Gavril A. Yushvaev ( Russian: Гаврил Юшваев; born July 23, 1957) is a Russian-born Israeli businessman and investor known for the foundation of Wimm Bill Dann and investing in Polyus Gold. According to

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

, Yushvaev's net worth as of 2023 is $1.9 billion.

Biography

Gavril Yushvaev was born in Makhachkala, Dagestan. He is certified by the Israeli Community of Porto as a descendant of Sephardic Jews. In 1980, Yushvaev was convicted of robbery and spent nine years in a Soviet prison camp, according to Wimm-Bill-Dann's prospectus for its 2002 IPO. After his release in 1989, Yushavev partnered with David Yakobashvili. In 1993, they invested in the Lianozovo Dairy Plant, which later became Wimm Bill Dann. In 2020, he applied for Portuguese citizenship but, as of 2023, the process is still pending.

Business ventures

Yushvaev became wealthy in the 1990s as the co-founder of Trinity which owned various businesses in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. Yushvaev then invested in Wimm-Bill-Dann, a dairy and juice company. The company was founded in 1995Marshall I. Goldman, ''The Piratization of Russia: Russian Reform Goes Awry'' (Routledge, 2003), p. 217. and had its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in 2002. Yushvaev was the company's largest shareholder until 2010, when he sold his 19.6% stake in the company to

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

for $1.1 billion. In 2013, Yushvaev, along with another Russian businessman, purchased a 38% stake in Polyus Gold from Mikhail Prokhorov for $3.6 billion. He sold his stake in Polyus Gold in 2015 and made a $100 million investment in Lyft in 2015 along with joining a consortium that invested $150 million in Humacyte in 2015, a US based biotechnology company. He has also invested in Delivery Hero in 2013, a German delivery service company, and Domo in 2018, a software company. Yushvaev has a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

Personal life

Yushvaev is married and has eight children.

References

Russian oligarchs 1957 births Living people Russian billionaires Russian food industry businesspeople People from Makhachkala Russian businesspeople in Israel {{Russia-business-bio-stub