President of Russia, that is.
MOSCOW — Amid a crescendo of complaints from Russians fed up with the country’s tightly controlled political system, two prominent figures — a billionaire industrialist and the recently ousted finance minister — sought to fill a void in the opposition leadership on Monday.
The billionaire, Mikhail D. Prokhorov, who owns shares in a major gold mining company and an array of other ventures in Russia as well as the New Jersey Nets basketball franchise in the United States, said he would run for president, challenging Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin.
“I made a decision, probably the most serious decision in my life: I am going to the presidential election,” Mr. Prohkorov said at a news conference. He has barely appeared in public since mid-September, when he was removed as the head of a pro-business party, Just Cause, after clashing with Kremlin political strategists.
Rest of NY Times breaking story here: http://www.nytimes.com/...
So besides knowing he's a rich 1%er and owner of a pro basketball franchise, what is known about this guy?
Mikhail D. Prokhorov is a Russian billionaire who owns the New Jersey Nets along with shares in a major gold mining operation and an array other ventures. He is widely considered one of the richest men in Russia, with a net worth estimated at $17.8 billion.
In May 2011, he had created a liberal Russian political party with close ties to the Kremlin, called Right Cause. But in September he quit the pro-business party, condemning it as a “puppet Kremlin party” micro-managed by a “puppet-master” in the president’s office. Allies of Mr. Putin had taken control of the party after Mr. Prokhorov clashed with the Kremlin’s top political strategist.
Known as the bachelor billionaire, with a penchant for lavish parties, he started out selling jeans in Moscow in the late 1980s and worked his way up from there.
He became the first foreign owner of an NBA franchise when he purchased the Nets, and is moving them from New Jersey to a new facility being built at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn.
No word yet from Vlad Putin.
