Telman Ismailov

Telman Ismailov
Born
Telman Mardanovich Ismailov

(1956-10-26) 26 October 1956
Baku, Azerbaijan SSR
NationalityAzerbaijani, Russian, Turkish (naturalised)
Occupation(s)Businessman and entrepreneur
Known forAST Group
ChildrenSarkhan and Alekper (sons)
WebsiteAST Group Website
Notes
Peak net worth: 2008 - $12 Billion

Telman Mardanovich Ismailov (Azerbaijani: Telman Mərdan oğlu İsmayılov, Russian: Те́льман Марда́нович Исмаи́лов; born 26 October 1956) is an Azerbaijani-born businessman and entrepreneur of Mountain Jewish origin.[1] Since Azerbaijan does not allow dual citizenship, he holds Russian-Turkish citizenship. He is the chairman of the Russian AST Group of companies, which is active in many countries.[2] Until 2009, Ismailov owned the Europe's then-largest marketplace, Cherkizovsky Market, located in Moscow, Russia.

Early life and family

Telman Ismailov was born in Baku, USSR in 1956, to a business family from Baku. He is the tenth of 12 children.[3] Both his father's and mother's side were Mountain Jews.[4]

Business career

In 1989, he registered the brand "AST" (initials of his two sons (Alekper, Sarkhan) and himself).[5][a]

After the lavish opening of a hotel resort, the Mardan Palace, in Antalya, Russia's prime minister Vladimir Putin was reportedly enraged that Ismailov invested so much abroad and flaunted his riches while Russia was being hit by a credit crunch.[8] In retaliation, the angry Putin ordered the closing of Cherkizovsky Market in August 2009, causing 100,000 traders at the famous bazaar to lose their jobs.[7][8][9]

Lifestyle

Known for his extravagant lifestyle, Ismailov is famous for spending millions of dollars on singers like Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Tom Jones, and others. Ismailov paid Lopez $1.4 million for her to sing 10 minutes' worth of songs. The video of her singing "Happy Birthday" song to him is available on YouTube. Ismailov befriended plenty of other celebrities such as Sharon Stone, Richard Gere, Monica Bellucci, Paris Hilton, and numerous other performers just to appear at his lavish parties.[10]

Notes

  1. ^ Telman Ismailov is a co-owner and founder of the 1989 established AST Group which is an abbreviation of the names Alekper-Sarkhan-Telman (Russian: «АСТ» (аббревиатура от имён Алекпе́р-Сарха́н-Те́льман)).[6] Since 2002, the AST Group owns the "Moscow Printing House" (Russian: «Московский полиграфический дом»). As of 2009, The AST Group is engaged in hotel (AST-Gof), construction (AST-Kapstroy), printing services (AST-Moscow Printing House), transport (AST-TransService), restaurant (Prague-AST), security and jewelry (AST-Gold) business, its annual turnover is about 2 billion dollars.[7] "AST" owns the Cherkizovsky and Varshavsky markets, the Moscow restaurants "Prague" and "Mayak", the store "Voentorg", the travel agency "AST-TOUR" as of June 2009.[7]

References

  1. ^ На взятие Исмаилова (in Russian)
  2. ^ "РЕЗИДЕНТ ГРУППЫ АСТ ТЕЛЬМАН ИСМАИЛОВ: У НАС РУБЛЬ СЪЕШЬ – ТРИ ОТДАШЬ". (in Russian)
  3. ^ "Биография Тельман Исмаилов". www.peoples.ru. (in Russian)
  4. ^ "Türkiye bana iyi bakıyor | GAZETE VATAN". www9.gazetevatan.com. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  5. ^ "PR-кампания Тельмана Исмаилова". (in Russian)
  6. ^ Рожкова, Мария (Rozhkova, Maria); Филатов, Антон (Filatov, Anton) (28 August 2007). "Интервью: Тельман Исмаилов, президент группы АСТ: «У нас рубль съешь — три отдашь»" [Interview: Telman Ismailov, President of AST Group: "If you eat a ruble, you will give three to us"]. Ведомости №160 (1934) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ a b c "В ресторане "Прага" проводятся следственные действия" [Investigative actions are being carried out in the restaurant "Prague"]. Грани.ру (grani.ru) (in Russian). 6 August 2009. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  8. ^ a b Walker, Shaun (16 July 2009). "Oligarch pays for party that enraged Putin: A star-studded hotel opening has cost thousands of Moscow market traders their jobs". The Independent. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  9. ^ "В ресторане «Прага» ищут контракт на аренду земли под Черкизовский рынок" [In the restaurant "Prague" they are looking for a contract for the lease of land for the Cherkizovsky market]. Росбалт (www.rosbalt.ru) (in Russian). 6 August 2009. Archived from the original on 11 August 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  10. ^ Echo, Liverpool (2 June 2009). "Glitz and glamour for all in Turkey". liverpoolecho.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.