Dmitry Grishin (born 15 October 1978) is a businessman,

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...

and

Internet entrepreneur An Internet entrepreneur is an owner, founder or manager of an Internet-based business. This list includes Internet company founders and people brought on to companies for their general business or accounting acumen, as is the case with some Chie ...

. He is best known as the co-founder and former Chairman and CEO of

Mail.ru Group VK, known as Mail.ru Group until 12 October 2021, is a Russian technology company. It started in 1998 as an e-mail service and went on to become a major corporate figure in the Runet, Russian-speaking segment of the Internet. VK operates an e-m ...

. Grishin also made significant contributions to Russia’s internet presence,

Runet Runet (russian: Рунет), a portmanteau of ru (code for both the Russian language and Russia's top-level domain) and net/network, is the Russian-language community on the Internet and websites. The term Runet was coined in Israel in the spr ...

, in its early days.

Early life

Dmitry Grishin was born in 1978 in

Kapustin Yar Kapustin Yar (russian: Капустин Яр) is a Russian rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, material ...

, a Russian rocket launch and development site in

Astrakhan Oblast Astrakhan Oblast (russian: Астраха́нская о́бласть, ''Astrakhanskaya oblast'', , ''Astrakhan oblysy'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southern Russia. Its administrative center ...

. His father was a designer of radar systems for the

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the Mi ...

jet fighter. At the age of 12, Grishin saw a VCR for the first time and the mechanics of the machine sparked his lifelong interest in robotics.

Technology Career and Mail.ru

While attending

Bauman Moscow State Technical University The Bauman Moscow State Technical University, BMSTU (russian: link=no, Московский государственный технический университет им. Н. Э. Баумана (МГТУ им. Н. Э. Баумана)), some ...

, Grishin started working for the U.S. software company Axiom Int, overseeing programmers in Florida from his student hostel in Moscow. He worked as Design Engineer, Senior Software Developer, and IT consultant while with Axiom. In March 2000 he began to work for netBridge as head of the project development division of the online auction site Molotok.ru; a year later, he was promoted to CTO. After the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

burst in the U.S., the company’s funding disappeared, so netBridge and Port.ru — another struggling company that included the project Mail.ru — merged in 2001. By December 2001, he was the company’s technical director. He became executive director in June 2002 and succeeded

Yuri Milner Yuri Borisovich (Bentsionovich) Milner (russian: Юрий Борисович (Бенционович) Мильнер; born 11 November 1961) is a Soviet-born Israeli entrepreneur, venture capitalist and physicist. He is a cofounder and former c ...

as CEO in April 2003. Under Grishin, Mail.ru expanded to become Russia’s second largest web company by revenue. It provides a suite of consumer products including chat services, e-mail, and a social network,

Odnoklassniki Odnoklassniki ( rus, Одноклассники, t=Classmates) is a social network service used mainly in Russia and former Soviet Republics. The site was developed by Albert Popkov and launched on March 4, 2006. The website currently has more ...

. In 2010, Mail.ru held the first large IPO by a Russian internet firm, raising $912 million. In addition to chat, email, social, and search services, Mail.ru earns revenue from games and ads. 90% of Russian internet users regularly use Mail.ru’s services. In November 2013, Grishin launched Mail.ru’s U.S. subsidiary,

My.com My.com is an international subsidiary of VK that offers Internet-related services and products. My.com is working under brands and services myMail, myChat and Maps.Me. My.com is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with a U.S. office locat ...

. My.com is based in the Netherlands with operations in California. Since launching, My.com has released a suite of mobile messaging, e-mail and gaming applications for iOS and Android devices and has announced upcoming MMORPG PC games. In 2013, Grishin was named to

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...

’s annual "35 Innovators Under 35" list. Outside of Mail.ru, he serves on the Board of Directors in Haslop Company Ltd. (Search for «Mamba» in the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

) and Molotok Holdings Ltd. (Links on the

: «Molotok.ru»). Grishin resides in Moscow, and is married with one child. He speaks Russian, English and Chinese. In October 2016, Dmitry Grishin stepped down as CEO of Mail.ru, but remained as a Chairman until May 2022. TechCrunch. Mail.ru co-founder Dmitry Grishin steps down as CEO, replaced by VK head Dobrodee

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Education

* 1995 - Graduated from physics and mathematics school No. 4,

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...

(Russia) * 2001 - Finished

MSTU The Bauman Moscow State Technical University, BMSTU (russian: link=no, Московский государственный технический университет им. Н. Э. Баумана (МГТУ им. Н. Э. Баумана)), some ...

with red diploma with a degree

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

Career

* 1998 - 2001 - Axiom Int. (United States,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Clear Water Clear may refer to: *Transparency and translucency, the physical property of allowing light to pass through Arts and entertainment Music Groups * Clear (Christian band), an American CCM group from Cambridge, Minnesota * Clear (hardcore band), a ...

) * Since December 1998 - software engineer * Since October, 1999 - senior software engineer * From March 2000 to May 2001 - IT-consultant '' netBridge Services (further Mail.Ru)'': * From March 2000 - Head of project development Molotok.ru * Since May, 2001 - Head Service Center * Since December 2001 - Technical Director

Mail.Ru VK, known as Mail.ru Group until 12 October 2021, is a Russian technology company. It started in 1998 as an e-mail service and went on to become a major corporate figure in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet. VK operates an e-mail s ...

* Since June 2002 - Executive Director

* From April 2003 - CEO

* In 2005 - one of the founders of

Mail.Ru Group VK, known as Mail.ru Group until 12 October 2021, is a Russian technology company. It started in 1998 as an e-mail service and went on to become a major corporate figure in the Runet, Russian-speaking segment of the Internet. VK operates an e-m ...

* In 2010 - CEO

* In 2012 - Chairman of the Board of Directors

* November 2013 - Launched U.S. subsidiary, My.com * June 2012 - Founded Grishin Robotics

References

External links

*
Mail.Ru

Dmitry Grishin principles

Interview with the newspaper "Kommersant"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grishin, Dmitry Living people 1978 births Russian engineers Bauman Moscow State Technical University alumni