How Russian Yuri Milner became a billionaire in Silicon Valley

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Co-owner of Mail.ru Group Yuri Milner once again announced participation in a high-profile project - together with British scientist Stephen Hawking, he launched the program Breakthrough Starshot worth $ 100 million with the goal for 20 years to deliver mini-robots to the nearest star system Alpha Centauri.

If you still do not know who Yuri Milner is and how he became one of the main technological magnates of the planet, we offer answers to these and some other questions about a top businessman from Russia.

Who is he and where is he from?

Yuri Milner is known for his investments in various technological start-ups, including the social network Facebook. By the way, the founder and head of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, joined the board of directors of the Milner-Hawking project.

In addition, Milner, who was born in Moscow in the 1961 year and was named after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, became famous for his large investments in large-scale scientific projects and prestigious awards.

How did he start?

Milner grew up in the Soviet Union and began to engage in business with the sale of computers on the ordinary flea market. Then he joined a number of brokerage firms, which became his springboard to the investment business.

He was also interested in science from then on. Milner graduated from the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University and wrote a Ph.D. thesis in his specialty - theoretical physics, but abandoned it because of business opportunities that opened up.

What did he make a fortune for?

Forbes assesses Milner's condition 2,9 billion. How did he achieve this? Largely thanks to impressive investments in Silicon Valley at the right time. In 2009, he invested $200 million in Facebook, receiving a 2% stake in the social network. Following this, he invested his own money - hundreds of millions - in Twitter, Zynga, Spotify, Airbnb and Groupon.

Having started work in the technology market from Russia, where Milner was one of the founders of the Mail.ru Group and invested in other runet startups, the businessman diligently entered the international market. By 2015, his venture company DST Global attracted about $ 1,7 billion in investments.

What are its main goals?

Milner has always argued that scientists deserve no less glory than artists or athletes. That is why he decided to invest in them as much as they usually invest in the stars of show business. In 2012, Milner established the Prize in Fundamental Physics, bestowing nine physics scientists with awards of 3 million dollars.

Last year, Milner invested $ 100 million in the search for life outside the planet earth. As the entrepreneur said, the idea is to use the most powerful telescopes, combined in a large-scale computer system, to search for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.

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