Today Arkady Rotenberg is one of the richest people in Russia. The famous businessman, whose fortune is estimated at 2.6 billion dollars, is ranked 40th on the domestic Forbs list.
Childhood and youth
The future oligarch was born in 1951 in Leningrad. From early childhood, his parents instilled in him a love of sports. At first, the boy was engaged in acrobatics, and at the age of 12 he became interested in judo. The coach noted in the teenager special mobility and energy, which allowed him to win victories at the city level. By the way, Vladimir Putin trained with him in the same group of martial artists. Rivals in competitions, outside of sports, they became friends for life.
Sport
Perhaps the young man would have achieved great success if, after serving in a sports company, he had not taken up coaching. He was educated at the Leningrad Institute of Physical Education and worked for a decade and a half in various sections, headed the Children's and Youth Sports School.
In 1991, Rotenberg organized a cooperative that held martial arts competitions. To keep fit, he walked on the tatami himself, often with Putin, who at that time worked in the city administration.
In 1998, in the northern capital, with the participation of an athlete, the Yavara-Neva sports club appeared, the ideological creator and honorary president of which was the future leader of the country. Today the club is the most titled club in Russia, having won six European championships.
After a while, the publishing house "Prosveshchenie" published a textbook by Arkady Romanovich "The Art of Judo". Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Honored Worker of Physical Culture, he is the author of thirty works on the organization of the coaching process.
Three years ago, Rotenberg was elected chairman of the board of the Russian Hockey Federation. He holds this position to this day.
Business
Arkady began his commercial activity with his younger brother Boris back in the 90s, then they were engaged in barter transactions. Further, the aspiring businessman became a co-founder and head of several firms, the income from which paved the way for a larger business. The active development of the future oligarch began after 2000. By that time, the businessman was one of the shareholders of the leading domestic enterprises and financial institutions: Rostelecom, Talion, Northern Sea Route, Investkapital, Trubny Metallokat.
The joint business of the Rotenberg brothers continued in the gas sector. They bought out five companies involved in the construction of gas pipelines from Gazprom, and in 2008 merged them into Stroygazmontazh. Arkady Romanovich took the position of a monopolist in the sphere of pipe supplies and expansion of the gas structure. The following year, the organization began construction of the Dzhubga-Lazarevskoye-Sochi gas pipeline. The next orders were the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok and Nord Stream branches.
In addition, the gas-pipe tycoon has invested in oil and gas construction, the annual turnover of his companies reached tens of billions of rubles. Rotenberg owns an insurance firm that also generates a steady income. Several years ago, the businessman replenished his assets with shares of road companies and received large government orders: the Moscow - St. Petersburg highway, the preparation of the Sochi Olympics, the construction of the Crimean bridge. The cost of large-scale work in the Kerch Strait is impressive - 230 billion rubles.
Personal life
In Rotenberg's personal life, not everything worked out as successfully as in business. He was married twice, but even having children could not save marriages. The first wife Galina gave birth to the oligarch two sons - Igor and Pavel, and daughter Lydia. The eldest son continued his father's work, building a career in construction and gas energy. The younger one shows good results in professional hockey.
The second family had a daughter, Varvara, and a son, Arkady. After the divorce, the billionaire's wife Natalya settled in the UK with her children. She is involved in charity work in support of national sports and choreography.
The biography of Arkady Rotenberg is a vivid example of a successful businessman, athlete, teacher and public figure.
