Brilliant Eugene: milestones in the life of the former owner of Euroset, billionaire Chichvarkin. Chichvarkin Evgeny Alexandrovich

Creation successful business is as much an act of art as sculpting a sculpture or painting a picture. This is easy to verify by looking at the success stories of the largest entrepreneurs. This article will discuss one of them. We will tell you who Evgeny Chichvarkin is and why he can be safely called a genius.

Biography of a businessman before emigration

The life of one of the most eccentric domestic businessmen is full of bright events:

He was born in 1974 in Moscow (according to other sources, in St. Petersburg) in an intelligent family. Father is an aviator, mother is an employee of the trade ministry. According to Eugene himself, his ancestors had Finno-Ugric roots;
He received his secondary education at Moscow School No. 28. For the next seven years, he studied at the State Academy of Management (specialist and postgraduate studies);
During his studies at the university, he began to study entrepreneurial activity. Like many in the early 90s, he stood in the market and sold clothes;
After graduating from graduate school, he decided to engage in the trade of mobile phones that had just appeared in the country at that time. To this end, he paired with his old friend in 1997 opened a store Euroset» ;
For five years, under this brand, 92 outlets were opened in Moscow alone. By 2007, more than 5,000 branches were operating in 12 CIS and Baltic countries. Such commercial success made Chichvarkin the owner of a fortune of 1.6 billion dollars;

But this celebration of life in Russia could not last long.

Why did Chichvarkin leave Russia?

Growing commercial and political weight led to conflict with those in power, because of which Evgeny even had to leave Russia.

But first things first:

In August 2005, the businessman was accused of illegally importing goods worth $100 million into the country, but some time later the charges were dropped. Thus, werewolves in uniform made it clear that for a quiet life you need to share generously;
The following year, a batch of phones from the world famous manufacturer Motorola was detained, allegedly due to non-compliance with sanitary and epidemiological standards. The leadership of Euroset regarded such a step as raiding;
In March 2007, pro-government media began information war against the company. There were allegations of tax evasion on an especially large scale;
In September 2008, searches began at the organization's headquarters. Under pressure from the security forces, 100% of the Euroset shares were sold to a businessman more accommodating with the authorities Alexandru Mamut at a price several times lower than the market price;
As Chichvarkin himself stated in an interview with Yuri Dudyu (video at the end of the article), the real reason pressure on him was his unwillingness to give part of the profits to money-hungry corrupt officials. And in 2009 he moves to London, where he remains to this day.

Political activity of a businessman

A talented person is talented in everything. It is easy to verify this truth by looking at political career mobile phone dealer:

In anticipation presidential elections In 2008, he openly supported the candidacy of Dmitry Medvedev. The businessman then naively hoped for changes in the event of the arrival of a relatively young manager;
In the same 2008, he became the head of the new liberal-capitalist party Right Cause. However, he did not stay long in this role: his departure from Russia prevented him from doing party work;
While already in England, Chichvarkin published an open letter on the Internet addressed to the President of Russia, in which he complained about the raiding by the security forces and the lawlessness of the law enforcement system in the Russian Federation;
In 2010, he took part in the Moscow Tea Party project (an analogue of the extreme right American project"Boston Tea Party"). Unable to visit the country, he gave the speech remotely;
He also openly supported the civil movement "Strategy-31", aimed at protecting freedom of assembly;
In the Crimean crisis, he openly sided with Ukraine. Moreover, for some time he planned to join the new government of the country (but the plans never came true).

Who killed Chichvarkin's mother?

In April 2010, the businessman was struck by terrible news: his mother was found dead in a Moscow apartment:

It was found that death was caused by a blow to a blunt object. As such, the investigators assumed the corner of the table;
According to anonymous sources, the woman was addicted to the bottle. An autopsy showed changes in the body characteristic of alcoholics. She probably had a hard time parting with her son;
Initially, investigators did not put forward versions of violent death. But the son from London, who repeatedly received threats from the security forces against him, refused to trust the justice authorities;
The lawyers sent a request to the prosecutor's office for further investigation of the case, which was carried out in August 2010;
Currently the death of Lyudmila Chichvarkina remains a mystery . The official version says that everything happened by chance. But among the critics of the current government, there is an opinion about a political contract killing. The corrupt elite allegedly thus took revenge on the disgraced entrepreneur, who hid well abroad.

To make the portrait of a businessman more complete, let's supplement it with a few bright touches from the facts of his biography:

When choosing between health and money, he chooses the latter. In one of the interviews, he admitted that back in the 90s he stood in the cold for the sake of momentary profit. Because of this reckless act, he froze some of his fingers so that they now lost sensation;
He never hid that he was a smuggler. According to him, in the early 2000s, all market participants were guilty of selling "gray" phones, and he is no exception;
He also openly admitted the fact of giving bribes to people in uniform. Without this, as Chichvarkin assures, it is impossible to do business in our country;
Despite living far from his native places, he remains a patriot and still does not participate in any way in the local English life. And all because of the hopes for change in Russia and possible return in the distant future;
He named as his idol. And the point is not only in the brilliant business strategy of the latter, but also in the ability to look great at his age.
Businessman leads his page on instagram, he has over 180 thousand subscribers.

What is Chichvarkin doing now?

For about a couple of years, the merchant lived in England solely on personal savings. But the business vein allowed him to get used to the new place:

In August 2012, he opens a wine shop " Hedonism Wines". From the very first days, the institution has gained fame favorite place London elite;
The team of the alcohol boutique employs a former employee " Harrods”, the legendary department store English capital. Also among the employees there are Italians, Chinese, Spaniards, French, Scandinavians and, of course, Russians;
The volume of the initial capital investment amounted to several tens of millions in foreign currency. What profit the store brings to its owner is one of the most slippery topics, to which he prefers to answer very evasively;
According to popular opinion, the liquor store is nothing more than a hobby that brightens up the life of an expat. Despite the lack of high margins, the boutique is a place of attraction for celebrities, including Russian speakers.

In addition to trading in expensive wine, Chichvarkin continues to engage in social activities. In particular, in August 2017, he launched a campaign to raise money in support of the presidential candidacy of Alexei Navalny.

This person could safely count on receiving the title of "Hero of Capitalist Labor", if such existed. After all, for more than 20 years he has been equally good at selling clothes, telephones, and alcohol. That's who Yevgeny Chichvarkin is, who, like many talented Russians, was forced to leave his homeland. But he still hopes for a return and the coming transformation of the country.

Video: E. Chichvarkin visiting Dudya

In this video, the businessman himself, in an interview with Yuri Dudyu, will tell why he had to leave Russia, under what circumstances he had to sell the business:

For more than nine years, Chichvarkin has been living away from his homeland - he has long settled in London, where he does business and builds his personal life, in which last years happened big changes. The first wife of Evgeny Chichvarkin, Antonina, who shared with him in the past not only joyful holidays, but also bitter everyday life, acquired the status of “former” some time ago.

Together with her and two children - son Yaroslav and daughter Marta, the businessman moved to London in 2016, and he did this not of his own free will, but in order to avoid punishment for extortion and kidnapping, which he was accused of by the Russian authorities.

In the photo - Evgeny Chichvarkin with his first wife and son

Chichvarkin married Antonina at a young age, and their family was always considered strong - Eugene was never seen in romances on the side and flirting with other women.

Eugene and Antonina

After the charges were dropped from him, the businessman still did not return to Russia, and not so long ago he divorced his first wife and married a second time - Tatyana Fokina, director of his wine store, opened by Yevgeny in the British capital several years ago.

In the photo - Chichvarkin and his second wife Tatyana Fokina

The second wife of Chichvarkin is much younger than her chosen one and his first wife, she comes from St. Petersburg, from where, after graduating from the philological faculty of the St. Petersburg State University moved to London. She not only manages her husband's store, but also manages the Open University project, created by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in which she managed to work before moving to London.

Before meeting Chichvarkin, Tatyana Fokina did an internship at a PR agency for some time, worked for a Russian businessman, and in 2010 she met Evgeny, who was looking for a partner to create a store that did not exist at that time.

In the photo - Taptiana Fokina

The businessman admitted that before he came up with the idea to create a wine store, he wanted to open a bathhouse, the clients of which would be his compatriots, but he doubted that this business would be profitable.

According to Yevgeny Chichvarkin's wife, at first she was surprised by the concept of Yevgeny's store - huge bottles of very expensive wines were to be displayed on its shelves, including a twenty-seven-liter Rioja worth fourteen thousand dollars.

Chichvarkin says that Tatyana did a lot for his company, and at first he drew attention to Fokina precisely because of her professional qualities. Tatyana says that she has always been close to the topics of art, food, wine, so she created a store in which customers see not only a variety of wines, but also elements of contemporary art. In addition, there is always good music which makes the wine selection process even more enjoyable.

During joint work Eugene could not resist the charm of his future wife, fell in love with her and made a marriage proposal. The businessman's friends are delighted with his young wife and speak of her as a sweet, intelligent girl.

While the newly-made Chichvarkin family is not going to have children and continues to successfully develop its business - in 2017, Chichvarkin took 905th place in the ranking of the thousand richest residents of the UK, and his fortune was estimated at one hundred and twenty million pounds sterling a year.

Tatyana and her husband spend most of their working time in the office above their liquor store, and before work they have time to play tennis. Their working day is full of negotiations, meetings, communication with clients, work with suppliers and company employees.

AT free time Eugene and his wife attend cultural events, meet friends, like to go to the theater or to an exhibition.

Former Euroset co-owner Yevgeny Chichvarkin has been put on the international wanted list, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday. official representative Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation Marina Gridneva.

Evgeny Alexandrovich Chichvarkin was born on September 10, 1974 in Moscow. His father was a pilot and his mother was an economic engineer at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations.

In 1991-1996 Evgeny Chichvarkin studied at State Academy management in the specialty "Economics of management on motor transport". In parallel with his studies, he was engaged in trade in Moscow clothing markets, in particular, he managed several outlets in the market in Luzhniki.

In 1996, Evgeny Chichvarkin entered graduate school at the academy, where he studied until 1998.

In 1997, together with a childhood friend Timur Artemyev, Chichvarkin created the Euroset company. In the future, Chichvarkin and Artemyev were written about as co-owners of the Euroset company, while information about exactly what share of the company belonged to each of them was not disclosed.

In 2001, Chichvarkin appeared in the central press as the manager of the Euroset trading house, and in 2002, as the director of the Euroset trading network.

The rapid growth of the network of Euroset communication salons began after a change in the development strategy, the main direction of which was a sharp decline in prices for mobile phones.

By 2002, Euroset was already among the top three leaders in the Moscow market in terms of retail sales. mobile phones, accessories and contracts of mobile operators.

From January to December 2002, Euroset opened more than 100 communication stores, in 2003 another 117 stores were added to them.

In 2004, the company opened more than 800 new communication stores.

From 2001 to 2004, Euroset became official partner companies such as LG, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens, Sony-Ericsson, Sagem, Philips, Pantech. In February 2004, the Euroset company launches digital cameras, MP3 players and DECT phones.

Since 2004, Yevgeny Chichvarkin has been mentioned in the press as the chairman of the board of directors of Euroset.

In 2005, Euroset began to open not salons, but chain stores, they were opened in 1934. According to the magazine "Money", the company's turnover in 2005 amounted to 2.6 billion dollars.

In 2005, Euroset acquired a network of mobile communication salons "Techmarket" and the Voronezh company "Networks of communication salons of Russia", which allowed it to become one of the largest Russian companies retail.

In 2005, due to a scandal involving smuggled mobile phones seized by customs, Euroset became the object of attention from law enforcement agencies. In August 2006, the smuggling case against Euroset was closed for lack of corpus delicti.

In June 2005 Euroset was awarded the Superbrand 2005 award, in October it received the Brand of the Year/EFFIE 2005 award, and in December the Company of the Year in the Business Reputation nomination. The activity of the company was marked by the Diploma of the Russian Consumer Rights Protection Fund.

According to 2006 data, Euroset included 3,150 stores, and in 2007 their number in 12 countries - Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan - was already 5156.

In February 2004, Yevgeny Chichvarkin was awarded the "Person of the Year" award in the "Head of the Retail Business" nomination. Winner of the national stage of the competition "Entrepreneur of the Year" (2005), held by Ernst & Young, in the Trade nomination.

In mid-January 2009, Chichvarkin was charged with extortion and participation in organizing a kidnapping. According to investigators, in early 2003 Boris Levin, Euroset's vice-president for security, Andrei Yermilov, his deputy, and Sergei Katorgin, a security officer, together with other defendants in the case, kidnapped Andrey Vlaskin, the company's freight forwarder, who was suspected of stealing a large batch of cell phones. Chichvarkin was charged in the framework of this criminal case, since, as is believed law enforcement, the kidnapping of the freight forwarder and extortion were committed with the knowledge and consent of the then co-owner of Euroset.

Chichvarkin Evgeny Alexandrovich is a well-known Russian businessman, former co-owner of Euroset. In 2011, Forbes magazine included him in the rating of the most unusual entrepreneurs - eccentrics, eccentrics and extravagances.

Childhood and studies

Evgeny Chichvarkin, whose biography is described in this article, was born in Moscow in 1974. The boy's father worked first in civil, and then in passenger aviation (total experience - 40 years). Mom worked in the Ministry of Commerce as an economist-engineer.

In 1991-1996, the young man traded in clothing markets. In parallel, he was educated at the Academy of Management, specializing in motor transport. In 1996, Evgeny graduated from the university and entered graduate school, having studied there for another two years. Chichvarkin did not defend his dissertation. In one of his interviews, he said that he did not even come up with a topic.

Euroset

In 1997, Evgeny Chichvarkin, together with his friend Timur Artemyev, opened the Euroset company. The idea of opening a mobile phone salon belonged to Timur. Eugene himself simply liked to sell, and the variety of goods did not matter to him. AT further media wrote about Artemiev and Chichvarkin as co-owners of Euroset. But nowhere was information about the size of the share of each of them disclosed.

Extension

From the very beginning, Euroset focused on retail sales. Every year the company gradually expanded. In 1999, large-scale advertising began. But the real rapid growth of the company occurred after the introduction of a new development strategy. The basis was a decrease in cell phone prices. By 2002, the number of outlets increased to 11. Yevgeny Chichvarkin opened more than 100 stores. Every year their number has been constantly growing. So in 2003, 117 stores were opened, in 2004 there were already more than 800.

From 2001 to 2004, Euroset entered into contracts with vendors and officially became a partner of such brands as Pantec, Sagem, Philips, Sony Ericsson, Siemens, Samsung, Motorola and "Elji". Working directly with manufacturers and obtaining the most favorable terms during negotiations, the company continues to promote a strategy of low prices.

In 2003, Evgeny Chichvarkin took up the development of the regions in earnest. This resulted in improved economic performance and business growth in Russian cities. The national retailer in the regional market ensured not only the growth of the base of mobile operators and interest in cellular communications, but also contributed to the emergence of real competition, the increase in the professionalism of other retail chains and the creation of jobs.

New round of activity

At the beginning of 2004, Euroset launched DECT phones, MP3 players and cameras. In October, it was issued in the amount of 1 billion rubles. In the same year, the company's branches appeared in Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The 1000th anniversary salon of the company was opened in Grozny on December 7, 2004.

The main activities of Euroset are: retail trade in cellular and personal audio, digital cameras and accessories. The company also connected to telecom operators and provided information Services. The number of employees of the company reached 30 thousand. About 45 million people visited Euroset salons every month. In February 2004, Evgeny Chichvarkin received the Person of the Year award in the Retail Business Director category. Since 2005, Euroset began to cooperate with Nokia.

Scandal

Also in 2005, the company acquired the Voronezh "Salon Network" and "Techmarket". This allowed Euroset to become the largest retailer in its segment. At the same time, there was a scandal related to a batch of contraband phones detained at customs. Law enforcement agencies became interested in Euroset. Yevgeny Chichvarkin told the media that in this way they are trying to “crush” his company, and all accusations of smuggling are pure lies. In August 2006, law enforcement agencies closed the case for lack of corpus delicti.

New plans

In 2006, the number of stores reached 3150. And a year later, this figure increased to 5156. Communication stores were represented in 12 countries: Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Estonia, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine. Naturally, the company's immediate plans included an IPO. Chichvarkin also planned to open a hypermarket.

In 2007, many media spoke about the intention of Euroset to acquire its own bank and enter the relevant market. In order to stand out from the competition, Chichvarkin even came up with the name "Ebank". Most journalists noted the originality of Eugene.

Searches

In March 2007, the name of Chichvarkin was often mentioned in the press in connection with the arrest of Dmitry Sidorov, who headed the Iled M company. He was suspected of tax evasion, and on a large scale. In 2004-2005, Iled M supplied mobile devices and accessories to Euroset. Just at that time, Chichvarkin was a co-founder of the company, and then unexpectedly left it.

In August of the same year, employees of the Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted searches in the apartments of Euroset employees. Meanwhile, the information in the media was ambiguous. Some wrote that the searches were related to the 2005 smuggling case. Others claimed that Chichvarkin was involved in Iled M. Also, the version of a marketing move was not ruled out, when, after searches, the company announced the suspension of the supply of cellular phones to its stores, thereby stimulating demand for products.

Nevertheless, most experts adhered to the version that the searches were the answer of the security forces to Yevgeny's actions. After all, Chichvarkin was in a confrontation with the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They came to this conclusion after analyzing information from the Kommersant newspaper, which published an article about searches in Euroset. Also, back in March 2006, the "K" department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs confiscated a batch of Motorola phones from the company. Euroset filed a lawsuit for illegal seizure and won. Part of the party was returned, and the other was destroyed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs "under the guise of harmful goods."

Company sale

In 2008, Vedomosti published information about the negotiations between MTS and Euroset regarding the sale of the latter. At the same time, the publication provided information on the distribution of shares in the company. Artemiev and Chichvarkin owned 50% of the shares. Vedomosti also asked the co-owners of Euroset to comment on the information about the likely sale. Both stated that this was not true.

In December 2008, Chichvarkin sold Euroset to Vimpelcom (Beeline) and Alexander Mamut in the ratio of 49.9 and 50.1%, respectively. Including debt ($850 million), the cost of the deal was $1.25 billion, and without it - about $400 million.

Criminal case

After the sale of the company, Evgeny Chichvarkin and his wife Antonina left Russia for London. And already in January 2009, a case was opened against a businessman, he was arrested in absentia. In March, Eugene was put on the international wanted list. Thanks to the competent work of his lawyers, Chichvarkin managed to achieve the termination of criminal prosecution. In 2011, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation closed his case and stopped the international search. Yevgeny Chichvarkin and his wife still live in London and are not going to return.

Personal life

Many media consider his image rather unusual for a serious businessman. In an interview, Eugene said that people often take him for an idiot. On the one hand, the entrepreneur was offended, but there were situations when it was even convenient. In 2007, a publication was published, in the writing of which Evgeny Chichvarkin took part. The book was called "If you are sent 99 times out of 100." The genre of the publication is "success story". In it, the businessman described in detail his biography and the history of the formation of Euroset. Critics said that the figure of Yevgeny in the book "turned out not very pretty, so the degree of reliability of the statement is quite high."

Despite his large fortune ($3 billion), the businessman does not consider himself rich. Money for him is just an opportunity. The entrepreneur is married and very happy in marriage. The wife of Evgeny Chichvarkin is a housewife. Together with her husband, she is raising two children: daughter Marta and son Yaroslav.