Tag Archives: Investors

Jew of the Week: Yuri Milner

Yuri Bentsionovich Milner (b. 1961) was born in Moscow. He studied theoretical physics at Moscow State University before working at the prestigious Lebedev Physical Institute. He found that his abilities in physics were not the best (especially because he was placed on a lower track due to his being Jewish), and decided to switch to business. He first tried selling computers, then went to do an MBA at the University of Pennsylvania, becoming the first person from the Soviet Union to officially study in the US. Upon graduation, he got a job at the World Bank, and in 1995 was made CEO of Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s investment company. In 1999, Milner read an article and decided it was a good idea to start an online business. He began a series of ventures that brought American-style sites to Russia, including Molotok.ru (the Russian eBay), Boom.ru (free webhosting), and 24×7 (Russia’s Amazon). In 2005, Milner established his own investment fund, Digital Sky Technologies. Five years later, his Mail.ru went public on the London Stock Exchange with a valuation of $5.6 billion. That same year, Milner bought pioneering Israeli instant messaging company ICQ, and has since invested an additional $150 million in Israeli startups. Milner’s venture capital fund has become one of the world’s greatest. He was among the first to invest in Facebook, with an initial $200 million, and plenty more since. He also invested $800 million in Twitter, $125 million in WhatsApp, and $1.6 billion in Alibaba, in addition to Groupon, Snapchat, Airbnb, and Spotify. In 2012, Milner established the Breakthrough Prize, awarding $3 million to great achievements in Physics, Life Sciences, and Mathematics. This is now the largest scientific award in the world, trumping even the Nobel Prize. In 2015, Milner founded the Breakthrough Initiatives to investigate life on other planets. Its first project is a $100 million, 10-year endeavour called “Listen”, searching for radio and laser signals from distant stars with the most sensitive equipment in the world. The most recent Breakthrough Initiative is “Starshot”, investing $100 million to develop a spacecraft that will be accelerated to 20% of the speed of light and take a 20 year journey to our nearest star. Milner also awards (together with Mark Zuckerberg) a $250,000 scholarship to the winner of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, in addition to $50,000 for that student’s science teacher, and $100,000 for the student’s school science lab. Milner has been on Fortune‘s list of 50 Greatest World Leaders, and TIME’s 100 Most Influential People. He was voted Russia’s Businessman of the Year in 2010, and Man of the Year in 2011, and has been described as “the most interesting man in the world”. Milner recently purchased a house in Los Altos for $100 million, the most ever paid for a single-family home in US history (which the modest Milner was quite embarrassed about). He regularly attends the local synagogue. Milner made the news once again a couple of weeks ago when his Breakthrough Listen project discovered mysterious radio bursts from a distant galaxy, sparking whispers of the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.

Words of the Week

An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no god. By some definitions, atheism is very stupid.
– Carl Sagan

Jews of the Week: Lawrence and Lance Stroll

Lawrence Stroll

Lawrence Sheldon Strulovitch (b. 1959) was born in Montreal. He grew up dreaming of owning and driving Ferraris, and decided to make that a reality by following in his father’s footsteps to become an investor. In the early 80’s, he started by investing in Pierre Cardin and soon introduced their kid’s wear line to the Canadian market. After this success, he did the same with Polo Ralph Lauren in Europe before co-founding Sportswear Holdings Ltd. in 1989 and purchasing a major stake in Tommy Hilfiger. Together with his partner, Stroll is credited with making Tommy Hilfiger the iconic brand that it has become. In 2003, Stroll started working with Michael Kors, similarly expanding it into the international brand that it is today. By 2012, Stroll was listed on Forbes billionaire’s list, and is currently among the wealthiest Canadians. His dream fulfilled, Stroll has some 25 Ferraris in his collection, and owns the Ferrari dealership in Quebec, as well as the Mont-Tremblant racing circuit.

Lance Stroll (Credit: Eddie Keogh/Reuters)

Stroll also introduced his son, Lance Stroll (b. 1998) to the Ferrari world. By age 11, Lance had won a handful of go-karting championships, was voted Rookie of the Year and Driver of the Year, and was signed by Ferrari to its Driver Academy – the youngest person to enter the program in its history. Earlier this year, he made his professional debut in Daytona. Yesterday, it was announced that Lance will join the Williams Martini Formula One team. At 18 years old, this makes him the youngest Formula One driver in the world.

Words of the Week

Our prayers are answered not when we are given what we ask, but when we are challenged to be what we can be.
– Morris Adler

Jew of the Week: Seymour Schulich

Mr. Schulich

Seymour Schulich (b. 1940) A science and engineering major from Montreal, he made most of his fortune in the oil and mining industries, primarily by inventing a new system of royalty payments. Schulich is often considered Canada’s top investor, as well as Canada’s greatest philanthropist. He recently donated $100 million to fund scholarships for university students through the United Jewish Appeal. This is in addition to $250 million he has already donated over the course of his life to various schools, hospitals and charities. It is therefore not surprising that he is the namesake for many institutions, including York’s Schulich School of Business, Western’s Schulich School of Medicine, Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering, Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law, McGill’s Schulich School of Music, Sunnybrook’s Schulich Heart Centre, and Technion’s Schulich Faculty of Chemistry. He has received the Order of Canada.

Words of the Week

Most men worry about their own bellies and other people’s souls, when we all ought to be worried about our own souls and other people’s bellies.
– Rabbi Israel Salanter