Mikhail Prokhorov

Mikhail Prokhorov
Image	; Prokhorov in 2013
Born	3 May 1965 (Forbes)
Nationality	Russian; Israeli citizenship from 2022 (Forbes)
Residence	Moscow (Forbes)
Occupation	Businessman; investor
Known for	Onexim Group; former owner of the Brooklyn Nets; 2012 presidential candidate
Education	Moscow Institute of Finance (Forbes)

Russian businessman and investor; former owner of the Brooklyn Nets; 2012 presidential candidate

Mikhail Prokhorov (born 3 May 1965) is a Russian businessman and investor. Forbes says much of his fortune came from the 2008 sale of his stake in the metals company Norilsk Nickel, and that he holds stakes in Russian insurance and banking.^[1] He led the Onexim Group and was principal owner of the Nets, the NBA basketball team, from 2010 until 2019.^[2]^[3] He came third in Russia's 2012 presidential election, with 7.98% of the vote.^[4] On 11 November 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Prokhorov 319th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$11.0 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as investments.^[1]^[5] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Prokhorov 293rd, at US$11.0 billion.^[6]

Norilsk Nickel and UC Rusal

Forbes attributes much of Prokhorov's wealth to the 2008 sale of his Norilsk Nickel stake.^[1] According to RBC, he received a stake in the aluminium producer UC Rusal in 2008, as part of Oleg Deripaska's payment for a blocking stake in Norilsk Nickel.^[7] His Onexim group began looking for a buyer for that stake, then 17.02%, in summer 2016. It sold 3.3% on the stock market in February 2017 for US$240 million.^[7] In February 2018 Zonoville Investments, a consortium led by Viktor Vekselberg's Renova and Leonard Blavatnik's Access Industries, agreed to buy Onexim's remaining 6%, a stake RBC valued at about US$658.2 million at the market price.^[7] Forbes says he sold his last Rusal shares a month before the US Treasury imposed sanctions on the company.^[1]

Brooklyn Nets

In 2009 Prokhorov agreed with the Nets' majority owner, Bruce Ratner, to lead the building of a new arena in Brooklyn. UPI reported that he would invest US$200 million for 80% of the team and 45% of the arena.^[2] The NBA Board of Governors approved the purchase on 11 May 2010. Commissioner David Stern described him as the league's first majority investor from outside North America.^[8] In 2018 Prokhorov agreed to sell a 49% stake in the Nets to the Alibaba executive Joseph Tsai. Forbes put the deal at US$2.3 billion in one profile and US$2.4 billion, including the Barclays Center, in another.^[1] In September 2019 the NBA approved Tsai's purchase of the rest of the team, ending Prokhorov's nine-year run as owner. Reports put the combined price of team and arena at US$3.3–3.5 billion.^[3]

2012 presidential election

Prokhorov announced his candidacy two days after a large opposition demonstration on 10 December 2011. The Congressional Research Service noted speculation by some critics that the government had urged him to run, to attract the votes of liberal protesters.^[4] His nomination signatures were accepted, while two other prospective candidates were disqualified.^[4] Standing as a self-nominated candidate, he won 7.98% and came third behind Vladimir Putin and Gennadiy Zyuganov.^[4] He and Zyuganov alleged that irregularities had made the election not free and fair. The CRS said business interests welcomed his third place and his plan to form a party, which Putin endorsed on 5 March 2012.^[4]

Citizenship

Forbes reports that Prokhorov obtained Israeli citizenship in 2022.^[1]

Wealth history

Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 24 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2003. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.^[6]^[1]

Forbes estimates by list year
Year	World's Billionaires rank	Net worth (US$ bn)
2003	256	1.6
2004	90	4.8
2005	117	4.4
2006	89	6.4
2007	38	13.5
2008	24	19.5
2009	40	9.5
2010	39	13.4
2011	32	18.0
2012	58	13.2
2013	69	13.0
2014	109	10.9
2015	125	9.9
2016	151	7.6
2017	145	8.9
2018	158	9.6
2019	139	9.8
2020	115	11.2
2021	193	11.4
2022	192	10.3
2023	153	11.3
2024	190	11.0
2025	236	10.7
2026	293	11.0

International and political links

This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."