Oleg Tinkoff spent $70 million in 2005 to build Tinkoff Bank into the world's largest digital bank and Russia's second-biggest credit card issuer. After publicly condemning Putin in 2022, Russian authorities delisted the bank and stripped him of most of his $10 billion stake. Diagnosed with leukemia, he says he wants to die with good karma.
The Russian Richard Branson. His name is Oleg Tinkoff. He starts this bank with $70 million of his own money and he actually buys a bank. He started this in 2005 and it gets huge to the point where Goldman invests into it and becomes massive. Up until 2021, it was the second largest issuer of credit cards in Russia. It was the largest digital bank in the world. And so it goes public. His stake in it is worth $10 billion. Here's where the story gets crazy. Russia does not like Oleg. He talks a ton of shit when they invade the Ukraine. He's very anti- the war. He says, Putin, you're full of shit. All these oligarchs in Russia, you're all full of shit. Eventually they delist Tinkoff Bank, so it's no longer public and he loses most of his money. Now he has leukemia and he's dying. He is still talking mad shit. He says, they wanted to punish me for this. And to that I say, fuck off. I want to die with good karma and for people to remember me for being strong and fair. And so he's paid the price for being outspoken and he's still being outspoken.
