Dmitry Grishin (born 15 October 1978) is a businessman,

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of pr ...

and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as the co-founder and former chairman and CEO of Mail.ru Group. Grishin also made significant contributions to Russia's internet presence,

Runet The Russian Internet () or Runet (), is the part of the Internet that uses the Russian language, including the Russian-language community on the Internet and websites. Geographically, it reaches all continents, including Antarctica (due to Russ ...

, in its early days.

Early life

Dmitry Grishin was born in 1978 in

Kapustin Yar Kapustin Yar () is a Russian military training area and a rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, material ...

, a Russian rocket launch and development site in

Astrakhan Oblast Astrakhan Oblast (; ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southern Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Astrakhan. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,010,073. Geography Astrakhan's southern border is the ...

. His father was a designer of radar systems for the

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twinjet, twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the MiG-29, along with the large ...

jet fighter. At the age of 12, Grishin saw a VCR for the first time and the mechanics of the machine sparked his lifelong interest in robotics.

Technology career and Mail.ru

While attending Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Grishin started working for the U.S. software company Axiom Int, overseeing programmers in Florida from his student hostel in Moscow. He worked as Design Engineer, Senior Software Developer, and IT consultant while with Axiom. In March 2000 he began to work for netBridge as head of the project development division of the online auction site Molotok.ru; a year later, he was promoted to CTO. After the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...

burst in the U.S., the company's funding disappeared, so netBridge and Port.ru — another struggling company that included the project Mail.ru — merged in 2001. By December 2001, he was the company's technical director. He became executive director in June 2002 and succeeded Yuri Milner as CEO in April 2003. Under Grishin, Mail.ru expanded to become Russia's second largest web company by revenue. It provides a suite of consumer products including chat services, e-mail, and a social network,

Odnoklassniki Odnoklassniki (), abbreviated as OK or OK.ru, is a social networking service and online video sharing website primarily in Russia and former Soviet Republics. The site was launched on March 4, 2006 by Albert Popkov and is currently owned by VK. ...

. In 2010, Mail.ru held the first large IPO by a Russian internet firm, raising $912 million. In addition to chat, email, social, and search services, Mail.ru earns revenue from games and ads. 90% of Russian internet users regularly use Mail.ru's services. In November 2013, Grishin launched Mail.ru's U.S. subsidiary, My.com. My.com is based in the Netherlands with operations in California. Since launching, My.com has released a suite of mobile messaging, e-mail and gaming applications for iOS and Android devices and has announced upcoming MMORPG PC games. In 2013, Grishin was named to

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...

's annual "35 Innovators Under 35" list. Outside of Mail.ru, he serves on the Board of Directors in Haslop Company Ltd. (Search for «Mamba» in the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

) and Molotok Holdings Ltd. (Links on the

: «Molotok.ru»). Grishin resides in Moscow, and is married with one child. He speaks Russian, English and Chinese. In October 2016, Dmitry Grishin stepped down as CEO of Mail.ru, but remained as a Chairman until May 2022. TechCrunch. Mail.ru co-founder Dmitry Grishin steps down as CEO, replaced by VK head Dobrodee

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Education

* 1995 - Graduated from physics and mathematics school No. 4,

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

(Russia) * 2001 - Finished MSTU with red diploma with a degree CAD

Career

* 1998 - 2001 - Axiom Int. (United States,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, Clear Water) * Since December 1998 - software engineer * Since October, 1999 - senior software engineer * From March 2000 to May 2001 - IT-consultant '' netBridge Services (further Mail.Ru)'': * From March 2000 - Head of project development Molotok.ru * Since May, 2001 - Head Service Center * Since December 2001 - Technical Director Mail.Ru * Since June 2002 - Executive Director Mail.Ru * From April 2003 - CEO Mail.Ru * In 2005 - one of the founders of Mail.Ru Group * In 2010 - CEO Mail.Ru Group * In 2012 - Chairman of the Board of Directors Mail.Ru Group * November 2013 - Launched U.S. subsidiary, My.com * June 2012 - Founded Grishin Robotics

References

External links

*
Mail.Ru

Dmitry Grishin principles

Interview with the newspaper "Kommersant"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grishin, Dmitry Living people 1978 births Russian engineers Bauman Moscow State Technical University alumni