Business career
Upon leaving the Russian intelligence community, Lebedev set up his first company, the Russian Investment-Finance Company. In 1995 this bought the National Reserve Bank, a small Russian bank which was in trouble at the time. The bank subsequently grew rapidly to become one of Russia's largest banks.[10] Among the bank's assets were: The bank is the core of the group of companies holding National Reserve Corporation, that according to Lebedev's personal site owns around US$2 billion of assets.[6] In March 2006, Forbes estimates Lebedev's fortune as high as US$3.5 billion,[2] but as of July 2013 he dropped out of the billionaires list and is no longer a billionaire.[12]
The National Reserve Corporation included the National Land Company (the biggest potato producer in Russia), National Housing Corporation (construction of affordable houses), National Mortgage Company (Национальная Ипотечная Компания), as well as interests in textiles, telecommunications, trams and trolleybuses, electrical power, chemical and tourist industries owning a large hotel network in Crimea and plan to create the National Reserve Park that would manage diverse tourist enterprises in Russia, Ukraine and France.
Lebedev used to own the Moskovski Korrespondent, but according to Channel 4's Dispatches programme, Lebedev closed it down for publishing an article about Vladimir Putin having an affair with Alina Kabayeva.[13][14]
On 21 January 2009, Lebedev and his company Evening Press Corporation, part of Lebedev Holdings, bought approximately a 75.1% of share in the Evening Standard newspaper for £1. The previous owners, the Daily Mail and General Trust, continue to hold 24.9% in the company in the new firm, named Evening Standard Ltd. Lebedev promised not to interfere with the editorial running of the paper. Lebedev commented that during his time as a spy in London, he used the Evening Standard to find information.[15] Paul Dacre, the editor-in-chief of the Evening Standard at the time of the sale said: "It's a very sad day for the paper, it's a very sad day for the Rothermeres. We are very sorry that it leaked out, we had no control over that. Everyone's been working very hard and there's a lot of hope for the future of the Evening Standard."[16]
In 2009, he entered into exclusive negotiations with Independent News & Media to buy the company's British national newspapers, The Independent and The Independent on Sunday. Before the purchase was completed, his representatives offered the editorship of The Independent to Rod Liddle.[17] The offer was withdrawn after Liddle's putative appointment was opposed by the newspaper's staff and by an online campaign.[18][19] On 25 March 2010, Lebedev bought The Independent and Independent on Sunday for £1.[20]
In 2012, National Reserve Bank (NRB) faced difficulties: corporate deposits decreased by 2.2 billion rubles, retail deposits by 1.2 billion rubles. 20% of the bank's liabilities had run off by the end of January 2012. In March 2012, two top managers left the bank.[21]
On 5 November 2012, Lebedev announced he would close all the regional offices of the National Reserve Bank and sell off the real estate as well as 75% of the bank's loan portfolio, worth 16.8 billion rubles (US$542 million). Also in November 2012, Lebedev announced that he was selling off his assets in Russia.[11]
In 2019, Lebedev invested in the Emperium shipbuilding project, which produces electric-powered passenger ships. The first vessel, the Ekovolt catamaran, was launched in Saint Petersburg in June 2020.[22][23]
In 2021, Lebedev launched a project in the industry of decentralized finance, a cryptocurrency platform branded "Independent Decentralized Finance SmartBank & Ecosystem" (InDeFi SmartBank).[24][25] On 14 August 2025 InDeFi SmartBank placed on the OFAC (US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control) Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.[26]
- 11% of the main Russian national airline Aeroflot[11]
- 44% of the Ilyushin Finance Co, that owns a significant share of Russian aircraft-building industry
- significant parts of Sberbank, Gazprom, RAO UES
