| Denis Sverdlov | |
|---|---|
| Денис Свердлов | |
 Sverdlov in 2012 | |
| Born | Denis Lvovich Sverdlov (1978-06-06) 6 June 1978 (age 46) Agara, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union (now Georgia) |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Alma mater | Saint Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Title | Founder and former CEO of Arrival |
| Term | March 2016 – November 2022 |
| Children | 3 |
Denis Lvovich Sverdlov (Russian: Денис Львович Свердлов; born 6 June 1978) is a British-based Russian businessman, and the founder and former CEO of Arrival, a British electric vehicle manufacturer based in London. The businessman who was worth $11.7 billion in April 2021 lost his billionaire status in April 2022. Sverdlov's 94% decline in net worth is the largest wealth loss of anyone outside China who appeared on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in 2021. In 2012–13, he was Russia's deputy minister for communications and mass media.
Early life
Sverdlov was born in 1978 in Agara in the then Soviet republic of Georgia. He was raised in Saint Petersburg by his engineer parents who were employed at a state-operated factory specializing in manufacturing fan blades used in electrical turbines. He has a degree in economics from Saint Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics.
Career
After graduating in 2000 Sverdlov founded IT Vision, an IT consulting firm.
From 2003 to 2007, Sverdlov was the co-founder and managing partner of Korus Consulting, an IT consulting firm in Russia.
Sverdlov was a co-founder and chief executive of Yota, a Russian mobile broadband company, until its acquisition by MegaFon in 2012.
Post-acquisition Sverdlov set up the Kinetik Trust to invest in a range of promising technologies and bring them to market.
He was Russia's deputy Communications and Mass Media Minister for 15 months before stepping down in 2013. He left this position following new legislation which banned government officials from holding assets abroad.
Sverdlov founded Arrival and began its operations in the UK in 2015. He was its CEO from March 2016 until November 2022. In March 2021 Arrival went public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, CIIC Merger Corp. In February 2024, after getting its stock delisted from the Nasdaq, Arrival's UK division entered administration, with future plans of a sale of Arrival and all of its affiliated assets.
He is also the founder of Roborace – the world’s first driverless electric racing platform.
Personal life
Sverdlov is married, with three children, and the family moved from France to London in September 2015.
References
- "SPAC Produces One of World's Biggest Billionaire Implosions". Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ Henni, Adrien (5 April 2021). "Former Russian Government Official Denis Sverdlov Scores $10Bln With Electric Vehicle Startup". Moscow Times. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- Arlidge, John (21 May 2021). "Meet Denis Sverdlov, the man with the £6 billion electric van". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 19 July 2024.
- ^ Holgate, Ben (24 September 2015). "Russian businessman driving a £20m electric lorries dream". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ "# 447 Denis Sverdlov". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021.
- Cotterill, Joseph (16 September 2015). "Kinetik bets on electric trucks with UK investment". Financial Times. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- Henni, Adrien (5 April 2021). "Former Russian Government Official Denis Sverdlov Scores $10Bln With Electric Vehicle Startup". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
- "Management Team". Arrival. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- Jolly, Jasper (24 November 2022). "Founder of troubled electric van maker Arrival steps aside as CEO". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- "Arrival: Electric van maker's UK arm enters administration". 5 February 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- "Roborace is building a 300kph AI supercar – no driver required". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 9 July 2021.