep" he was offered to take in 1995. After two years, Yuri Milner becomes deputy chairman of the board and heads the investment fund of Menatep Bank. And a year later, he was entrusted with the position of director at Alliance-Menatep.

In 2000, the financier founded the NetBridge Internet company, which quickly broke into the market leaders under his leadership. As a result of the president's skillful implementation of foreign Internet models, the company becomes the owner of competitive projects: the List.ru portal, the Molotok.ru online auction, and the free hosting Boom.ru. She also owns an online store 24x7.

After the merger of NetBridge and Port.ru, Yuri Borisovich, having accepted the position of CEO, gets access to the management of the Mail.ru mail service. Since the beginning of 2003, he simultaneously becomes the head of the Neftyanoy concern and is a member of the board of directors of Atomenergosbyt. In 2005, a businessman establishes an investment fund DST. 2009 will be marked by the fact that the DST investment company will acquire a small stake in Facebook.

In 2010 the fund will be renamed. The company formed by Milner will be called Mail.ru Group. From that moment on, several large Internet projects will come under the control of the entrepreneur. He will start managing Mail.ru, Odnoklassniki, ICQ, a minority stake in VK.com, OSMP, e-port and a number of other Russian assets.

The share in Facebook will increase to ten percent. Game developer Zynga and discount resource Groupon will fall under the control of DST Global. In 2011, a successful financier invested a huge amount in the Y Combinator incubator. In the spring of 2012, Yuri Milner leaves his brainchild Mail.ru Group in order to focus on foreign Internet companies.

Entrepreneur success is incredible. Yuri Milner, whose biography is full of luck, in 2010, according to Vedomosti, was declared the businessman of the year. A few months later, the men's magazine GQ names him the man of the year.

patronage

Yury Borisovich, together with P. Durov, implements the IT Charity projects. They support start-up Internet businessmen. Having selected promising startups, businessmen finance them.

In August 2012, billionaire Yuri Milner founded an award for physicists. The bonus fund is formed by 3 million dollars. This is the largest award in history in science. The Nobel Prize awarded for research in the field of physics is 2.5 times lower than the one established by Yuri Borisovich.

Yulina's name flashed in the press after the opening of the 52nd Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art, where Mrs. Milner, nee Bochkova, appeared thanks to her patroness Olga Sviblova.
The interactive project by Julia clickihope, which gave the name to the entire Russian pavilion, left no one indifferent. A two-level apartment in the Mayakovskaya district with cold marble floors (“You don’t look like barefoot here,” the hostess says) and leather sofas looks like a man’s restraint. “We live here with my husband,” Yulia explains. – I did not participate in the design of this interior. It was pretty much the same when I came here five years ago.” But upon a detailed examination of the apartment, the presence of a creative person is very noticeable. By the hallway door is a bookcase full of fancy little handbags. The walls of the flight of stairs leading up to the bedroom are decorated with huge self-portraits made by Julia. On one she has yellow hair, on the other her lips are green. This is a mobilography, as the hostess explains: photos processed on a mobile phone, with which Yulia does not part. She does not change her old SonyEricsson communicator, because it has a function for editing pictures with a stylus stick. “It's simple,” Yulia looks at the phone with a smile, “I take pictures like that quickly,” she points the phone lens at me, “and then I paint on everything I want right on the screen.” Yulia strikes the screen with her wand, imitating how she creates her mobilography. In December, Julia has an exhibition in Courchevel together with the Gallery restaurant. “We need to come up with something for Christmas,” she says. “Paint some Christmas trees.” The artist does not edit her paintings on a computer, she says that this is superfluous. After creative processing on the phone, the photos are immediately sent to print, so the result for Yulia Milner herself is always a little unpredictable. In the study, where there is a table with a computer and a bulky photo printer, a whole wall is occupied by a rack with books. A familiar face smiles from one of the covers. Yulia Milner poses as a model on the sensational folio “1001 Questions About It” in the 1990s. In the living room, unusual photographs hang over English-looking studded leather sofas. Dressed in vintage dresses, apparently rented from Mosfilm's dressing room, the companies pose in imitation of well-known classical subjects. “It was my friends and I celebrating my birthday,” Yulia explains. “We always come up with something. Somehow they arranged a holiday in one theater and asked all the guests to rehearse circus numbers in advance. Everyone was promised beautiful assistants, someone could perform with his wife. But many do not communicate with us after that, because they were afraid to swallow swords and participate in tricks. On the coffee table among the albums of art and photography is a huge multi-kilogram edition of LaChapelle's Artists & Prostitutes. There are only 2500 of them in the world. When I asked if it was difficult to get it, Yulia evasively answers: “We specially ordered it on the Internet.” Numerous Dolce & Gabanna outfits hang in the wardrobe on the second floor, and I ask the hostess about her dressing habits. “During the day I always go in a tracksuit,” Yulia met me in white sneakers and sweatpants, “and in the evening I want to change into a dress. I used to love Dior. And now I am somewhat disappointed in this brand, but I really liked the latest Dolce & Gabanna collections. Like any girl who is not indifferent to beautiful things, Yulia's wardrobe is packed to capacity. She says that her husband suggested compiling a card file on the computer: taking pictures and numbering all the dresses, so that later it would be more convenient to choose what to wear. In one room, as in an art workshop, Yulina's works are stacked: mobilographic self-portraits and oil paintings. There are quite a few of them: “We always present my paintings to our friends for their birthday,” Yulia explains, “we don’t give another one.” Still here are unpacked suitcases. Yulia travels the world with her exhibitions and interactive art projects, like the one displayed in the Russian pavilion in Venice. She will fly there again at the end of October, for closing. “I really hope that the Russian pavilion will be given the Golden Lion,” the artist admits. Harper's Bazaar 2008