Victor Pinchuk Foundation

Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk (; born 14 December 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, ''Forbes magazine'' ranked him as 1,250th on the list of wealthiest people in the world, with a fortune of US$1.44 billion.

Pinchuk is the founder of EastOne Group LLC, an international investing, project funding and financial advisory company based in London, and of Interpipe Group, one of Ukraine's leading pipe, wheel and steel producers. Pinchuk is the owner of four TV channels and a popular tabloid, ''Fakty i Kommentarii''. He has been a member of the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, for two consecutive terms from 1998 to 2006. He is married to Olena Pinchuk, the daughter of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.

Early life and education

Pinchuk was born in 1960 in Kyiv to Jewish parents who moved to the industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk. in 1987, he graduated from Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute with a doctorate in industrial engineering.

Career

Media empire

Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Pinchuk was known to most Ukrainians, alongside his wife, as the largest shareholder and owner of StarlightMedia, one of the biggest media conglomerates in Ukraine. StarLightMedia encompasses several major television channels and is a dominant player in the Ukrainian broadcasting landscape. StarLightMedia also owns and operates Starlight Entertainment, a company that runs live events such as concerts, corporate conferences, and awards shows.

As a result of the vast holdings by Oligarchs such as Pinchuk and Ihor Kolomoisky (the owner of 1+1) in Ukrainian television, their companies often dominated the Teletriumph Awards. This led to many tensions within the television industry, including boycotts of the events – both by companies in opposition to Pinchuk, and by companies owned by Pinchuk and his wife. Added to this tension was the movement within the Ukrainian government to move the country towards more Ukrainian language content on television, and away from so much Russian language content on television.

In addition to television assets, Pinchuk was also a key figure in Ukrainian radio broadcasting. In 2016, he was a co-owner of TAVR Media, a major Ukrainian radio holding that operates several popular radio stations, including Hit-FM, Kiss-FM, Russkoe Radio Ukraina, Radio Relax, Radio ROKS, and Radio Melodia. TAVR Media functions through various subsidiary companies such as Liamin, Mir, and Pilot, with ownership stakes ranging from 95% to 100%. Through these enterprises, Pinchuk maintained significant influence in Ukraine.

Other holdings

In 1990, he founded the Interpipe Company on the basis of his patented innovations, which were adopted by leading metallurgical factories in the USSR.

Interpipe is a major producer of seamless pipes and railway wheels. In 2004, Pinchuk and Rinat Akhmetov, two of Ukraine's richest men, acquired the Kryvorizhstal steel factory for about $800 million. Then-President Leonid Kuchma, who is Pinchuk's father-in-law, authorized the state asset sale, which competitors complained was far below market rate. Later, the first Tymoshenko government reversed this sale, and held a nationally televised repeat auction that netted $4.8 billion.Monopolies thrive as toothless state bows to moguls
''Kyiv Post'' (18 March 2010) In 2006, Pinchuk founded an investment advisory company, EastOne. Its portfolio includes industrial assets such as production of pipes and tubes, rail car wheels, specialty steels and alloys, machinery, as well as media.

Pinchuk was a member of the Ukrainian Parliament between 1998 and 2006 for Labour Ukraine