A new hot topic :-) For a week now, the topic of Yevgeny Chichvarkin's flight abroad from possible persecution by the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been discussed. It all started with the fact that at 22.00 on December 22, 2008, Chichvarkin flew from Moscow to London, and on the same day at 23.05, a summons was delivered to the dacha in the elite village of Zhukovka near Moscow, where the businessman’s family lives, to summon him for interrogation to the Investigative Committee under Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation on December 24. Since he did not appear for interrogation, on January 21, the Moscow Basmanny Court received a petition from the Investigative Committee for the arrest of Chichvarkin in absentia, which will be considered on January 28. The audience of the Internet immediately divided into two factions "They are going to put them in the right place" and "Bloody Gebrya again takes away business from honest people." In the showdown, white Chichvarkin or black, my opinion is that he is neither one nor the other. It's grey, like most of our old business. I believe that there is no question of any selection by the state or groups of security forces of the Euroset from the crystal-clear businessman Chichvarkin. The point is in the company itself and in Chichvarkin himself. I'll try to explain how I see this situation:

Company.
Euroset has chosen a super-extensive development system. This allowed the company to grow at an explosive pace. How it worked: the premises were rented, mobile phones - a commodity loan from suppliers, only personnel and marketing are required from the Euroset. Under the trading proceeds, loans are taken and new outlets are riveted. Thus, according to some data, the Euroset grew 20 times in 2003-2006. In 2007, the explosive growth ended or some other reasons worked, which I will talk about later, and the company grew by the standard 21% for the market. The only negative in such a model is that the slightest bump on the road will tear apart this economic car. Why? The subject of the pledge is the revenue of the salons. Since we need to constantly increase revenue, we have many unprofitable or even unprofitable salons. In addition to revenue, the Euroset has nothing of its own. If banks do not roll over loans, the company is bankrupt. If revenue falls, banks will demand additional collateral. So, we have revenue and a lot of debt, what's the benefit? And simple, the company can be sold. And the larger the company, the more expensive it is. Before the crisis, Chichvarkin valued the company at $ 2,000,000,000, this is natural for shareholders, and let the buyer pay the debts separately.

Roof.
In the mid 90's, if you had a business, then you had a "roof" or you were dead or already crippled without a business. In the late 90s, all this was transformed into a voluntary "roof" scheme that solves all your problems with the police, tax, SES, firefighters and other unpleasant people. Some have even managed to do without a "roof" at all. And the Euroset with a roof, it seems, was all right. This can be seen in the conflicts that the company got into. Several main conflicts are associated with the Euroset:

• Abduction in 2003 of a former Euroset freight forwarder, caught by the security service in stealing cell phones.


• Tax evasion through Iled M. From 2004 to 2005, Iled M LLC purchased goods for 7.2 billion rubles. from four firms that turned out to be fictitious. All these mobile phones were sold through Euroset


• On March 29, 2006, 167,500 Motorola phones for a total of $19 million were confiscated by Department K of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. However, later it turned out that some of the allegedly destroyed phones were stolen and sold on the "black market". As a result, in August 2006, the smuggling case initiated against Euroset was closed due to the lack of corpus delicti. The arrest of the remaining 117 thousand phones was removed.

Sale of the company.
So, at the end of September, Alexander Mamut's Rambert Management Ltd bought Euroset for $1,250,000, of which $850,000 are the company's debts, and $400,000 are payments to shareholders. Mamut himself does not need the Euroset, he is an intermediary. Let's try to test the theory that he worked for the bloody hell. To do this, he had to either buy the company several times cheaper, or sell it to the right people.
Price:
Analysts find the company's price adequate. "$400 million is not cheap." - notes iKS-Consulting analyst Anton Vorykhalov. He recalls that the British retail chain Carphine this year was sold for 8 annual EBITDA (earnings before taxes, interest on loans and depreciation), and Euroset for 2.7-3. However, Carphone had a higher profitability, and British analysts said that it was overpriced.

The Finam investment company claims that they valued Euroset at $1.3 billion, close to the amount for which the company was sold (payments from new shareholders to former owners and debts will total about $1.25 billion).
those. say that the purchase price was at the level.
Who was sold to:
Alexander Mamut expects the deal to be closed by the end of this year. He did not name the cost of a 49.9% stake in Euroset, however, according to a Kommersant source familiar with the negotiations, it is about $ 225 million. Vimpelcom does not comment on the specifics of behavioral conditions and the deal itself, referring to the fact that have not yet received notification from the FAS. plus: "It is possible that Vimpelcom has an option to increase its stake in the company"
plus:
VimpelCom is not the only shareholder who should soon appear in Euroset. "I expect, in agreement with VimpelCom, to sell 25% of the company for at least $150 million to an investor who will develop financial retail," Kommersant said. " Mr. Mamut. There are no specific negotiations on the sale of this package, but Russian Standard, Home Credit and Alfa Group have already been interested in it. The businessman adds that the partner who acquires 25% of the company will receive the exclusive right to sell financial products and will independently determine the development of financial retail.
What is the result? The company was sold for three kopecks? Analysts say no. Has the company been sold to structures associated with security forces? No. Mamut? For him, it's just a market deal. Having realized his plans, he will receive (or not receive in connection with the crisis) $487.2 million. Quite a normal 20% for the risk.

Conclusions:
1) Chichvarkin sold the company for economic reasons. If I hadn't sold it in September, I could have fallen into bankruptcy. Debt / EBITDA = 6 - this is in a crisis, for an opaque company, with constant conflicts with suppliers and authorities - very bad. We can say that Mamut even flew by. If I had waited a month or two, I would have bought it at half the price.
2) All the current problems with the authorities at the Euroset come from the conflicts of 2002-2007. The main offended is the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 2006-2007, some of Evgeny's patrons from the special services and law enforcement agencies disappeared or significantly lost their power, the old enemies from the Ministry of Internal Affairs have not gone away.
3) Working for Right Cause was an attempt to solve problems with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they say, they won’t dare.

p.s. Be that as it may, I still hope that things will get better for Yevgeny, he will return to Russia and in a few years will amuse us with a new business, in which there will no longer be any roofs, no smuggling, no kidnapping of forwarding thieves. It's time to turn the page on dark business practices from the 90s.

Told journalist Yuri Dudyu in the program "vdud", how they tried to take Euroset away from him, how to protect good business in Russia, why he believes that Oleg Tinkov, the founder of Tinkoff Bank, is “dizzy with success” and what kind of relationship he has with Dmitry Medvedev. Below are quotes from the first part of the interview.

About Oleg Tinkov:

“From what he says, the real percentage of what he thinks is as big as the businessmen of the pre-Putin era. But he is rude and dizzy from success. It doesn’t matter how I feel about him, because in general I think that it’s better to lose with a smart than to find with a fool - if a person has intelligence, I actually respect him ... I think he didn’t really think about it (phrase “Moreover, he needs to be made emperor” - ed.)”.

But this remark by Tinkov was not an attempt to earn indulgence in front of those in power, Chichvarkin is convinced: “Firstly, they don’t care. You can at least<...>sing around the clock, but: if your asset is not protected, they will take it away, even though you will be with a portrait of Putin on your chest. There must be some kind of agreement, otherwise "a sweet asset that works without you, which is important, is likely to be taken away or looted, especially now." Chichvarkin suggests that Tinkov has resolved this issue.

About the biggest shame

Most of all, Chichvarkin is ashamed of the situation with the call to vote for candidates from the authorities in 2007 before the presidential elections:

“There was a mandatory condition that Putin had to be mentioned many times. No matter how I tried to get around it, I couldn’t - I made this compromise, and I’m ashamed of it ... I thought that this would allow me to save the company.

But Chichvarkin is not ashamed of Medvedev even now: if he became president, then "there would be a smooth long turn, and now we would live twice as rich," the entrepreneur believes.

"vdud" /YouTube

About how they squeezed Euroset

Yevgeny Chichvarkin said that when in 2005 a warehouse with telephones worth $15 million was arrested, law enforcement officers demanded a $5 million bribe from him. Then he was close to agreeing, and offered a bribe for 10% ($ 1.5-2 million) of the amount arrested, but in the end refused.

“We sent them because that was not done in the market. An opportunity arose - the ministry suddenly asks us a question: "Why don't you all carry yourself in white?" We say: "Why don't you give us?". - "And we will give an opportunity." And we did not agree (with those who extort a bribe - ed. note): if you give them money, they will come again, ”the entrepreneur said. Chichvarkin also believes that he did everything right, and it was necessary to "pay extra to push them to prisons."

Until the fall of 2005, all phones were imported into Russia “in gray”, without paying customs duties, he recalled.

From 2005 to 2008, Chichvarkin, if bribes were extorted from him, wrote letters to Putin, Medvedev, Chaika with a request to intervene. As a result, she even wrote to the US State Department, and raised this issue at a meeting with Putin. “The authorities said: “We have decided everything, please, no more noise. I obeyed, but it was necessary to plant the cops.

About the film "He is not Dimon to you" and Medvedev

“I felt: it would be great if such a serious development took place about Putin and other security officials.” At the same time, Chichvarkin said that Medvedev made "a certain set of moves" to save the Euroset business, so he feels indebted to him and is still grateful. But at the same time, when the war with Georgia began in August 2008, the entrepreneur realized that Medvedev's role now means much less, since he did not go against the security forces, who, as the entrepreneur is convinced, started a military conflict.

About the wine store

In Chichvarkin's Hedonism Wines boutique, there are drinks worth £247,000 on display. He is not afraid if one of the employees breaks an expensive product - the drinks are insured. The store is profitable, he argues - "Otherwise, why would I be doing this?" Expensive long-aged alcoholic beverages should be treated like an art gallery, the entrepreneur says: “This is what is on the market, and there is very little of it.” One of the most stringent requirements for staff is to respect the confidentiality of buyers, Chichvarkin noted, adding that once a buyer who was under anti-Russian sanctions came to him for wine.

16 min. reading

Updated: 28/05/2019

How many times a day do you talk on your cell phone? A couple of times, dozens? It is hard to imagine that until quite recently we did without mobile phones. For a conversation outside the home, one had to be content with telephone booths sparingly scattered around the city, and for a long-distance call - public telephone booths.

In our age of highly developed technologies and a fast pace of life, a mobile phone is simply indispensable. Their points of sale are now perhaps as common as pharmacies, grocery stores or gas stations. Surely you, my dear readers, have visited mobile phone stores more than once or twice, either to buy a new phone, or even just for the company.

Today we will talk about the Russian entrepreneur Evgeny Chichvarkin, co-founder of the legendary network of cellular stores Euroset. I want to say that this is one of the Russian entrepreneurs I respect most, who made himself from scratch on his own, without anyone's support, unlike the vast majority of today's oligarchs.

I think this name is familiar to you, because Euroset outlets have conquered the market not only in Russia, but also in the post-Soviet space in countries such as Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

At the moment, this company includes about 5,000 communication stores, but once it all started with a single store in Moscow on Leninsky Prospekt. Just imagine - 5000 communication shops!!!

5 years after the opening, Euroset became the leader in the retail sales of mobile phones and accessories with a turnover of 140 million dollars. Less than 10 years after its opening, Euroset occupied almost 40% of the Russian cell phone market. 2006 was a record year for the company in terms of the number of new outlets opened - the network expanded by another 1976 stores.

Under Chichvarkin's leadership, the company has grown into Russia's largest mobile phone retailer.

Euroset offers to buy not only cellular phones, but also order and pay for air tickets, tour packages, or pay money for satellite TV loans and traffic police fines. Thanks to the Euroset brand, Mr. Chichvarkin became fabulously rich. His current fortune is hundreds of millions of dollars.

Currently, Mr. Chichvarkin lives in the UK, and is referred to as the former co-owner of Euroset. He acquired the prefix "ex" and a new place of residence under certain circumstances, which we will talk about a little later.

Now we will talk about the main stages of life and the formation of a successful Russian entrepreneur, as well as the principles of doing business, Mr. Chichvarkin, which guided him on the way to millions.

Born or, according to Chichvarkin, "physically born", the future businessman in 1974 in the city on the Neva. Some sources indicate the capital as the place of birth, this confusion arose because Eugene was officially registered in Moscow.

One way or another, Chichvarkin can safely say to himself: "I was born in the Soviet Union, I was made in the USSR." His father worked as a civilian pilot, and his mother worked as an economic engineer in the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

Since childhood, Zhenya was attracted by difficult tasks, he preferred not to stand in line for the skating rink, but to climb over the fence, both literally and figuratively. Chichvarkin began to engage in commerce while still at school, and he spent the proceeds mainly on musical recordings.

By the way, have you noticed that many financially successful people from childhood began to show interest in money?

I believe that this interest must be cultivated and encouraged in every possible way in children, introducing them to the financial world. , the owner of more than 220 companies, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, said that in childhood we often talked about business at family dinners.

Let's return to Chichvarkin. Despite good academic performance - and Yevgeny received almost only "fives" - he was not accepted into the Komsomol because of his "uncontrollability".

The times of perestroika, during which Chichvarkin grew up, cannot be called simple. I had to rebuild my thinking "on the go", because those who could not show flexibility, quick reaction and adaptation to circumstances, they simply remained out of work in this "hungry" time.

Therefore, we note a useful recipe from Chichvarkin No. 1: “Keep an active life position and show flexibility of thinking”

From 1990 to 1994 Chichvarkin went through a trade survival school. As a young youth, he plunged headlong into the period of the collapse of the USSR and the formation of a new market economy of the future Russian Federation.

He got his first entrepreneurial experience in the senior classes of a secondary school, buying Cosmos cigarettes for 70 kopecks and reselling them to his classmates for a ruble. Then there were records and nail polish.

The miserable pennies earned from resale in this way did not impress the young entrepreneur and he began to look for more profitable schemes for making money. So he began to resell things through thrift stores. For example, a sports suit purchased for 50 rubles in one store, he resold in another for 400 rubles.

Immediately after school, Eugene enters the State Academy of Management, where his mother and father studied (he studied there in courses). In fact, this educational institution was chosen only according to these criteria.

It is difficult at the age of 16-17 to consciously choose a university, or rather a profession, because HOW you can choose what you do not know or what you have never encountered. In this regard, the choice of Evgeny is no different from the choice of millions of people throughout our country, for many of whom having a diploma of higher education does not affect the quality of life in any way.

student life

The student life of Yevgeny Chichvarkin is associated primarily with the clothing market in Luzhniki.

According to the future owner of Euroset “Making money then became so easy that you didn’t have to do anything directly.”

Once he met his former classmate, who was selling oversized men's underpants at the market in Stoleshnikov Lane. Someone else would most likely have ridiculed his classmate, but Chichvarkin decided to follow the example of his friend.

And here it started...

Eugene took on everything that could be bought cheaply and then resold elsewhere. These were razor blades, Snickers chocolate bars, glamorous Sophist o Twist fur hairpins, jeans, tracksuits, woolen tights, boots.

Perhaps it was easier to list what the enterprising guy did not trade. Even behind the counter of the clothing market in Luzhniki, Chichvarkin showed ingenuity - people bought from him even more expensive, because Zhenya presented the goods in the best possible way - ironed, while his competitors' goods were wrinkled.

He even put on women's dresses to draw attention to the product. Even then, realizing the full power of shocking, Chichvarkin further applied it everywhere - in the Euroset advertising company, in communication with staff, journalists and business partners.

What did an ordinary day of student Zhenya Chichvarkin look like, or rather, how did it differ from an ordinary day of other students?

An ordinary student, as a rule, woke up at 11-12 o'clock and barely had time for the last couple. Then he was idle until the evening, after which he dragged himself to some party, where he drank at someone else's expense, since he had “squandered” his scholarship for a long time.

Student Yevgeny Chichvarkin got up at 5 am to take the first train with bales to Luzhniki. There he sold all his goods for an hour and ran to the institute, being late for the first couple of minutes by 15. In the evening he put drinks to his fellow students whose scholarship had long ended.

Even then, Che, as Chichvarkin later became known, became famous in the market for being able to sell any, even the most difficult-to-sell goods.

This continued until 1994. That year, Chichvarkin stopped trading at Luzhniki due to the fact that the owners changed there, who raised fees for trading places.

And then, in 1994, Chichvarkin opened a videotape rental shop opposite the institute's canteen. True, he did not last long, only a month and a half. It had to be closed due to low

After that, Zhenya returns to trading again, only now he does it with the wrong hands. He begins to involve fellow students in trading relations. The scheme was simple. He found goods at a low price in one place and sold them through his classmates at a higher price.

At that time, spontaneous markets were massively opened not only throughout Moscow, but throughout Russia. And everyone who experienced a shortage of funds could earn extra money in such markets. My parents did the same thing in the 90s.

My father worked as a bus driver. In the morning he took the watch to work, and in the evening he took the watch back. As a result, the middle of the day was empty for him. My parents used the bus as a point of sale. My mother went to Moscow and Poland to buy goods, and during the day she sold them in my father's bus, which he parked next to one of these spontaneous markets in our city and in neighboring towns.

So, Chichvarkin found people who were not averse to earning extra money. They bought goods from him and went to trade them in one of these spontaneous markets. Fortunately, for several years, Zhenya has accumulated a lot of contacts with shuttle traders who transported goods, mainly from Turkey.

“How lazy people are - they can’t travel two metro stops to buy a blouse for a dollar cheaper,” Chichvarkin is still surprised.

At the same time, our hero was “not in the habit” to trade on the market himself. Soon he returned to Puddle again, as Eugene calls Luzhniki, where he was called by a “group of speculators” to sell the goods they brought from abroad.

How Evgeny Chivarkin got involved in mobile phones

It is not known how much the hero of today's article would have to trade in Luzhniki, if not for one event ... Immediately after graduating from the Academy, Eugene marries and leaves for a honeymoon, upon arrival from which he learns that his place in the market is occupied by other people.

At this moment, when it seemed that Eugene was left without a livelihood with his young wife, he was invited to work by his childhood friend Timur Artemyev. At that time, Timur, together with another partner, opened a mobile phone store. Things went neither shaky nor rolls. Then Timur invited Yevgeny Chichvarkin to use his talent as a salesman in his store.

Having nothing to do, Eugene went to work for Timur for the summer, in order to earn some money, so that in the fall he would return to trading in the market.

As you know, he has not returned to the market.

It so happened that Timur Artemiev did not see eye to eye with his partner, with whom they opened the Medikom store, in which Chichvarkin worked as a salesman.

But the views of Artemiev and Chivarkin completely coincided. As a result, the friends decided to open a new company in which they would be partners. So, on April 2, 1997, Euroset appeared. Timur took over all financial affairs, and Evgeny took care of sales.

The first store was opened ... But not so. At first, friends opened an office at the very beginning of Tverskaya Street. This office served as a point of sale. People came there through newspaper ads. Yes, yes... I specifically want to draw your attention to this. Chichvarkin and his comrades did not disdain anything.

When thinking about starting a business, many beginners immediately imagine a spacious store or boutique with a good repair, high glass windows, comfortable furniture, etc.

But as the history of the Euroset founders shows, before you can build a chain of stores with a total of more than 5,000 stores, start small. Find a product, rent an inexpensive office and start selling at least through newspapers or free classifieds sites, such as Avito.

Only after that, Evgeny and his partner Timur opened the first retail point of sale in the Electronics store on Leninsky Prospekt. A month later, they opened a third point of sale in Lubyanka.

Thus, Euroset has turned into a real chain of stores!

In this composition, they lasted until August 1998 ... And then the crisis began.

It was a dark time for many entrepreneurs. Thousands of businessmen went bankrupt at that time. However Chichvarkin not only survived, but also managed to open 2 more outlets by the end of 1998.

In 1999, Euroset stopped chasing the opening of new outlets and focused on improving those that already existed. In fact, there was nothing to open new points. The crisis of 1998 affected, the company could barely make ends meet.

Therefore, throughout the ninety-ninth year, Chichvarkin and his comrades increased their capital. It should be noted that the proposal “do not open new outlets” came from Timur Artemiev, who was in charge of finance. I say this to the fact that one head is good, but two is better.

Everyone is used to linking the success of the Euroset with Evgeny Chichvarkin. But it's nearly impossible to succeed alone.. Therefore, if we consider building a business from the point of view of success, then you need to be prepared to hire good professionals, and if there is no money for a professional, then take him as a partner.

I have drawn this conclusion from my own experience. I am now developing my online store and I see that without a team it will never grow. At the same time, my store is still young and there are not enough working capital yet to hire good specialists.

Let's return to Chichvarkin. In general, the 99th year was quite successful for the mobile phone market. As the saying goes, "There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped." The fact is that before the crisis of 1998, mobile phones were available mainly only to wealthy people. More precisely, not mobile phones, but cellular communication services.

With the onset of the crisis, cell phone rates skyrocketed due to the fact that all rates were in dollars. Naturally, mobile operators began to suffer losses and this forced them to urgently change their pricing policy.

As a result, two months after the onset of the crisis, MTS and VimpelCom halved their tariffs, and from January 1, 1999, they made incoming calls from mobile phones within the network free of charge!

During 1999, the main players in the cellular communications market reduced the cost of their tariffs several more times, and in the second half of 1999, they finally introduced per-second billing.

What did it lead to? To the boom of new connections from mobile operators and to the hype on mobile phones

At the end of 1999, Evgeny went abroad for the first time. But he does it not for the purpose of rest. He travels to Taiwan to find direct suppliers of phone accessories.

And here I want tell about one interesting case, which perfectly characterizes our hero. The fact is that he bought accessories for mobile phones in Russia from one of the wholesalers.

One day, while sitting in the office of one of these wholesalers, Evgeny had an urge to go to the toilet. While in the toilet, he saw empty boxes of accessories that were apparently going to be thrown away. The boxes showed the details of the supplier and various other shipping marks, which could not only contact the supplier in China, but also trace the entire path of delivery of this package.

Without getting up from the toilet, Che called one of his managers to dictate the details of the Chinese supplier. Before Chichvarkin left the toilet, the manager called him back with good news - he was waiting for a fax with a price list from the supplier.

Not much time has passed since the incident in the toilet, when Eugene was sitting in the seat of the plane, which was supposed to take him to a telecommunications exhibition in Taiwan, where he was going to arrange direct deliveries of various products for his stores.

What do I want to draw your attention to here? The entrepreneur's attention to detail. Perhaps someone else would consider digging through boxes lying in the toilet something low, dirty and humiliating. But not Eugene. It seems to me that Chichvarkin would not be ashamed to climb in these boxes, even if they were, pardon the expression, everything is in shit.

2000 - a turning point

Perhaps the year 2000 can be called a turning point in the development of the Euroset and, of course, in the life of our hero, Evgeny Chichvarkin!

Its subsequent development and success was associated with difficulties. More precisely, as a result of overcoming these difficulties, he was able to conquer new heights for himself and bring his company to a new level.

As I wrote above, 1999-2000 became a turning point both for the cellular communication market and for the mobile phone retail market. On this wave, Euroset began to have many competitors. And in 2000, Chichvarkin decided to unleash a price war.

He decided to reduce the markup on sold phones and accessories from 20% to 5%. His partner Timur Artemiev was categorically against this step, as he considered that with such an extra charge, the company could not become profitable. But he had to come to terms with this, since sales were Chichvarkin's area of ​​​​responsibility, and not his.

Eugene's calculation was simple: by reducing the markup, win on prices and thereby increase the number of sales.

In the same year 2000, Euroset took part in Expocom for the first time. In parallel with this, the partners decide to launch an advertising campaign on the radio, in which the emphasis is on the new pricing policy.

And this is where the most “terrible” happens!

Why above I wrote in quotation marks the phrase is the most “terrible”? Yes, because everyone who surrounded Chichvarkin's eyes and ears climbed onto their foreheads after what they heard. Everyone thought he was crazy. Radio stations refused to accept advertisements with profanity. True, not all. there were those who put on the air this advertisement. And with those who didn’t bet, they decided to replace the letter U in the word oh ... to be replaced by the standard “piiiiiii”.

But Chichvarkin was firm in his decision. He really wanted to stand out and draw attention to his company. And this was one of the turning points, because it was precisely at this moment that Evgeny Chichvarkin and the Euroset began to regularly shock the public with their outrageous antics.

“Craving went not real. We pressed the pedal to the floor. And away we go."

In 2000, the number of Euroset stores increased from 11 to 27. Sales soared so much that Euroset became the market leader, which, of course, many competitors did not like.

Competitors began to use any methods, just to reduce the ardor of presumptuous young entrepreneurs. In 2001 alone, the company's warehouse on Tverskaya was closed 15 times with the help of the police, firefighters and other methods of the authorities.

Chichvarkin regularly received threats on his cell phone, prompting him to hire a bodyguard. But he did not give up his intentions. Moreover, he decided to strike back and “kill” his competitors. Of course, not literally, but figuratively.

Here again I want to emphasize the difficulties and character of our hero. Another in his place would have been frightened for a long time and sat without rocking. But the difficulties forced Zhenya to look for ways to overcome them, his brain was constantly working and finding new solutions.

He found a legal way to drown his competitors, who sent him policemen and firefighters. Chichvarkin opened several points of sale next to the competitors that interfered with him and reduced prices so much that all buyers left the competitors and went to the Euroset for phones.

Moreover, prices were sometimes reduced even at a loss. Usually competitors in such a game merged in a few months. Soon, this tactic became a trademark of the Euroset.

Chichvarkin killed his competitors at a price!

During 2002, Euroset, headed by Chichvarkin, managed to sign a dealer agreement with Samsung and Motorola. Thanks to these contracts, phones from Euroset stores of these brands began to be supplied directly, and not through intermediaries represented by other dealers.

Then, in 2002, a new player appeared on the mobile phone retail market - “Svyaznoy”, which over the next three years became the main competitor of the Euroset.

In 2002, Chichvarkin decides to spread his nets outside of Moscow and goes to St. Petersburg. To open his stores in this city, he had to face a lot of problems. In order not to let the metropolitan network into St. Petersburg, ten major players in the local market are joining forces.

However, even here Che finds a way out. He agrees with the city administration that he will sponsor the restoration of stations, for which he will be able to open exclusive points of sale in them.

And since the stations are located in the city center, the Euroset immediately received the most passable places in the city.

Well, one more significant event of 2002 that I cannot miss is the April Fools' actions of Euroset. For the first time such an action was held in 2002, and later became an annual tradition.

That year, Chichvarkin decided to turn Tverskaya Street, where their central office-shop was located, into Red Light Street like in Amsterdam. To do this, Eugene hired models and put them in the windows of the store. The models were not completely naked, but in swimsuits. However, this was enough to make the passing men twist their necks, looking at the beauties. Euroset turned into Eroset for one day.

The following year, Chichvarkin decided to continue the experiment with stripping. True, this time he decided to undress the visitors of the Euroset. And this is what came out of it:

The April Fools' action of Euroset offered a phone as a gift to anyone who would strip naked to the company's anthem.

This trick of the co-founder of Euroset brought back to me memories of a British billionaire, an eccentric who, advertising his mobile company Virgin Mobile for half an hour in the center of London, waved his cell phone.

Well, it's better to "undress the customer than to "shod" him." With this, Chichvarkin is strict - the interests of the client come first. In Euroset, he introduced a rule for replenishing mobile phone accounts in the amount of 1 ruble.

In the case of various claims from the buyer, the manager urged the staff "not to bully", but to quickly exchange the faulty goods. Chichvarkin encouraged store managers to visit the salons of competitors in their free time, because if a lower price for a product was found than in Euroset, a premium was due.

Andresscode by Euroset

Another trick of the outrageous businessman dedicated to the first of April was remembered by all fashionistas and fashionistas. As part of the Russian Fashion Week, he staged his own anti-glamor show, which ended in a real scandal.

“Models” took to the catwalk in bright yellow T-shirts with obscene inscriptions and large bags. The bags contained beer, which the “models” began to pour on the guests of the show.

As a result, this provocative show ended in a fight, during which Chichvarkin, represented at this event by the designer, received several blows in the face from one of the disgruntled visitors, who was doused with beer.

In 2003, the number of Euroset stores doubled, from 186 to 328. True, this nearly cost Euroset its life. The fact is that in order to open new branches, money is needed, which was taken mainly from sales in the capital region.

At that time, Svyaznoy, headed by Maxim Nogotkov, sat tightly on the tail of Chichvarkin and Euroset. Euroset's profit in Moscow and St. Petersburg was falling, which made it more difficult for the company to pay off loans taken from banks for development and purchase products for sale.

Yes, and branches in the regions were unprofitable. All experts unanimously agreed that Euroset did not have long to live. At this moment, Chichvarkin declares a state of emergency in the company under the slogan: "Everything for the front, everything for victory."

Eugene personally traveled to those regions where things were going especially badly and put things in order there. As a result, Euroset managed to overcome the black streak and it began to rapidly break away from its competitors.

2004 - The number of outlets tripled compared to the previous year to 1,117, while the company's turnover amounted to 970 million dollars. In the same year, Chichvarkin sent out a colored letter to his employees for the first time, which the employees later began to post on the Internet and they became a popular online joke.

But I am telling you this more in order to once again emphasize the originality of Evgeny, his non-standard, bold and provocative approach to doing business, which is undoubtedly one of the most important driving forces.

Chichvarkin's approach to personnel management requires separate words. Eugene is very fond of Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged, which he considers the real Bible of entrepreneurship. So in the "Euroset" this work could be read during the working day.

2005 – 3111 salons of which 257 outside of Russia. The company's turnover amounted to $2.6 billion. Such rapid growth, more than 2.5 times compared to the previous year, was due to the fact that Euroset began to buy up smaller companies of competitors, which were also represented on the market by chains.

Chichvarkin acquires such companies as "Bastion", ("Network of communication salons of Russia"), "Techmarket", "Ultra", "Mobile World", etc.

The year 2005 was also remembered for the mobile phone market by the first large customs confiscations, which led to a crisis and an increase in the cost of phones.

So, 10 trucks with contraband mobile phones were detained for a total amount of more than 10 million dollars. Several planes were also detained at the Sheremetyevo airport with smuggling.

All this caused a crisis in the market, as the companies that imported phones decided to lie low and stopped sending new products to Russia. As a result, Chichvarkin and other market players simply had nothing to buy.

Phones soared in price from 10% to 40%. Euroset, as the largest player in the market, had the worst of it. However, this time the problem made the company even stronger as a result, since Evgeny and his partners decided not to buy phones on the domestic market anymore, but to buy them abroad and import them on their own.

Beginning of the End

With the growth of profits and influence, Euroset began to attract attention. The promoted brand, which brought a stable income, did not allow its creator Chichvarkin to live a calm sweet life of a bourgeois.

I will submit the following facts without comment, so to speak, in a telegraph line:

• “On March 29, 2006, 167,500 telephones for the Euroset worth 530,000,000 rubles per point were seized at the exit of the Sheremetyevo customs territory”
• “On August 24, 2006 the case was closed due to the lack of corpus delicti period some of the telephones were destroyed by the Euroset period 117,500 telephones were returned to the Euroset”
• "On September 2, 2008, the central office of the Euroset was searched"
• "September 22, 2008 Chichvarkin Artemiev signed an agreement on the sale of the euroset point"
• "November 20, 2008 Chichvarkin left the post of chairman of the board of directors of the station"
• "Dec 22, 2008 chichvarkin flew away london point"
• "Jan 2009 a criminal case was initiated against Chichvarkin"
• "On March 12, 2009, Chichvarkin was declared an international wanted list"
• "Jan 2011 criminal case closed period"

Chichvarkin was charged with kidnapping and extortion under the relevant articles of the Russian Criminal Code. The case was related to the kidnapping of a former employee of Euroset, who was convicted by the security service of Euroset of stealing goods.

The disgraced businessman himself, according to the Kommersant newspaper, claimed that his criminal prosecution in Russia could be connected with attempts to force him to sell the company.

In 2011, by decrees of the President of Russia, two police generals were fired, whom Chichvarkin called the organizers of his persecution. The top managers of Evroset, who were illegally detained, sued the Russian Ministry of Finance for large amounts of compensation.

So is it a happy ending?

During a video bridge organized by RIA Novosti, Chichvarkin admitted that he would love to return to Russia, because "this is my homeland," but he fears new persecution. “I can return if a new elite comes through direct elections, which will make a beautiful, free and strong country, that is, never,” he summed up.

However, in Foggy Albion, Mr. Chichvarkin is not bored. During his stay in England, he improved his knowledge of a foreign language, began to communicate more with children and even learned to play polo.

In addition, Chichvarkin decided to try his hand at the UK market in the wine business. In March 2012, together with the same Timur Artemiev, he opens the Hedonism drinks company. Artemiev is the owner of the company, and Chichvarkin is the main investor.

As for Euroset, having changed a number of owners and managers, the company still remains a quite profitable business. The former image "from Chichvarkin" was replaced by a new one - in December 2010, Ivan Okhlobystin, a well-known director, screenwriter and actor, became the creative director of the company.

Since March 2011, the company began rebranding: the yellow terrier, which has retained the corporate canary style of Euroset stores, has become the new symbol of the chain.

In the same 2011, Forbes magazine noted the efforts of Chichvarkin, calling him one of the most unusual Russian businessmen.

Euroset owes much of its success to the charisma of its corporate ideologist. The image of the eccentric Chichvarkin spread to the entire strategy of Euroset, which also worked to attract buyers.

For example, in 2006, the Siberian branch of the Euroset company released a gift calendar with photographs of its top managers in the nude style.

I would like to note a non-standard approach to doing business, both for Eugene himself and for his employees. I do not consider this calendar as the height of marketing thought. Moreover, other companies, such as Pirelli, have been practicing this for a long time.

But still, it's better than doing nothing at all, sitting and waiting for buyers to come to you. This is how many entrepreneurs do business. When I go to shopping centers, it sometimes amuses me to look at the sad faces of bored sellers, to which buyers go only on weekends.

His golden Vertu mobile phone (note, the word without quotes, because the cell phone was really made of precious metal), coupled with jeans and red sneakers - here is the usual replicated image of extravagant Eugene.

No, this is not kitsch, but a means of self-promotion, because Chichvarkin admits that he will put on a tailcoat immediately if the business elite suddenly changes their suits for worn jeans!

Stand out, stand out and stand out again! So bequeathed to us by the Great Che.

In conclusion of this article, I want to give you a few quotes and sayings from Mr. Chichvarkin, which will further help you understand how to do business and become a successful entrepreneur:

09/22/2008, Mon, 11:09, Msk , Text: Vladislav Meshcheryakov

Chichvarkin confirmed the information that he and the second shareholder of Euroset Timur Artemiev sold 100% of their shares to ANN, owned by Alexandru Mamut. Chichvarkin refused to name the amount of the sale: “We sold it for 3 kopecks,” he joked in an interview with a CNews correspondent.

According to Kommersant, which received information from "a source familiar with the negotiations," Mamut will pay approximately $400 million for a retail network of more than 5,000 stores in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. new owners will go to pay off the company's debts.

Earlier, there was information on the market about the interest in the purchase of Euroset by the mobile operator MTS. In the past few days, Chichvarkin has denied negotiating with potential buyers.

The pre-sale time turned out to be nervous for Euroset. In early September, the prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against top managers of the company, accusing them of smuggling mobile phones and extortion. In the company, these accusations are categorical.

The head of Evroset, Yevgeny Chichvarkin, made it clear to CNews that the sale of the company would not entail a change in its leadership: "In the coming weeks, a change in management is not expected, we are arranging for new shareholders."

Analysts find the company's price adequate. "$400 million is not cheap." - iKS-Consulting analyst notes Anton Vorykhalov. He recalls that the British retail chain Carphine this year was sold for 8 annual EBITDA (earnings before taxes, interest on loans and depreciation), and Euroset for 2.7-3. However, Carphone had a higher profitability, and British analysts said that it was overpriced.

The Finam investment company claims that they valued Euroset at $1.3 billion, close to the amount for which the company was sold (payments from new shareholders to former owners and debts will total about $1.25 billion). “The company was acquired unconditionally for resale, and MTS will most likely become its next owner,” the Finam analyst believes. Anna Zaitseva. - "The new owner will aim to increase the value of the company, and it will be resold at a completely different price."

Where Chichvarkin will invest the funds received from the sale of his stake in Euroset, he did not specify: "I remain to manage the company, so the maximum will be small or medium-sized businesses."

Chichvarkin took money
He sold Euroset to Alexander Mamut
Euroset co-owners Timur Artemyev and Yevgeny Chichvarkin have agreed to sell 100% of Euroset shares to entrepreneur Alexander Mamut's structures. According to a source close to the deal, its amount was $200-250 million, excluding Euro*set's debt of $850 million. Market participants say that Mr. Mamut is likely to sell Euroset to a strategic investor in one two years, when the capitalization of the asset can grow to 1.5-2 billion dollars.

Last Sunday, co-owners of Euroset Timur Artemyev and Yevgeny Chichvarkin agreed to sell 100% of Euroset shares to entrepreneur Alexander Mamut's structures. Mr. Chichvarkin confirmed the sale of the company. According to him, Timur Artemiev will leave Euroset and focus on his own projects. Yevgeny Chichvarkin himself will remain in Euro*set, but he has not yet made a final decision on whether he will hold any positions in the company in the long term. Mr. Chichvarkin declined to explain how much he got for his stake in Euroset, saying that Mr. Mamut bought the company "for three kopecks." Alexander Mamut did not answer calls on his cell phone all day yesterday.

A source familiar with the negotiations says that the deal amounted to $200-250 million, excluding Euroset's $850 million debt. it was reported to the press that Rustam Tariko's bank "Russian Standard" and Vneshtorgbank) and AFK "Sistema", acting in the interests of its "daughter" MTS, are showing interest in Euroset," the source says. As a result, the banking structure abandoned the idea of ​​buying Euroset because of the possibility of a financial crisis. "All three applicants offered approximately the same conditions, but in the end, Mr. Chichvarkin chose Alexander Mamut's proposal," the source concluded. A top manager in one of the companies that were contenders for the purchase of Euroset, says that the main initiator of the speedy completion of the transaction was Evgeny Chichvarkin: “He wanted to get out of the capital of Euroset as soon as possible, including because he had enough Cash was urgently needed.

Mr. Mamut acts as a financial investor in this transaction, says Eldar Murtazin, an analyst at Mobile Research Group. “In a year or two, when the situation on the financial market is more favorable, Euroset can be sold for $1.5-2 billion, so we can say that Alexander Mamut made a relatively successful investment. He can resume the process of negotiations on the sale of Euroset to a consortium of AFK Sistema, MTS and TS-Retail or offer a stake in the company to a large retail bank. In this case, an alliance with the bank would help to increase the marginality of Euroset's business, the analyst believes. AFK Sistema says that the purchase of Euroset by Mr. Mamut does not mean that the issue of the entry of AFK structures into the retailer's capital is completely closed.

ANTON BURSAK

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