Aras Iskenderovich Agalarov - major Russian and Azerbaijani businessman, entrepreneur, head and owner of the Crocus Group association of companies.
The net worth is about $1.66 billion. According to the American Forbes magazine, he is one of the “200 richest businessmen in the Russian Federation” . Agalarov believes that a person with developed intuition is ideal for running a business.
The billionaire is an innovator in the development of a variety of shopping complexes. Great fame came with the creation of the Crocus City trade, demonstration and business center. Currently, this complex is used for Millionaire Fair events.
Childhood and parents of Araz Agalarov
Araz Agalarov was born on November 8, 1955 in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, into a family of scientists.
The first years of life in the boy’s biography passed without clouds. Araz's parents received a good salary and were considered quite wealthy at that time.
The father of the future businessman was in a leadership position at the Azerbaijan Institute of Water Problems and often took his son to Moscow, where they lived in the best hotels and drove the famous Soviet executive car “ZIM”.
The loss of his father, who played a big role in Araz’s upbringing, radically changed the thirteen-year-old’s worldview. The number of friends who constantly visited the family instantly decreased. It became clear that there are difficulties in this world.
The boy had a desire to achieve something on his own. The first money was earned by selling recorded cassettes using purchased special consoles. The recording studio bought them for 2 rubles per cassette for subsequent resale at five times the price.
Araz Agalarov had a thirst for knowledge, studying came easily to him. Araz believes that he inherited this quality from his father. The oligarch himself says that as a child he was friends with hooligans and started smoking for the first time at the age of six.
Personal life
Emin Agalarov's wedding coincided with the birth of his first album in 2006. The singer’s wife was the daughter of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Leyla Aliyeva. The newlyweds celebrated their wedding twice – in Moscow and Baku.
Emin Agalarov and Leyla Aliyeva
It is known that Emin Agalarov and Leyla Aliyeva began dating after a number of traditions and customs. Before the actual proposal, Emin first asked permission from the bride’s father to look after his daughter, and only then asked for her hand.
In 2008, the happy couple became the parents of twins - the boys were named Mikail and Ali. Emin Agalarov and his wife Leila were torn between the two countries for a long time. Leila lived with the twins in London, and Emin lived in Moscow. Every week the father of the family tried to visit his family, and Leila was engaged in social activities during the period of separation.
Emin Agalarov with his first wife and children
In May 2020, it became known that the couple had officially separated. It is noteworthy that they did not make a secret of the divorce and immediately announced it on their pages on social networks. Emin Agalarov openly spoke about the reason for the separation in an interview a couple of months later. He admitted that he and Leila did not have a personal relationship, and they did not want to imitate family life. Contrary to rumors, none of the two of them cheated on each other, and Emin did not have any mistresses about whom the yellow publications wrote.
The former spouses maintained friendly relations. According to Emin, today they are even warmer than they were during their marriage. The singer and businessman still takes care of his family and is proud of his sons.
Emin Agalarov and Alena Gavrilova
A popular, wealthy and handsome handsome man (height – 180 cm, weight – 78 kg), and according to HELLO magazine! – “The most stylish man in Russia 2016”, couldn’t stay alone for long. In 2020, it became known who he was dating. Emin Agalarov was spotted next to a girl whom they recognized as “Miss Mordovia” 2004, Alena Gavrilova. Emin Agalarov posted a photo with the model on his Instagram page.
In the spring of 2016, the couple appeared at the HELLO! magazine awards, and then at a charity ball hosted by the Mikhail Rudyak Foundation. And in 2020, the premiere of Emin Agalarov’s new video for the song “Goodlove” took place, where Alena got the main role.
Video for Emin’s song “Good love” with Alena Gavrilova
It is noteworthy that Donald Trump himself once starred in Emin’s video. The current US President appeared in the video for the 2013 song "In Another Life". Agalarov does not hide the fact that he is personally acquainted with Trump, because Crocus City Hall has hosted the Miss Universe competition more than once, and, as you know, Donald Trump is the owner of this competition.
Supporters of the US Democratic Party were quick to report that Emin Agalarov was involved in attempts to influence the American elections. The singer himself stated that, despite his acquaintance with Trump, he never tried to influence the outcome of the elections.
Emin Agalarov and Donald Trump
Also in 2020, Emin found himself at the epicenter of a scandal. An unpleasant incident occurred in the Rose Bar, which belongs directly to Agalarov. The manager of a cafe kicked a disabled person out of the establishment. Upon learning of this, the owner of the bar, Emin, was extremely upset. He personally apologized for the actions of his employee, who, of course, was fired.
However, from Agalarov’s side the matter was not limited to apologies. The singer offered the young man cooperation. He asked him to act as a consultant - a person who would help conduct training that would increase the level of tolerance among employees.
Emin Agalarov
Emin is also involved in charity work, for example, in March 2018, after the tragedy in Kemerovo, he went on a tour, the proceeds from which were transferred to the Muslim Magomayev Foundation. Subsequently, the fund sent the collected amount (about 15 million rubles) to the Kemerovo branch of the Red Cross, as well as to individual assistance programs for the families of victims.
Education
Araz Iskenderovich assigns a large role to education in a person’s life and still complains about the lack of Western education and the low level of domestic education.
After graduating from school in 1972, the young man became a student at the Baku Polytechnic Institute. However, his training did not end there.
In the future, his biography is supplemented by graduating from the Higher School of Trade Unions, graduate school, writing a dissertation, and taking a business course in the United States.
Career and business of Araz Agalarov
According to some reports, after graduating from university in the period 1977–1983, Araz Agalarov was an employee of the research institute in Baku and the Baku city committee.
However, in an interview, the millionaire says that his career began at the Baku intercity telephone exchange, where he was elected head of the trade union committee. The young specialist’s work was not satisfying, and he was intensely involved in trade union activities, helping needy employees of the organization get an apartment.
The trade union leader was very happy to receive a referral to study at the Moscow Higher School of Trade Union Movement. After careful preparation and passing tough exams, the young man becomes her student from 1983 to 1987.
After graduating from graduate school, Agalarov worked at the Moscow Scientific Center of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions from 1988 to 1990 as a junior researcher.
The perestroika processes contributed to the development of the cooperative movement, which could not leave the future businessman indifferent. The first experience was the organization of a small cooperative “Saffron” (1987), whose office was located in an insulated watermelon tent. The organization's activities were aimed at selling anything: computers, souvenirs, vegetables, even brooms to the Moscow government.
Agalarov founded the American-Soviet enterprise Crocus International (later Crocus Group) in 1989. His father-in-law acted as a companion.
Ability to earn money
Despite the fact that singer Emin’s father was a wealthy man, he taught him from childhood to earn his own living. The young man was initially very independent. He himself showed a desire to be as independent as possible from his parents.
Therefore, he was constantly looking for different options. In particular, he worked as a salesman in a supermarket and sold in a shoe boutique; as he now claims, this experience was extremely useful to him in later life.
In America, Agalarov founded a website selling watches and nesting dolls, which became his first independent project. True, at that time he did not even think that he would ever become part of his father’s business empire.
In his biography, singer Emin has always been able to combine creativity with the pragmatism inherent in an experienced entrepreneur, and intelligence with good taste and a subtle sense of humor. In the USA, he graduated from the University of New York and received a diploma in business management in finance. At that time, he already realized that working with his father would bring him more dividends than trading nesting dolls, so he did everything to get to a high position.
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Net worth of Araz Agalarov
For several years in a row, Araz Agalarov has not left the list of the hundred richest people in the Russian Federation.
The billionaire's main assets are contained in shares of the Crocus group. According to the data provided by Forbes magazine, it is possible to trace the dynamics of changes in the financial condition of an entrepreneur (years - $, billion/place in the Russian ranking):
- 2011 – 1,5/64;
- 2012 – 1,6/61;
- 2013 – 1,8/56;
- 2014 – 1,8/56;
- 2015 – 1,9/46;
- 2016 – 1,2/55;
- 2017 – 1,7/51;
- 2018 – 1,8/54.
Private life of Araz Agalarov
Araz Agalarov is satisfied with his family life. Together with his wife Irina, they raised two children - a son and a daughter, and have grandchildren.
Araz and Irina studied in the same class and liked each other. After graduating from school, the girl becomes a student at a pedagogical institute, and the young man at a polytechnic institute, which did not affect the relationship in any way. The last year of study at the university was marked by their wedding. Araz’s mother did not agree with her son’s choice and dreamed of an Azerbaijani wife for him, but with the birth of her grandson she changed her attitude towards her Russian daughter-in-law.
Irina believes that the secret to the strength of a marriage is the sincerity of feelings, the desire to find a compromise and the absence of causeless conflicts.
In the biography of the billionaire, there is information about the close relationship between Agalarov and the Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak, which is confirmed by the photo. However, both sides categorically deny them.
Despite constantly helping her children and husband, the billionaire's wife is the owner of fur stores and beauty salons in the United States and Moscow.
The billionaire loves and admires his children very much. His son Emin is a professional musician and participates in his father’s business projects. Daughter Sheila lives in the United States.
The billionaire is in excellent physical shape, maintaining it with daily boxing, tennis, swimming and football.
Araz Iskenderovich established the non-profit organization “Fund for the Cultural and Musical Heritage of Muslim Magomayev”. He is the editor-in-chief of the magazine “Business and Exhibitions” and the author of books about Russia during the reform period. Recipient of numerous awards and prizes in various fields.
Araz Agalarov met with Trump in 2013 and subsequently had contacts with him. Their communication was exclusively related to business projects without discussing political issues. However, the billionaire's name appeared in a scandal related to the US elections.
Agalarov: charity
One of the significant events in Russian public life was the opening in the fall of 2020 of the children's hospice “House with Mayak”. It is equipped with everything necessary to help terminally ill children. The construction of the hospice was supported by Crocus Group, the project was personally supervised by Araz Agalarov. Charity is an important focus for all Crocus Group employees, which constantly helps orphans and disabled children.
Children's hospice “House with a lighthouse”
Emin Agalarov now
Emin Agalarov is a singer, author and composer, known to fans as Emin, the heir to one of the richest people in Russia Araz Agalarov, co-owner of the mega-concern Crocus Group, a talented entrepreneur and the father of two sons.
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Emin Agalarov, aka singer Emin
We can say with confidence that this man was able to competently manage the benefits provided to him. However, his life path is by no means replete with beaten paths: through thorns to the stars - these are the words that can be used to describe his story.
In his interviews, Emin has repeatedly confessed that he can like absolutely any girl, but this does not mean that it will be easy for her to get along with him. After all, by his own admission, he is not at all as sweet as he seems at first glance. A wealthy handsome man, a dream and ideal for many representatives of the fair half of humanity, and he chose a wife that corresponds to his status. Neither more nor less - the daughter of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Leyla Aliyeva, an Azerbaijani beauty, captivated Emin so deeply that the plan to win her heart, in his opinion, had to strictly follow the traditions of her people. Emin asked her father's permission before simply starting to court the girl.
The wedding of Emin and Leyla Aliyeva took place in 2006
In 2006, after some time of the candy-bouquet period, the couple legalized their relationship. It was decided to celebrate this event with not one, but two magnificent weddings - in Baku and Moscow. Emin and Leila were congratulated on their marriage by many significant personalities, including Vladimir Putin and George Bush.
Two years later, the happy couple became at least twice as happy. After all, two charming twin babies were born at once - Mikail and Ali.
After this event, some discord began in Emin’s family, and the reason for this was the coldness in the relationship with his wife, which was followed by travel: he to Moscow, she and the children to London.
Despite having children together, Emin and Leila’s relationship deteriorated
Emin tried to spend every weekend with his family, but time took its toll. No longer wanting to imitate an outwardly prosperous family life, on May 30, 2020, Emin and Leila published a confession about their separation in three languages on their social media pages. “We remain friends” was the final verdict of this couple.
The ex-spouses are still friends
Nothing really changed in the lives of Emin’s sons after their parents’ separation. Just like Araz and Irina once did, Emin and Leila set the well-being of their children as the goal of their lives. Moreover, even after the breakup, Emin enjoys communicating with Leila’s adopted daughter, Amina Aliyeva.
Emin with twins and Amina, Leyla Aliyeva's adopted daughter
In December 2020, Emin came out with 29-year-old Alena Gavrilova. Their romance began in July of the same year. The girl is a model and has the title “Miss Mordovia 2004”. Alena has a son, Rustam, from her previous marriage to businessman Ruslan Tariko.
Model Alena Gavrilova - Emin's wife
Presumably on July 14, 2020, the lovers got married, after which they went on their honeymoon to Baku
Emin's achievements may seem unrealistic to any ordinary person. But the purposeful handsome man is not going to stop - the more you have, the more you want.
With Grigory Leps (Unblue Light, 2020)
It is not enough to describe Emin Agalarov’s subordinate projects in just words; here you need to feel all the power and strength invested in these enterprises. It is in charge of the Crocus City Mall shopping complex and the huge multi-level concert hall Crocus City Hall; the only chain of shopping and entertainment complexes “Vegas” in the Russian capital;
Music - what Emin lives and breathes - merges so organically with his business career that fans have the opportunity to enjoy the new work of their idol almost non-stop.
Emin is a welcome guest in any capital club
New songs, albums, videos - the galaxy of his creative achievements cannot be counted, if only because they continue to be replenished day by day, as if by magic.
The singer is writing new pages in his biography: he is developing a shopping center on Kashirskoye Shosse (“Crocus City Mall”), and is also working on creating a large chain of restaurants; Moreover, Emin shares news and photos on social networks without making his life a secret.
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The singer also wants to try himself in the hotel business - he is now busy developing the See Breeze Resort, located on the very shore of the Caspian Sea. Agalarov admits that the network of shopping and entertainment complexes “Vegas”, the number of which is only increasing every year, also takes up a lot of time.
Businessman and singer Emin Agalarov
Despite his busy business schedule, Agalarov continues to record new songs and perform in duets with recognized stars. That is why Emin is a frequent guest on the country’s main television channels.
Araz Agalarov today
Today, Araz Agalarov remains the owner of the Russian holding Crocus Group, specializing in commercial, residential and exhibition real estate, and occupies the presidential chair.
Recently, the company has been busy with government contracts for the construction of stadiums in Kaliningrad and Rostov-on-Don for the FIFA World Cup. Despite the lack of significant financial benefit, the work was completed on time, taking into account all modern requirements and installing the most modern security systems.
