Victor Mikhailovich Pinchuk is an entrepreneur, politician, billionaire and oligarch, founder of EastOne and the Pinchuk Foundation, owner of the StarLightMedia media group.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on December 14, 1960 in the city of Kyiv. He received his higher education at the Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute, which he graduated in 1983, having received a specialty in the field of metal pressure processing. Subsequently, he defended his scientific work and received the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences.
Career
At one time, he worked at the Nizhnedniprovsk Pipe Rolling Plant, as well as at the State Research Design Institute of the Pipe Industry.
In 1990, he founded the investment and research group Interpipe. Initially, the company was engaged in importing natural gas from Russia and Turkmenistan, but over time it transformed into a manufacturer of pipe products.
In 1997, Pinchuk became president of the company.
Until January 2000, he worked as an adviser to the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma. In addition, until November 2000, he was a member of the Council of Entrepreneurs under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
During Kuchma’s presidency, Pinchuk became the owner of a number of large enterprises. In particular, in 2004, the Investment and Metallurgical Union consortium, founded by him together with Rinat Akhmetov , acquired more than 93% of the shares of the metallurgical giant Kryvorizhstal.
In 2006, the Interpipe group underwent restructuring, as a result of which its assets were divided among several companies. The following year, the investment and consulting company EastOne appeared on the basis of these businesses, which merged Pinchuk’s enterprises.
In the same 2006, he founded the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, a charitable organization that supports educational, cultural and social initiatives.
Pinchuk is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, a member of the Board of the Peterson Institute for the World Economy in the United States of America (USA), participates in the International Advisory Board of the Brookings Institution, serves on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art, and is a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Atlantic Council.
Political Activities
In 1998, he received the mandate of a people’s deputy of Ukraine for the first time. In 2002, he was again elected to the Verkhovna Rada.
During his work in the parliament, he was a member of various factions, including the People’s Democratic Party, Labor Ukraine, the Party of Pensioners of Ukraine and the Forward Ukraine! He was also a member of the deputy groups “Labor Ukraine”, “Democratic Ukraine” and “People’s Bloc of Lytvyn”.
Assets
According to Forbes, as of April 2024, Pinchuk ranks second among the richest people in Ukraine, his fortune is estimated at $ 2 billion.
Its assets include a number of companies and enterprises. In particular, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, he owns five factories operating as part of Interpipe. Pinchuk is also the owner of one of the largest media holdings in the country, StarLightMedia, which includes such TV channels as ICTV, STB, Novy Channel and others. In addition, he controls the Geo-Alliance group, which produces natural gas and gas condensate, and is also the founder of the PinchukArtCentre cultural initiative.
Marital Status
Since 1998, he has been married to Elena Pinchuk, Kuchma’s daughter, who heads the supervisory board of StarLightMedia. The relationship was officially registered in 2002. They are raising four children: three daughters – Maria, Kateryna and Veronica, as well as a son Roman.
