Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov thirsty for someone else’s glory

To become an oligarch in Russia it is quite enough to seize a business belonging to somebody else and pretend it was always yours. Spending dozens of millions of euros at a resort like Courchevel will guarantee that a man will go down in history. Or get involved into a mess. Unfortunately, neither redistribution of property nor squandering money may help in improving a man’s stained reputation. But a young and promising company Onexim seems to be having a different opinion on the issue. The company wants its chief Mikhail Prokhorov enjoy somebody else’s fame.

	Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov
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Before January 2007, billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov was known basically to his business colleagues, economics journalists and residents of the Russian city of Norilsk where the businessman was at head of an ore mining and processing company. Russian tabloids and the world mass media focused on the businessman after he was detained in France together with a group of glamorous fashion models. The incident made Mikhail Prokhorov the newsmaker of the month. An anecdote that soon after the incident got spread in Russia said that the Russian TNT TV channel would start a super popular program as some sort of casting for Prokhorov’s next voyage to Courchevel.

When anecdotes about some people appear it means that these people grow popular. But still, it took Prokhorov much time and effort to explain that “after so many years of humiliation and tragedies Russian people have the right for nice and cheerful life”. The oligarch openly said that his job was the most important thing in his life, then followed sports and meals, and girls were the least important component of his life.

Even the rumors about alleged negotiations between Mikhail Prokhorov and Hugh Hefner about probable selling the Playboy magazine to the Russian oligarch could not ruin the playboy image of the Russian oligarch. The first attempt to restore Prokhorov’s image failed but the way it was made seemed quite reasonable. Indeed, if Mikhail Prokhorov purchased the popular male magazine nobody would have ever called him a playboy but treated as a respectable media tycoon.

At the same very period, Mikhail Prokhorov quits the chief position at Norilsk Nickel and becomes the chief of the Onexim group. But Prokhorov seems to be not used to public life and obviously lacks for smart PR-agents as his first independent actions look somewhat strange. Let us take the most recent events.

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