Alexey Alexandrovich Mordashov (; born 26 September 1965) is a Russian businessman and oligarch. He is the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia's largest steel and mining company.
According to Forbes The World's Billionaires list published on 10 March 2026, Alexey Mordashov returned to the top position among Russia's richest individuals, with an estimated net worth of approximately US$37 billion—marking his first time in that position since 2021.
Mordashov was mentioned in the Panama Papers and FinCEN files leaks, in which it was revealed that a company associated with Mordashov paid for a number of Vladimir Putin's pet projects and gave generously to close associates of Putin.
Mordashov is under sanctions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Early life
Mordashov is the son of Russian parents, who were both steel mill workers. His father was electrical engineer at the mill in Cherepovets. According to Mordashov, his family used welfare coupons, allowed only 200g of butter and 400g of sausages per month. He graduated with a bachelor's and master's degree in engineering from the Leningrad Engineering-Economical Institute, currently known as ENGECON. He later gained an MBA from Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 2001. In an address to students at the European University at Saint Petersburg, Mordashov spoke about his decision to study in Leningrad rather than Moscow and the value his undergraduate studies played in his search for employment and eventual career path. Returning to Cherepovets, he started his career by joining the same steel plant where his parents had worked.
Career
Early career
In 1988 Mordashov joined 'Cherepovetskiy Metallurgical Plant' after graduation from Leningrad Engineering-Economical Institut as an economist. In December 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved.
By 1992 he became finance director, shortly before the company was privatised. When the plant's elderly director instructed him to acquire shares to keep them out of the hands of an outsider, he formed two investment funds and, by buying up workers' shares, built a major stake in the factory.
Investments
In 2000, Putin came to power.
In 2003, Mordashov became a co-owner of Rossiya Bank.
In 2004, Mordashov started investing in US steel companies, purchasing companies in Dearborn, MI and Columbus, Mississippi. The acquisition included the Rouge Plant in Dearborn.
He received a loan from the United States Department of Energy to renovate and refurbish the manufacturing plants in Dearborn.
The value of the loan, over $370 million, was revoked in 2012, after growing political tensions between the US and Russia.
Between 2004 and 2014, Mordashov and Severstal invested up to $3 billion in both the Dearborn and Columbus plants.
In 2011 he sold a number of US assets in Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia to the Renco Group, owned by industrialist Ira Rennert. By 2014 all of Severstal's US investments had been sold for a total of $2.3 billion.
His company Severstal planned a multibillion-dollar project in joint venture with POSCO in eastern India. After ten years of not getting environmental and land clearances, his company opted out in 2008.
In autumn 2007, Mordashov purchased shares in TUI Travel.
As he increased his stake to the largest single shareholder through his S-Group Travel,
TUI Travel under Michael Frenzel expanded into Eastern Europe and Russia in 2008, to the Albert Ballin Consortium in March 2009.
In 2014, he held a blocking stake of more than 25% in TUI Travel when TUI Travel was absorbed by TUI Group.
In October 2018, he had a 24.9% stake in TUI Group through his S-Group Travel and has been on the TUI Group supervisory board since 2016.
In 2008, Mordashov, Surgutneftegas and Rossiya Bank created the National Media Group, which owned packages in TV channels (Fifth, First, REN TV).
In April 2010, the structures of the Yuri Kovalchuk associated Rossiya Bank, Surgutneftegas and the owner of Severstal Alexei Mordashov gained ownership of a 45% stake of the largest seller of TV advertising in Eastern Europe and Russia, where it controlled 70% of the Russian market in 2007, the "Video International" group () from the widow of Yuri Zapol (), who was a founder of Video International in 1987, and Vladimir Golubev () who together owned the largest stakes.