Oleg Tinkov lost $9 billion in a single day after condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, forcing him to sell his Tinkoff Bank stake at a steep discount.
Oleg Tinkov (Source: X/ @UpsssOhJe)
Former Russian banking tycoon Oleg Tinkov claimed he lost $9 billion in a single day after publicly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in April 2022. His Instagram post led Kremlin-linked officials to pressure his bank, forcing him to sell his stake at a steep discount and leave Russia.
Following an alleged fallout with the Russian government, Tinkov sold his 35% stake in Tinkoff Bank at a fraction of its valuation. He subsequently moved out of Russia and later renounced his citizenship.
Oleg Tinkov used to be one of Russia’s wealthiest individuals, a banking tycoon and entrepreneur. He founded Tinkoff Bank in 2006, which grew to become one of Russia’s leading banks.
Before starting Tinkoff Bank, Tinkov established several businesses, including the frozen food producer Daria, Tinkoff Beer, and Tinkoff Restaurants, according to Forbes. He sold his alcohol business to InBev in 2005 and launched the bank the following year.
Oleg Tinkov was born on December 25, 1967, in Polysayevo, Russia. Tinkov is currently 58 years old.
While studying at university, Tinkov met an Estonian, Rina Vosman. The couple married in June 2009, after 20 years together.
Tinkov and Vosman have three children. Their daughter, Daria Tinkov, studied at King’s College London, while sons Pasha and Roman attended St Edward’s School, Oxford.
Tinkov was born in Polysayevo, in the Leninsk-Kuznetsk district of Kemerovo Oblast, to a miner and a seamstress.
He developed an interest in road cycling at age 12, joining school and workplace cycling clubs. He won multiple competitions and earned the title of candidate for master of sports in 1984. During training camps, he also began trading hard-to-find goods from Central Asia on the black market.
His cycling career was interrupted by military service, as he did not join the Sports Club of the Army and was sent to the border troops. Between 1986 and 1988, he served in the Russian Far East, in Nakhodka and Nikolayevsk-on-Amur.
In 1988, Tinkov enrolled at the Mining Institute, where he started trading items like jeans, cosmetics, caviar, and vodka with foreign students. He built a cross-border trading business with peers who later became Russian retail tycoons. In 1999, he studied at the University of California, Berkeley.
Tinkov founded a variety of businesses, including a network of household appliance stores (Technoshock), frozen food factories (Daria), brewing companies, and the Tinkoff restaurant chain.
He also launched lesser-known ventures like the music store Music Shock and record label Shock Records, which produced albums for bands like Kirpichi and Leningrad, and collaborated with Knife for Frau Müller.
Tinkov was the founder and chairman of Tinkoff Bank until 2015. Established in 2007, the bank ranked 45th in assets and 33rd in equity among Russian banks as of December 1, 2016.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Tinkov’s net worth was estimated at $8.2 billion (around ₹68,000 crore) in November 2021, but Forbes valued it at $0.8 billion (around ₹6,600 crore) just four months later.
After criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in April 2022, Tinkov said officials from the Putin administration threatened to nationalize Tinkoff Bank. Under pressure, he sold his 35% stake, went into hiding, and later renounced his Russian citizenship, citing the Russo-Ukrainian War and “Putin fascism.”
In April 2022, Tinkov publicly condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine, describing it as insane. He stated that 90% of Russians opposed the war and referred to the remaining 10% as morons.
He added that he could not see any beneficiaries of the war, and that innocent people and soldiers were dying. He also criticized the generals, claiming they woke up from a hangover and realized they had a poorly prepared army.
A day later, Tinkov said that officials linked to the Kremlin had warned Tinkoff Bank executives that the bank would be nationalized unless all connections to him were severed.
He could not discuss the price, describing the situation as being like a hostage: one had to take what was offered, and negotiation was not possible. He further remarked that the army could not function well if everything else in the country was corrupt and influenced by nepotism.
Within a week, Tinkoff Bank was sold to a company associated with metals billionaire Vladimir Potanin. The bank was sold for only a fraction of its value, and Tinkov reportedly earned $9 billion in a single day from the sale.
