A Russian Business Icon Sells Out to the State

Sergei Galitsky's announcement that he is selling almost his entire remaining stake in his enormous retail company to a Russian government-owned bank is perhaps the clearest imaginable indictment of President Vladimir Putin's economic policies. While economists argue about the government's exact weight in the Russian economy, in reality there's simply not much else.

Galitsky isn't just a wealthy businessman (he's worth $5 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires): He controls the biggest fortune in Russia that's not derived from natural resources. Unlike most of the Russian business elite, he doesn't live in Moscow. His home is in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, where he started a wholesale company and grew it into Russia's second-biggest retail network. Magnit stores ended 2017 with $19.6 billion in revenue.