Yuri Milner
Yuri Milner
Yuri BorisovichMilnerМи́льнер; born 11 November 1961) is a Russian entrepreneur, venture capitalist and physicist. He founded investment firms Digital Sky Technologies, now called Mail.ru Group and DST Global. Through DST Global, Milner is an investor in Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Flipkart, Spotify, ZocDoc, Groupon, JD.com, Planet Labs, Xiaomi, OlaCabs, Alibaba, Habito, Wish and many others. Milner's personal investments also include a stake in 23andMe and Beepi...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth11 November 1961
CountryRussian Federation
I'm trying to learn from various corners of the world.
I have invested in four social networks. More than any other. But that's in Russia and Poland.
I must analyze, from what I do now, what will be the impact two or three or five years in the future. What is the statement I want to make?
Facebook is at the forefront. It's the company that can fundamentally change the way information is being exchanged and processed. It can be the basis for artificial intelligence to develop over time.
It’s not how much something’s worth today, it’s what it’s worth in five or 10 years.
There is coming an era for people with a mathematical state of mind
The problem is that modern fundamental physics is so far from you and me. The mathematics has become so much more complicated that you need at least 10 years to understand it. Fundamental physics has advanced so far from the understanding of most people that there is really a big disconnect.
The largest newspaper in the United States is only reaching 1 percent of population. We are kind of assuming that 'Wall Street Journal,' 'USA Today,' and other newspapers are very important. Yes, they're extremely important, but only to 1 percent of the population on a daily basis.
The company that creates one global social graph will be very important going forward. It will be Facebook, with maybe 2-3 local social networks able to sustain competition long term.
I have this ratio that if you divide age of entrepreneur by market cap of company. For Facebook it's one. Every year of his life Zuckerberg has been making $1 billion for investors.
I think top scientists need to be compensated at a different scale in society. Somebody with experience will tell you that true scientists are not motivated by money - they are motivated by the quest itself. That is true. But I think an additional recognition will not hurt.
Fundamental physics is like an art more or less. It's completely non-practical, and you can't use it for anything. But it's about the universe and how the world came into being. It's very remote from your daily life and mine, and yet it defines us as human beings.
I am not an oligarch. I am a servant and I try to align my interests and those of my investors.
It’s not about revenues: the fundamental economics in digital business is scale and margins. The top line has become the bottom line.