Len Blavatnik

Blavatnik was born in Odessa in 1957, then in the Ukrainian SSR and part of the Soviet Union, to a Jewish family. His parents moved to Yaroslavl, a Russian city north of Moscow, when he was a child. He attended Moscow State University of Railway Engineering but did not complete his coursework due to the family's request for emigration visas. At the University of Railway Engineering, he became close friends with Viktor Vekselberg, another Ukrainian Jew, who would go on to found Renova Group.

Blavatnik's family emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States of America in 1978 and, in 1981, he received a master's degree in computer science from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1989.

In 1986, Blavatnik founded the holding company, Access Industries. The New York-based business controls 21% of LyondellBasell, the world's largest producer of polypropylene. Through Access Industries, Blavatnik owns most of Warner Music Group, and conducts most of his business operations.

Natural resources sector

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Blavatnik used Access Industries to buy up former state assets in Russia that were privatized by the government, particularly accumulating shares in aluminum smelters to make his wealth.

One of his investments, Sual, invested in regional electricity generating stations, which it used to supply power to its energy-intensive aluminum businesses. Sual later became part of United Company Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer. Blavatnik was a board member of Rusal from 2007 to 2016.

In 1997, Blavatnik Access Industries united with Viktor Vekselberg's Renova Group and Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group, to form the company AAR (Alfa, Access, Renova). Blavatnik's key role within AAR was to act as a connection to western businesses such as BP.

AAR bought 40% of struggling oil producer Tyumen Oil (TNK), one of few remaining state-owned oil companies, for $800 million. AAR outbid its competitors but reportedly paid just a quarter of the agreed sum. TNK began a series of acquisitions, focusing on the oil company Sidanko, which was part-owned by BP. In 1999, TNK acquired Sidanko's best assets via bankruptcy proceedings.

BP later sued TNK in New York courts, claiming that the Sidanko assets were acquired illegally. The 1999 lawsuit was resolved in 2003 when BP acquired TNK for $8 billion, forming TNK-BP, one of the largest oil companies in Russia. The deal gave BP unprecedented access to vital Russian oil and gas. The deal also made Blavatnik, Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Viktor Vekselberg, who controlled half of TNK-BP, billions of dollars. At the time of the purchase, Blavatnik, a U.S. citizen, was living in New York.

In 2013, the Russian oil company Rosneft paid AAR $28 billion in cash for its 50% stake in TNK-BP. AAR's original investment had been $8 billion of assets, and up to that point, AAR had taken $19 billion in dividends from the joint venture.

In 1999, Blavatnik's TNK company obtained Chernogorneft at auction for at $180 million, though the company had produced $1.2 billion worth of oil the year before. In 2022, Blavatnik sold his stake in Russian aluminum producer United Co. Rusal International PJSC, divesting his last major asset in the country according to Bloomberg News.

Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

US Department of Justice documents show Blavatnik's name in correspondence with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein spanning at least 2009 to 2017. Epstein sought favours from Blavatnik through his assistant, recommended him to others as an investor, and listed him on proposed guest lists for private gatherings including figures such as Ehud Barak, Henry Kissinger, and Larry Summers. When asked in 2017 by an associate if he knew any "adequate Russian oligarchs," Epstein named Blavatnik.

Blavatnik is married to Emily Appelson Blavatnik. The couple have four children.

He owns a Grade II listed building in London on "the most expensive street in the world", Kensington Palace Gardens (number 15), which is valued at £200 million. He acquired the property in 2004. Other residents on the street include Israeli and Russian ambassadors. He also has a residence in Manhattan valued at more than $250 million.

Blavatnik holds British, American and Greek citizenship.

Blavatnik established the Blavatnik Family Foundation, which supports higher education, good governance, early-stage scientific research, arts and culture, and Jewish history.

Educational institutions supported by Blavatnik have included Yale University, Harvard University, and Oxford University. In 2011, Blavatnik donated more than £50 million to the Tate Modern gallery in London – the largest donation in the gallery's history. In 2017, the gallery named its new extension the Blavatnik Building.

Some critics, such as Ann Marlowe, have characterized his donations as influence-buying and whitewashing. A letter signed by 21 academic was published in The Guardian also criticizing Blavatnik's donations and Oxford University's decision to accept them.

In 2011, Blavatnik donated to both US President Barack Obama and his Republican Party rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Blavatnik is one of the largest donors to the Republican Party and, in 2015–2016, donated a total of $7.35 million to six Republican political candidates, including South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Arizona Senator John McCain. In February 2016, Blavatnik donated over $1 million to an anti-Donald Trump GOP group. He also donated $1 million to the committee for the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump. In August 2017, political scientist Bo Rothstein resigned from the Blavatnik School of Government out of opposition to Blavatnik's politics.

Blavatnik and his American wife, Emily, also donated to Democratic Party candidates Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, and Hillary Clinton.

In 2017, two senior Trump administration officials went on record as being lobbyists for Blavatnik's Access Industries.

Since April 2016, Blavatnik has contributed $383,000 to the Republican National Committee and $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. These donations included $12,000 directed to Trump's legal fund. However, he did not give directly to the Trump 2016 presidential campaign. Between 2015 and 2017, Blavatnik contributed $3.5 million to Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell's super PAC.

Blavatnik donated $5,200 to the Pete Buttigieg 2020 presidential campaign and $5,600 to the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign.

Claim against JP Morgan Chase

In 2010, Blavatnik sued JPMorgan Chase after losing $100 million by allegedly following Morgan's advice three years earlier to buy mortgage securities with AAA credit ratings. In 2013, the New York State Supreme Court ordered JPMorgan Chase to pay Blavatnik $50 million in damages.

At the time, Blavatnik told The New York Times: "The small guy can't get anywhere with suits like this. I am a wealthy man. I will spend whatever it takes."

Sanctions during Russo-Ukraine War

In the wake of sanctions targeting Russian oligarchs during the Russo-Ukrainian War, media attention debated Blavatnik's status as a Russian oligarch, and his corresponding connection to Vladimir Putin. Some outlets have suggested Blavatnik has been involved in reputation laundering through his philanthropic projects, and that he maintains close connections to Viktor Vekselberg, an oligarch sanctioned by the US government. Blavatnik denies connections to Putin, and has attempted unsuccessfully to avoid the label of oligarch. In December 2023, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed personal sanctions against Blavatnik.