Yuri Milner is the guy who invests in the most surprising start-up businesses. The profits from his businesses are further used to fund big science projects and awards. Having an undergraduate degree in theoretical physics, business opportunities attracted him and yet he never left disconnected from physics. At 54, Russian-born billionaire Yuri Milner has earned his place among the elite venture capitalists and owns the DST Global Company
Born in Moscow in 1961, Milner was named after Yuri Gagarin, the first person to travel to space. The journey to his present position has been a roller coaster ride. Initially, he started selling computers in the grey market and then brokerage firms and further started investing in Russian dot-com companies. By 2015, his reputation for making good investments through his firm DST Global received $1.7 billion for future investments.
Here are some of the most amazing predictions he’s made over the past few years.
Impact of social media will be huge: Milner invested $200 million in a startup Facebook in 2009. The investment ended up worth $2 billion while an investment of $400 million in Twitter in 2011 and $125 million in WhatsApp. His hunch on the social media and networking being the future of interaction and connection paid off in terms of huge returns.
Physicists should earn as much as athletes: Focusing on science, Milner along with Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin and Jack Ma created Breakthrough prize for winning researchers in 2012. Pouring money into scientific pursuit, Milner established the Fundamental Physics Prize surprising everyone and pushing for scientists to be recognized in the same way as athletes and artists. He believed that quest for science overrides the recognition of efforts undertaken.
Online companies are more efficient: Milner predicted that almost 20 percent of retail sales will be online by 2020. Though retailers like Amazon and others are building physical stores, online sales are growing at an amazing pace.
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