Famous for
The founder of Finstar, an international investment holding company, and EVRAZ, one of Russia’s largest steel producers, now owned by Roman Abramovich. Boyko resides in Switzerland.
Assets
Finstar Financial Group is an investment holding company with operations in 30 countries and assets under management worth $2 billion (approximately 182 billion rubles). Through the company and other structures, Boyko’s holdings include:
- Perfume and cosmetics retailer Rive Gauche (24% stake from 2020);
- Ritzio International, a gambling company with more than 120 clubs in Europe;
- Finstroy, a property developer and owner of office and retail properties;
- FashionTV, a network of international fashion television channels;
- Fintech company DFI;
- Saint Petersburg-based bank SIAB
Until 2022, Boyko held a 49.05% stake in 4finance, one of the leading consumer finance companies in Europe. He sold this asset in light of the military actions in Ukraine.
Until 2021, he owned the 44-metre yacht Blade, sold for €5.5 million (about 478.5 million rubles), and a Bombardier Global 5000 aircraft, sold for €12 million (about 1.044 billion rubles).
Interests and hobbies
- He has practised martial arts since childhood and holds a first dan in karate.
- He has a passion for cinema, having invested in Sin City 2 and Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Summer Crossing.
Professional history
Born in Moscow on 28 September 1964.
Graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1986. As a student he worked at the Moscow State University Computer Centre.
In 1988 he founded a cooperative for the sale of computers.
In the early 1990s he invested in a number of businesses, including the Izvestia publishing house, Ogoniok magazine, National Credit Bank and OLBI-Diplomat, a chain of foreign exchange shops.
Since 1994 he has been a member of the management boards of Sberbank and ORT TV (now Channel One). He was also a member of the board of the Democratic Choice of Russia, the political party of reformer Yegor Gaidar.
By 1995 his assets, which were combined in the OLBI group, were valued at $1.5 billion (about 6.837 trillion rubles at the time, before the 1998 redenomination).
In 1996 he founded Finstar Financial Group, an investment group.
In the same year, he suffered a serious spinal injury and has been using an electric scooter ever since.
In 1998, together with the entrepreneur Alexander Abramov, he founded the metallurgical company EvrazHolding (EVRAZ). He sold his 25% stake in 2004 for $600 million (about 16.8 billion rubles). Roman Abramovich later became the owner of EVRAZ.
In 2002, Boyko bought the Vulcan casino chain and founded the Ritzio Entertainment Group (later Ritzio International) on its basis. By 2005, the holding company’s turnover accounted for 10% of the total gambling turnover in Russia. After 2009, when casino activity in the country was restricted, the entrepreneur focused this business on European countries.
In 2006, he received a master’s degree in business administration from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
In 2007, Boyko took a controlling stake in the Rive Gauche perfume and cosmetics chain.
In 2010, Boyko’s organizations began to invest in the lottery business. For example, in partnership with Sberbank they created a company that organizes the Sportloto lottery, but a year later the businessman sold his stake to Sberbank. By 2014, the businessman had disposed of all his lottery assets.
In 2011, the Boiko family took a stake in the Latvian financial company 4finance, which later became one of the leading consumer lenders in Europe. In 2015, the stake was reduced from 75% to 49.05%.
In 2022, against the background of military actions in Ukraine, the entrepreneur’s family withdrew from the list of beneficiaries of the company and their share was reduced to zero.
In 2013, Finstar group became a co-owner of FashionTV, a company that operates 13 local TV channels of the same name in different countries.
In 2022, Ukraine, Australia and Canada imposed sanctions on Boyko. The latter lifted them in 2023 after the businessman appealed to the court.
Deals and ventures
- Boyko bought Cadillac Jack, an American manufacturer of slot machines, for $16 million (about 450 million rubles) in the mid-2000s. In 2012, he sold the company for $177 million (about 5.487 billion rubles).
- Experts estimate that Boyko received about $140 million (4.34 billion rubles) from the sale of a 51% stake in Rive Gauche in 2012. The entrepreneur bought his 75% stake in the company in 2007. At the time, the entire company was valued at $100–110 million (about 2.5–2.75 billion rubles).
- €31.5 million (about 2.331 billion rubles) was invested in 2016 by Finstar, together with Holtzbrinck Ventures, in the German online platform Spotcap, which provides credit services to small and medium-sized businesses.
- In 2016, Finstar invested $3 million (about 201 million rubles) in Rocket10, a Russian service for improving the efficiency of mobile advertising.
- Experts estimate that Boyko’s organizations paid 396–554 million rubles (about $5.42–7.58 million) for a 99.56% stake in Saint Petersburg-based SIAB Bank in 2021.
Achievements
- He has been included in the Forbes list of the 100 richest Russian businessmen every year since 2005.
- Recipient of the State Order For Merit to the Fatherland, class II.
- He was the host of Heroes of Our Time, a talk show dedicated to Paralympic athletes on the RBC channel.
Criticism and disputes
- According to Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon’s online media publication, Boyko collaborated with the KGB as a student.
- In 2019, the Bank of Russia issued an order stating that Boyko’s business reputation was unsatisfactory. However, after inaccurate information was corrected, the businessman was removed from the blacklist.
- In 2022, Boyko won a court case against Google. In his lawsuit, the entrepreneur demanded that a website containing inaccurate information about him be removed from search results.
- In 2023, Boyko filed a lawsuit in a US court against a former business partner. According to the plaintiff, the latter had taken control of a domain containing the name “Oleg Boyko”, which is a trademark, and posted compromising information on the website.
Attitudes to Russian–Ukrainian conflict
Hasn’t spoken out publicly.
Community work
- In 2008, Boyko founded Parasport, a charitable foundation for the development of Paralympic sport. The organization supports Paralympic national teams, organizes and sponsors events and awards for athletes, and finances the development of technologies to help people with disabilities.
- Boyko is also a member of the leadership of the Russian Paralympic Committee.
Additional information
Divorced, no children.
Source for information: Forbes.com, Forbes.ru, Bloomberg.com, Interfax.ru, Rbc.ru, Vedomosti.ru
