Posted on 03/18/2014 9:43:32 AM PDT by kronos77
Russia’s biggest billionaire has bought shares in big Chinese internet retailer Alibaba, after selling his stakes in US tech giants Apple and Facebook. The deal comes as the West imposes sanctions on Russia, that could spread from politics to business.
Usmanov, 60, a founder of Russia’s iron ore Metalloinvest holding company, has an estimated fortune of $18.6 billion as of March 2014 and is increasing his bet on China, while selling American assets.
“Chinese companies account for about 70 percent to 80 percent of the portfolio of our foreign internet investments,” Ivan Streshinskiy, head of Usmanov’s asset-management company USM Advisors LLC, told Bloomberg in an interview in Moscow.
In the last few months Usmanov sold the stake in Apple he bought for about $100 million last year, Streshinskiy said.Prior to the Apple sale the Russian tycoon started a gradual sale of his 10 percent stake in Facebook he bought in 2009, when the company was valued between $6 billion and $10 billion. Usmanov sold some of the shares in the Facebook IPO, that valued the company at $104 billion.
Alibaba, the world’s second biggest internet company after Google Inc., is valued at about $200 billion, as Bloomberg cites an investment bank data. The Chinese on-line retailer posted surging sales in the three months through September, marking fourth straight quarterly profit.
China’s safe harbor As Russia’s relations with the west sour over the Crimea referendum and the crisis in Ukraine, Usmanov says his Metalloinvest holding would increase its presence in the Chinese market, in case Europe imposes sanctions on its exports.
“We are concerned with the possible sanctions against Russia but don’t see any dramatic repercussions for our business,” Streshinskiy said. “China is unlikely to impose any sanctions. So, we will be trading in rubles, yuan, Hong Kong or Singapore dollars.”
(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...
Guess Obama is going to add him to his naughty list now.
“Russia’s biggest billionaire”
Putin is supposedly worth $40 billion to $70 billion with his gas & oil investments...
Good luck, Aleksey...
Facebook seems to be a bigger fraud and bubble than anything seen in the 2000 tech bubble.
$177 billion market cap for a trendy, updated version of “My Space?” Seriously?
Ask anyone under 18 if they use Facebook. This Russian guy seems like a very smart man to get out now.
As Mr. Rothschild once said ... "He who controls the Internet ... controls the World." (OK, I made a slight revision) However .... That's probably why China and Russia are now vying to take control of the thing that our Dear Leader in all his wisdom has decided that it's important for America to hand over the control of everything to the international community and that the US no longer needs to control anything at all .... except it's own people cuz we need to squeeze them for taxes.
Good move to dump Apple, it’s circling the toilet as we speak.
The minute Apple stopped caring about making a profit and inovating and started caring about non-business issues like “global warming” it was over.
fast forward 10 years = Apple bankrupt.
Facebook seems to be a bigger fraud and bubble than anything seen in the 2000 tech bubble.
$177 billion market cap for a trendy, updated version of “My Space?” Seriously?
Ask anyone under 18 if they use Facebook. This Russian guy seems like a very smart man to get out now.
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