Yuri Milner

• 1. From Physics To Business

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  Yuri Milner was born on the 11th of November 1961 in Moscow. He grew up as the second child of Soviet intellectuals. His father worked at the Institute of Economics while his mother managed a virological laboratory for disease control. The family lived within the rigid structures of the Soviet Union during the Cold War era. Milner graduated from Lomonosov University with a degree in physics in 1985. He then joined the Lebedev Physical Institute to study theoretical physics under Vitaly Ginzburg. A future Nobel laureate supervised his early work there. He befriended Andrei Sakharov, a nuclear physicist and human rights activist who influenced his later investment strategy. Milner described himself as disappointed in his career as a physicist by 1990. That disappointment drove him to seek an MBA at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He became the first non-emigré from the Soviet Union to travel to the United States for this purpose.

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• 2. Building Russian Digital Empires

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  Milner started his business career selling gray market DOS computers in the Soviet Union. This activity displeased his father but provided crucial capital. When the USSR collapsed he stopped selling computers to enroll at Wharton. After graduating he spent the first half of the 1990s working at the World Bank in Washington D.C. He focused on developing private sector banking in Russia. Milner called these years lost due to the privatization of government holdings under Boris Yeltsin. In the spring of 1995 he was appointed CEO of Alliance-Menatep. This stock brokerage belonged to oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. By December 1996 he served as vice president and Head of Investment Management at Menatep Bank. He left that position in early 1998 after market makers praised his international financial experience. In 1999 he read a review by Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker about online businesses. The article inspired him to create an Internet company. He sought funding from friend Gregory Finger who led the Russian branch of New Century Holding. The fund agreed to invest $4.5 million with the proviso that Milner and Finger each personally invest $750,000.

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• 3. Global Tech Investments

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  Milner founded NetBridge Services Ltd. in 2000 as an Internet incubator and investment fund. The company transferred U.S.-pioneered business models to Russia including List.ru and Molotok.ru. It also created Boom.ru based on GeoCities and 24×7 using Amazon.com's formula. In February 2001 netBridge merged with Port.ru which owned Mail.ru. Milner became CEO of the new entity named Mail.Ru while retaining the legal name Port.ru. In 2005 New Century Holding shifted focus away from Russian projects. Milner then founded Digital Sky Technologies (DST) becoming its chairperson in 2006. A meeting through mutual friends resulted in Alisher Usmanov joining DST as a shareholder in 2008. On the 16th of September 2010 Digital Sky Technologies changed its name to Mail.ru Group. That same year Mail.ru Group completed its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange with a market valuation of $5.6 billion. Milner stepped down from the role of chairperson of Mail.ru in March 2012. Post IPO DST became the sole vehicle for further international investments.

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• 4. The Facebook Stake

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  In January 2009 Milner met Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in Palo Alto. The meeting led to an agreement on the 26th of May 2009 under which DST bought a 1.96% stake in Facebook for $200 million. This transaction marked a turning point in global venture capital history. Milner's commercial interests in Facebook Zynga and Groupon were transferred to DST Global. He became CEO of DST Global and chairperson of Mail.ru Group. By November 2010 Mail.ru Group held its offering on the London Stock Exchange. In March 2012 Milner stepped down from the board of directors at Mail.ru. On the 5th of November 2017 The New York Times reported that Milner had strong Kremlin backing for his investments in Facebook and Twitter. His companies sold these holdings two years before that report was made public. Milner denied any allegation he was working with Russia to turn social media against U.S. Democracy in his open letter published in ReCode. The article noted he owned over 8% of Facebook and 5% of Twitter before selling.

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• 5. Science And Longevity

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  Milner co-founded the Breakthrough Prize Foundation in July 2012 alongside Sergey Brin Priscilla Chan Anne Wojcicki and Mark Zuckerberg. Laureates receive $3 million each making it the largest scientific award in the world. The prize recognizes three fields: Fundamental Physics Life Sciences and Mathematics. In July 2015 Milner launched Breakthrough Initiatives to investigate life in the Universe. He announced the program at the Royal Society in London alongside Stephen Hawking Martin Rees Frank Drake Geoff Marcy and Ann Druyan. In September 2021 an investment vehicle held for the benefit of the Breakthrough Foundation invested in Altos Labs together with Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. Altos Labs is dedicated to harnessing cellular reprogramming to develop longevity therapeutics. The company recruited prominent scientists including Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte Steve Horvath and Shinya Yamanaka. Milner originally considered pursuing reprogramming philanthropically by awarding three-year grants of $1 million a year. He was convinced by former National Cancer Institute head Richard Klausner that a well-funded biotech company would lead to faster progress.

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• 6. Citizenship And Geopolitics

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  Milner became an Israeli citizen in 1999 and moved to Israel with his family in 2005. They relocated to California in 2014. He stated he has not been to Russia since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. In August 2022 he renounced his Russian citizenship reportedly in response to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. His companies have denounced the invasion on multiple occasions. Milner personally condemned Russia's war against Ukraine on his Twitter account. He donated tens of millions of dollars on several occasions in support of Ukrainian refugees. In April 2022 the foundation co-founded by Yuri and Julia Milner pledged $100 million to Tech for Refugees. This initiative launched with Airbnb.org Flexport.org and Spotify focuses on helping refugees find provisions shelter and comfort. On the 24th of March 2020 Milner published a fact sheet setting out his relations with Russia. It included statements that he is an Israeli citizen has never met Vladimir Putin made 97% of his capital outside Russia and has no assets in Russia. DST Global has received no investments from a Russian institution since 2011.

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• 7. Recognition And Wealth

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  In September 2017 Forbes included Milner to the list of 100 greatest living business minds. Fortune magazine named him one of the World's Greatest Leaders in March 2017. Time magazine listed him in the Titans category of its 2016 Time 100. Foreign Policy magazine included Milner on its Power List of the 500 most powerful people on the planet in May 2013. Bloomberg Markets placed him on their 2012 50 Most Influential list. Fortunes 2010 list ranked him 46th among the world's fifty most prominent businessmen. That same year Russian business magazine Vedomosti recognized him as Businessman of the Year. In 2011 Milner bought a $100 million home in Los Altos Hills California. The compound spans three plots totaling seven hectares including a main house and guest house. The Wall Street Journal reported the price as $100 million saying it was the most ever paid for a single-family home in the United States. The property is appraised by the Santa Clara County assessor at $50 million. On the 10th of December 2013 Yuri and Julia Milner joined the Giving Pledge created by Warren Buffett Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates.

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