Len Blavatnik

Sir Leonard Blavatnik (Russian: Леонид Валентинович Блаватник, romanized: Leonid Valentinovich Blavatnik; born June 14, 1957) is a British-American businessman and philanthropist. As of April 2025, Forbes estimated his net worth at $26.5 billion, ranking him the 75th-richest person in the world.

Blavatnik made his initial fortune, alongside other Russian oligarchs, in the privatization of state-owned aluminum and oil assets after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He owns most of Warner Music Group via his privately held Access Industries.

In 2017, Blavatnik received a knighthood for services to philanthropy.

Blavatnik was born in Odessa in 1957, then in the Ukrainian SSR and part of the Soviet Union, to a Jewish family. His parents moved to Yaroslavl, a Russian city north of Moscow, when he was a child. He attended Moscow State University of Railway Engineering but did not complete his coursework due to the family's request for emigration visas. At the University of Railway Engineering, he became close friends with Viktor Vekselberg, another Ukrainian Jew, who would go on to found Renova Group.

Blavatnik's family emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States of America in 1978 and, in 1981, he received a master's degree in computer science from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1989.

In 1986, Blavatnik founded the holding company, Access Industries. The New York-based business controls 21% of LyondellBasell, the world's largest producer of polypropylene. Through Access Industries, Blavatnik owns most of Warner Music Group, and conducts most of his business operations.

In August 2005, Access Industries bought petrochemicals and plastics manufacturer Basell Polyolefins from Royal Dutch Shell and BASF for $5.7 billion. On December 20, 2007, Basell completed its acquisition of the Lyondell Chemical Company for an enterprise value of approximately $19 billion. The resulting company, LyondellBasell Industries became the world's eighth largest chemical company based on net sales. On January 6, 2009, the U.S. operations of LyondellBasell Industries filed for bankruptcy.

On April 30, 2010, LyondellBasell emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a significantly improved financial position. As part of its exit financing, LyondellBasell raised $3.25 billion of first-priority debt, as well as $2.8 billion through the rights offering jointly underwritten by Access Industries, Apollo Management, and Ares Management.

In early 2010, Access Industries was reported as one of a handful of bidders for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. On May 6, 2011, Warner Music Group announced its sale to Access for US$3.3 billion. On July 20, 2011, an Access affiliate acquired Warner Music Group for $3.3 billion. Though WMG was the World's third largest record company and considered a "trophy asset", it was also laden with debt and struggling to find an answer to online music piracy.

In May 2020, Warner Music announced it would proceed with an initial public offering that valued the company at $13.3 billion. The company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in June 2020. At which point, Blavatnik sold $1.9 billion of shares.

In 2011, Blavatnik donated to both US President Barack Obama and his Republican Party rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Blavatnik is one of the largest donors to the Republican Party and, in 2015–2016, donated a total of $7.35 million to six Republican political candidates, including South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Arizona Senator John McCain. In February 2016, Blavatnik donated over $1 million to an anti-Donald Trump GOP group. He also donated $1 million to the committee for the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump. In August 2017, political scientist Bo Rothstein resigned from the Blavatnik School of Government out of opposition to Blavatnik's politics.

Blavatnik and his American wife, Emily, also donated to Democratic Party candidates Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, and Hillary Clinton.

In 2017, two senior Trump administration officials went on record as being lobbyists for Blavatnik's Access Industries.

Since April 2016, Blavatnik has contributed $383,000 to the Republican National Committee and $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. These donations included $12,000 directed to Trump's legal fund. However, he did not give directly to the Trump 2016 presidential campaign. Between 2015 and 2017, Blavatnik contributed $3.5 million to Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell's super PAC.

Blavatnik established the Blavatnik Family Foundation, which supports higher education, good governance, early-stage scientific research, arts and culture, and Jewish history.

Educational institutions supported by Blavatnik have included Yale University, Harvard University, and Oxford University. In 2011, Blavatnik donated more than £50 million to the Tate Modern gallery in London – the largest donation in the gallery's history. In 2017, the gallery named its new extension the Blavatnik Building.

Some critics, such as Ann Marlowe, have characterized his donations as influence-buying and whitewashing. A letter signed by 21 academic was published in The Guardian also criticizing Blavatnik's donations and Oxford University's decision to accept them.

Blavatnik is a member of the Board of Trustees at Carnegie Hall, a member of the Board of Directors at 92NY and a member of the Board of Directors at the Center for Jewish History. He is also a member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Board of Governors at Tel Aviv University.

In 2013, Blavatnik was made chevalier of the French Legion d'Honneur.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to philanthropy.

Blavatnik is married to Emily Appelson Blavatnik. The couple have four children.

He owns a Grade II listed building in London on "the most expensive street in the world", Kensington Palace Gardens (number 15), which is valued at £200 million. He acquired the property in 2004. Other residents on the street include Israeli and Russian ambassadors. He also has a residence in Manhattan valued at more than $250 million.