Sergey Nikolayevich Galitsky (russian: Серге́й Николаевич Галицкий; born Sergey Nikolayevich Arutyunyan) is a Russian

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman, the founder and co-owner of

Magnit Magnit (Магнит, "Magnet") is one of Russia's largest food retailers. It was founded in 1994 in Krasnodar by Sergey Galitsky. As of March 2016, the company had 12,434 stores in 2,385 locations. They include 9,715 convenience stores, 225 ...

, Russia's largest retailer, and president of

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Division, the second highest division of the Ru ...

. In 2021

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

Russia estimated his fortune at $3,500 million.

Early life

Sergey Arutyunyan was born on 14 August 1969, in Lazarevskoye, a suburb of

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

, southern Russia, his mother is

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and his father is Russian-

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

. He later adopted his wife's surname. In 1985-1987 served in the

Soviet army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

Career

In 1989, being a second-year student, began working in one of the commercial banks of Krasnodar. In 1993, he graduated from the Economics faculty of

Kuban State University The Kuban State University (russian: Кубанский государственный университет KubSU) is a university in Krasnodar, in the Kuban area of southern Russia. It was founded on September 19, 1920, and since then it ...

. A year later, he founded the company, "Transasia", which traded wholesale cosmetics and perfumery. In 1995,he came out of this business and founded the company "Tander". In 1998, he built the first distribution center, and immediately after the

1998 Russian financial crisis The Russian financial crisis (also called the ruble crisis or the Russian flu) began in Russia on 17 August 1998. It resulted in the Russian government and the Russian Central Bank devaluing the ruble and defaulting on its debt. The crisis had s ...

, opened the first grocery store "Magnit" in

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern ...

. In 2000, he switched to retail, and created the largest network by number of stores in Russia. In 2006, the company conducted its IPO and was valued at $1.9 billion. In 2008 he founded FC Krasnodar, and in 2013 he financed the construction of the stadium of the same name for this club. In 2018, Galitsky sold a 29.1% stake in the Magnit retail chain to Russian bank

VTB VTB Bank (; formerly known as ''Vneshtorgbank'', , lit. 'International Trade Bank') is a Russian majority state-owned bank headquartered in various federal districts of Russia; its legal address is registered in St. Petersburg; as of 2022 ...

for 138 billion rubles. In 2019, Galitsky got into the wine business. Grapes are grown near the village of Gostagaevskaya in

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and administratively a part of t ...

. The wine is sold under the brand name Galitsky & Galitsky.

Personal life

He is married to Viktoria Galitskaya, and they have one daughter, Polina Galitskaya. In March 2022, ''

'' reported that the megayacht ''Quantum Blue'' was owned by Galitsky. Registered in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

with a value of $213 million at 341 feet, on March 22, it was recorded off the coast of

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

.Biden And Allies Are Coming For Russian Billionaires’ Yachts: Forbes Tracked Down 51. Here’s Where To Find Them
, Giacomo Tognini, March 1, 2022; ''Forbes''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galitsky, Sergey 1967 births Russian businesspeople in retailing Russian billionaires Living people Russian people of Armenian descent People from Krasnodar Russian football chairmen and investors FC Krasnodar Armenian billionaires