Tatyana Bakalchuk

Famous for

The founder of Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer since 2016.
She was named the richest woman in Russia in 2021 and 2022 by Forbes.
Bakalchuk is the 17th richest entrepreneur in the country.

Assets

According to Forbes, Wildberries is the second most valuable Russian internet company as of 2023, with a market capitalisation of $9.8 billion (849.6 billion rubles) and revenues of 1.67 trillion rubles in 2022. The company operates in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Israel.
Wildberries Bank (formerly Standard-Credit Bank) is ranked 337th in the 2022 banki.ru rating. Access to its own credit institution enables Wildberries to provide financial services and products for its partners and clients.

Interests and hobbies

Traveling
Sports (running and fitness)
Literature
The esoteric

Professional history

Born on 16 October 1975 in the Moscow Region, USSR, to a Korean family (her given name is Kim).

In 1997 she graduated from the Foreign Languages Department of the Kolomna State Pedagogical Institute, now the Moscow Regional Social and Humanitarian Institute (GSGU). After university she became an English teacher.

In 2004, together with her husband Vladislav Bakalchuk, aided by his web design studio UT Design, she started the wildberries.ru online store. According to Tatyana, the company took off thanks to a collaboration with retailer Otto. The entrepreneur ordered clothes from the company personally, then collected them from Otto’s warehouse, and shipped the orders to Wildberries’ customers. Wildberries ltd. was officially registered in 2006.

In 2008, Wildberries also started selling Adidas products, fueling the company’s growth.

By 2013, Tatyana Bakalchuk’s company was among the top three Russian e-commerce companies, according to Forbes. Starting in 2016, it became the country’s largest online retailer.

By March 2022 Wildberries had expanded its operations to 18 countries around the world, including the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

By the following year, the company was still operating in eight countries, mostly in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

By the beginning of 2023, Wildberries was operating 33,000 delivery depots across Russia. The company’s value is estimated at $9.8 billion (849.6 billion rubles).

Deals and ventures

In 2020, Wildberries became a primary sponsor of the CSKA football team. The value of the deal wasn’t revealed, but estimates by experts put it at around 50 million rubles. In 2021, the online retailer became the technical partner for several football clubs, including Zenit, Dynamo Moscow, and Spartak Moscow. In 2022, PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara joined the roster. These deals enable the company to reach a male audience.
In 2021 it acquired Standard-Credit Bank. Wildberries benefits from an operational credit institution licence, providing comprehensive banking services to the marketplace’s buyers and sellers, as well as fuelling the development of the company’s fintech activities.

Achievements

In 2014, Tatyana Bakalchuk appeared on the Forbes list of the richest women in Russia with a net worth of $380 million (approximately 14.6 billion rubles at the time).
In 2018, she entered the list of the 200 richest entrepreneurs in the country.
In 2019, she was named in the US Forbes list of the most notable new billionaires.
In 2021, Tatyana Bakalchuk became the richest woman in Russia. As of 2023, her wealth is estimated at $8.8 billion (833.46 billion rubles).
She has chaired the Russian–Armenian Business Council since 2023. Wildberries makes a significant contribution to the development of the Armenian economy, in part by helping to bring Armenian products to the international market. Tatyana Bakalchuk and the President of Armenia, Vahagn Khachaturyan, meet in person to discuss potential new projects.

Criticism and disputes

In 2020, Wildberries IT specialists raised complaints about mass dismissals, which were denied by the company’s press service. In 2021 and 2023, employees and operators of Wildberries collection depots went on strike after payment terms were altered and new fines were introduced.
In 2020, The Bell published a critical article accusing Tatyana Bakalchuk of fabricating her business success story, mainly with the help of a PR agency, and alleging that Tatyana and her husband were already wealthy entrepreneurs when they launched Wildberries.
In 2021, Wildberries had a run-in with the Visa payment system. The payment prossesor system was unhappy that the marketplace had begun to obviously indicate user commissions, which were lower for Russian cards. Visa subsequently introduced preferential rates. In the same year, a similar story unfolded with Mastercard.
In 2021, Ukraine put Bakalchuk on its sanctions list for promoting Russian propaganda and selling Russian military Uniforms. Since 2022, the entrepreneur has been sanctioned by Poland for indirectly supporting military aggression against Ukraine.