Business Moguls

Mikhail Fridman

Oligarch born in Lviv, exiled by war

Roman Abramovich

Oligarch who bought Chelsea FC, worth $10B+

Yuri Milner

Soviet-born physicist turned Silicon Valley kingmaker

Abner Zwillman

Prohibition-era crime boss known as the Al Capone of New Jersey

Alan King

Stand-up comedian

Alex Karp

Philosopher-CEO who built the surveillance state's brain

Alexander Lebedev

KGB spy turned press baron of London

Alexander Mamut

The Moscow oligarch who saved British books

Amy Schumer

Stand-up subversive who made discomfort funny.

Andy Jassy

Chief executive of Amazon since 2021 and founding head of Amazon Web Services, born in Scarsdale, New York

Arcadi Gaydamak

Moscow-born oligarch who bought Israeli influence

Armand Hammer

Industrialist and art collector — Occidental Petroleum, the Hammer Museum; son of emigrants from Odessa and Vitebsk, he did business in Soviet Russia from 1921

Arnold Rothstein

The gambler who bankrolled organized crime

Ben Cohen

The ice cream idealist who turned a scoop into a cause.

Ben Horowitz

Silicon Valley titan shaped by immigrant grit.

Billy Crystal

Comedian and actor from Long Island; his grandmothers came from Odessa and Kyiv; first American comedian to perform in the Soviet Union (1989)

Boris Berezovsky

From Soviet math labs to London exile.

Buddy Hackett

Brooklyn comedian with Russian-Jewish roots who was one of Las Vegas's last great stand-up kings

Bugsy Siegel

Figure in American organised crime, born in Brooklyn to Jewish immigrant parents

Charles Bluhdorn

Viennese immigrant with Russian parents who presided over Paramount's golden age

Chelsea Handler

Comedian, host of Chelsea Lately (E!, 2007–2014) and author of six No. 1 bestsellers

David Sarnoff

Head of RCA and founder of NBC, born in Uzlyany near Minsk

David Steinberg

Canadian comedy legend with Russian-Romanian Jewish roots who defined 1960s irreverent humour

Don Rickles

Brooklyn insult comedian born to Lithuanian-Russian Jewish parents who became Mr. Warmth

Dutch Schultz

Prohibition-era New York gangster, son of German-Jewish immigrants

Eugene Kleiner

Vienna-born venture capitalist with Russian roots who co-founded Kleiner Perkins and Silicon Valley itself

Eugene Shvidler

Ufa-born oligarch, Roman Abramovich's closest partner and the man behind Sibneft

Evgeny Chichvarkin

St. Petersburg entrepreneur who built Russia's biggest mobile phone chain and fled to London

Frank Lowy

Holocaust survivor born in Fiľakovo, Czechoslovakia; co-founder of Westfield

Gary Vaynerchuk

From Soviet Babruysk to Silicon Valley's loudest voice

George Burns

New York-born comedian and actor, son of Jewish immigrants from Galicia

George Soros

Investor and philanthropist, founder of the Open Society Foundations and the Central European University; his father spent the First World War and the Revolution as a prisoner in Russia

Helena Rubinstein

Cosmetics entrepreneur, born in Kraków

Henny Youngman

King of the One-Liners, son of Russian immigrant parents who defined American stand-up

Howie Mandel

Canadian comedian and Deal or No Deal host with Eastern European Jewish roots

Ida Rosenthal

Minsk-born immigrant who co-founded Maidenform and invented the modern bra

Igor Olenicoff

Moscow-born real estate billionaire and art collector who became one of America's wealthiest immigrants

Jack Benny

Comedian, actor and violinist; son of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire

Jackie Mason

Son of Minsk-born immigrants; ordained rabbi turned stand-up comedian

Jerry Seinfeld

American stand-up comedian; co-creator and star of Seinfeld

Jerry Stiller

Father of Ben Stiller and Seinfeld's Frank Costanza — his family came from Galicia and the Russian Empire

Joan Rivers

Brooklyn-born comedian and television host, daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants; first woman to host a late-night network talk show

Jon Stewart

Host of The Daily Show, born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz

Len Blavatnik

Odessa-born billionaire who bought Warner Music, built Access Industries and became the UK's richest man

Lenny Bruce

Stand-up comedian and satirist, born in Mineola, New York (1925-1966)

Leonid Nevzlin

Yukos co-owner who fled Russia, bankrolled opposition media and became a top anti-Putin activist from Israel

Lev Leviev

Born in Tashkent, became the Diamond King of the World and one of the wealthiest Israelis alive

Lew Grade

Born in Tokmak, Russian Empire; British television producer and impresario

Louis Lepke

Brooklyn gangster with Russian-Jewish roots who ran Murder Inc. — and went to the electric chair

Marc Benioff

Founder and chief executive of Salesforce, born in San Francisco; great-grandson of Isaac Benioff, a furrier from Kiev

Marc Lasry

Moroccan-born distressed-debt billionaire with Eastern European Jewish heritage who co-owned the Milwaukee Bucks

Mark Cuban

Entrepreneur and investor from Pittsburgh: Broadcast.com, the Dallas Mavericks, Shark Tank and Cost Plus Drugs

Max Factor

Make-up pioneer born in Congress Poland; worked in Moscow before emigrating in 1904

Mel Brooks

Brooklyn-born comedian and filmmaker whose mother emigrated from Kyiv; creator of The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein

Meyer Lansky

Figure in American organised crime, born in Grodno; emigrated to New York in 1911

Michael Dell

Founder of Dell Technologies, born in Houston, Texas

Mickey Cohen

Born to Kyiv Jewish immigrants — became the most feared gangster in Los Angeles

Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Russia's richest man, jailed by Putin for 10 years — now runs the anti-Putin opposition from London

Milton Berle

Comedian known as Mr. Television, host of Texaco Star Theater, born in Harlem (1908-2002)

Moe Dalitz

Russian-Jewish bootlegger who built Las Vegas alongside Bugsy Siegel and became its most legitimate mogul

Monk Eastman

Lower East Side gang leader of the 1890s–1900s and First World War soldier

Nathan Swartz

Born in Odessa — bought a failing Massachusetts boot company and built it into Timberland

Red Buttons

Oscar-winning comedian and actor, son of Russo-Polish Jewish immigrants

Richard Lewis

The prince of pain — his parents came from Russia and Romania, he turned neurosis into an art form

Rodney Dangerfield

Comedian of Caddyshack and Back to School, son of a Hungarian-born mother

Samuel Zemurray

Businessman born in Kishinev in 1877, the 'Banana Man' of Mobile and New Orleans; founder of Cuyamel Fruit and president of the United Fruit Company

Shecky Greene

Chicago-born Las Vegas headliner whose mother was born in Russia

Sheldon Adelson

Casino and convention developer — COMDEX, the Venetian, Sands Macao, Marina Bay Sands; son of a Boston cab driver from Lithuania

Sid Caesar

Star of Your Show of Shows, born in Yonkers to Jewish immigrant parents

Sidney Myer

Born in Krychaw (Krichev), Russian Empire; founder of Myer, Australia's largest chain of department stores

Sol Kerzner

Born to Russian-Jewish immigrants in South Africa — built Sun City and One&Only into global resort empires

Steve Ballmer

Chief executive of Microsoft 2000-2014 and owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, born in Detroit; grandson of a Jewish emigrant from Pinsk

Sumner Redstone

American media magnate who controlled Viacom and CBS; his maternal grandparents emigrated from Kyiv

Totie Fields

Hartford-born stand-up comedian of the 1960s and 70s

Valentin Gapontsev

Moscow-born physicist who founded the fibre laser maker IPG Photonics

Waxey Gordon

William Paley

Chicago-born son of an immigrant from Ukraine; head of CBS from 1928

Zino Davidoff

Tobacconist born in the Russian Empire in 1906 and raised in Geneva; built the Davidoff name into one of the best-known luxury cigar brands

Alisher Usmanov

Uzbek-born Russian billionaire who owned Arsenal FC and built USM Holdings — one of Russia's great fortunes

Andrei Melnichenko

Belarus-born fertilizer and coal magnate whose sailing superyacht is the world's largest

Vladimir Lisin

Steel magnate from Ivanovo who became Russia's richest man and a champion clay-target shooter

Gennady Timchenko

Putin's oldest business associate — co-founded Gunvor and became one of the world's top commodity traders

Viktor Vekselberg

Bought back the Fabergé eggs for Russia — Renova Group founder and Switzerland-based billionaire

German Khan

Kyiv-born businessman, head of Alfa Eco and executive director of TNK-BP

Alexei Kuzmichev

Alfa Group co-founder with Vologda roots who built a $7 billion fortune and lives in France

Peter Aven

Moscow economist who co-built Alfa-Bank into Russia's largest private bank and became Latvia's most famous billionaire

Yuri Shefler

Exiled Moscow businessman who owns the Stolichnaya vodka brand and runs SPI Group from London

Moshe Kantor

Moscow-born fertilizer billionaire and President of the European Jewish Congress

Igor Kolomoisky

Dnipro oligarch who co-owned Privat Group and financed Ukraine's defence — then fell out with Zelensky

Vadim Moshkovich

Moscow-born founder of the Russian agricultural group Rusagro

Mikhail Prokhorov

Moscow billionaire who owned the Brooklyn Nets and ran against Putin — then lost everything

Gennady Bogolyubov

Co-founder of PrivatBank, Ukraine's largest bank before its 2016 nationalisation

Rinat Akhmetov

Donetsk-born Ukraine's richest man — steel, energy, media empire built in the shadow of war

Michael Mirilashvili

Tbilisi-born Israeli billionaire and president of the World ORT charitable network

Vyacheslav Kantor

Moscow-born businessman, principal shareholder of Acron and President of the European Jewish Congress

Oleg Tinkov

Founded Tinkoff Bank, renounced Russian citizenship in 2022 after publicly opposing the Ukraine war

Timur Turlov

Moscow-born founder of NASDAQ-listed Freedom Holding who obtained Kazakhstani citizenship

Igor Makarov

Ashgabat-born gas trader and cycling patron who built Itera and has lived in Monaco for two decades

Yelena Baturina

Russia's only self-made female billionaire — built a construction empire, married Moscow's mayor, now based in Vienna

Dmitry Rybolovlev

Perm cardiologist turned potash billionaire who owns AS Monaco and bought a Da Vinci for $127 million

Mikhail Shelkov

Main owner of VSMPO-AVISMA, the world's third-largest producer of titanium sponge

Dmitry Pumpyansky

Ural industrialist; chairman of Sinara Group and builder of the pipe maker TMK

Lev Khasis

Samara-born executive; former CEO of X5 Retail Group and First Deputy CEO of Sberbank (2013–2022)

Vyacheslav Kim

Co-founder of Kaspi.kz — Kazakhstan's super-app and the most valuable company in Central Asia

Mikhail Lomtadze

Georgian-born CEO of Kaspi.kz — built Kazakhstan's most valuable company from Almaty

Timur Kulibayev

Son-in-law of Kazakhstan's founding president — controls the country's energy and banking empires

Dinara Kulibayeva

Daughter of Kazakhstan's founding president — wealthiest woman in Central Asia

Nurlan Smagulov

Kazakhstan's automotive and real estate billionaire — newest entrant on Forbes global list

Aydin Rakhimbayev

Kazakhstani businessman, co-founder of the construction and development company BI Group

Bidzina Ivanishvili

Made his fortune in 1990s Moscow metals and banking — became Georgia's Prime Minister and richest man

Vagit Alekperov

Born in Baku — founded LUKOIL, Russia's largest private oil company, and became one of the world's richest men

Ruben Vardanyan

Founded Troika Dialog — Russia's greatest investment bank — then renounced Russian citizenship and was imprisoned in Azerbaijan

Vladimir Potanin

Born in Moscow — controls Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium

Alexei Mordashov

Born in Cherepovets — controls Severstal, Russia's most efficient steelmaker, and was the majority shareholder of TUI travel group

Tatyana Bakalchuk

Founded Wildberries from her Moscow apartment while on maternity leave — built the largest e-commerce platform in Russia

Victor Pinchuk

Ukrainian steel magnate and philanthropist — his Yalta European Strategy forum defined Ukraine's path to Europe

Kostyantyn Zhevago

Ukrainian iron ore billionaire who took Ferrexpo to the London Stock Exchange

Harry Triguboff

'High-Rise Harry' — born in China to Russian-Jewish refugees, built Australia's largest apartment empire

Bulat Utemuratov

Former aide to Nazarbayev who built Verny Capital and became one of Kazakhstan's key financial figures

Nikita Kahn

Russian-born philanthropist and real estate developer — partner of Oracle founder Larry Ellison

Vaja Jhashi

Georgian-born agricultural billionaire who built Trans-Oil into the Black Sea grain trading giant

Ludwig Knoop

The Bremen apprentice who became the Russian Empire's cotton baron

Carl Albrecht

Bremen cotton merchant who married a Charleston planter heiress

Immanuel Nobel

The Swede who armed the Tsar's navy and fathered a dynasty

Ludvig Nobel

Built Russian oil, and his death created the Nobel Prize

Robert Nobel

Sent to buy walnut wood, bought an oil refinery instead

Emanuel Nobel

Ran Russia's largest oil company until the Bolsheviks took it

Savva Morozov

Textile magnate who bankrolled the theatre and the revolutionaries

Karl von Meck

Baltic German engineer who built Russia's railways

Ignace von Ephrussi

Banker born in Berdichev in 1829 who moved from the family's Odessa grain house to Vienna, founded Ephrussi & Co. and built the Palais Ephrussi on the Ringstrasse

Joseph Günzburg

Banker born in Vitebsk in 1812, founder of the Günzburg bank in St Petersburg and of the Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia; died in Paris

Lev Brodsky

Kiev sugar magnate and philanthropist, born in Zlatopol in 1852; with his brother Lazar ran the firm that refined about a quarter of the Empire's sugar; died in Paris in 1923

Rafael Potelyakhov

Bukharan Jewish merchant of the first guild in Kokand, one of the largest suppliers of Central Asian cotton to Russian industry; later lived in Berlin and London