Sergei Yurievich Polonsky (Сергей Юрьевич Полонский) is a Russian real estate entrepreneur and the former owner of one of the largest Russian real estate companies, Mirax Group. He is known as a self-made billionaire and as one of the wealthiest people in Russia, who attained great wealth before the financial crisis of the late 2000s. Polonsky has an estimated net worth of US$1.2 billion.
Early Life and Education
Born in 1972 in Leningrad, Soviet Union (now known as Saint Petersburg, Russia), Polonsky completed his secondary education in his hometown, before joining the Airborne Troops and completing his military service. Polonsky enrolled at the Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering and graduated in 2002 with a degree in economics and management of building enterprises. He continued on to achieve a Ph.D. and made an unsuccessful attempt at a doctorate.
Career
Sergei Polonsky’s launched his first entrepreneurial venture in 1994 when he was 22 years old with Artur Kirilenko. They launched Stroymontazh LLC, a real estate and construction company started with the aim of selling apartments in a building Polonsky and Kirilenko worked on. The owners of the building ran into financial difficulty and began paying the partners in apartments, instead of money. This was the start of the entrepreneurs’ career in property development and of them amassing massive wealth as they profited from using the weak rouble to pay construction costs but selling the properties for dollars.
In 2004 one of the Stroymontazh branches was renamed Mirax Group. In 2006 Mirax split from Stroymontazh with Polonsky taking controlling ownership of Mirax and Kirilenko remaining in charge of Stroymontazh. The former partners kept 10% shares in each other’s businesses for three years before selling their individual stakes in 2009.
Mirax
As the financial downturn put Mirax, and other Russian real estate companies at great risk, Polonsky and Mirax experienced uncertain times. They prevailed, despite the challenges and in 2011 the entrepreneur renamed Mirax to Potok. In 2012 he acquired all minority shares to become the owner of 100% of the company’s shares.
Aspirations of Presidency
Upon expressing interest in running for the Russian Presidency in the 2018 Presidential Election, Polonsky was nominated by a group of 520 activists. He filed his registration documentation with the CEC but was rejected because the group did not have an adequate membership. He then announced that he is creating a political party and will be running for the Russian Presidency in 2024.
Awards
Polonsky has achieved several awards and prizes, including:
- A gold medal, a badge of honor and diploma from the French National Association for National Industry Support
- A merit badge for being an ‘Honorary Russian Builder’
- The 2002 Construction Olympus award in the personal category ‘Manager of Complete Cycle Construction Company.’
Personal Life
Polonsky is known for his love for extreme sports. He also had aspirations of flying to the International Space Station and completed a cosmonaut training course but was rejected because he is too tall for the program. Polonsky is married to Olga Deripasko and has two children.