Sir Leonard Blavatnik net worth — Sunday Times Rich List 2025
Sir Leonard Blavatnik told The Sunday Times that he and the foundation that bears his name are 'determined to make a difference, whether in science, culture or the arts'. In recognition of his gift to the National Gallery, Room 34 was unveiled as the Blavatnik Family Foundation Room this month.
Earlier this year, Blavatnik, 67, who has British and American citizenship, pumped a further £667 million into DAZN. Founded less than a decade ago, DAZN has already amassed a 20 million subscriber base. Yet the London-based media firm is yet to prove a financial hit, reporting a £1.1 billion loss. His streaming service has spent vast sums on buying up broadcasting rights to European football, boxing, top-tier basketball, motor racing and American football in the hope of building a 'Spotify of sport'.
Blavatnik has plenty of resources to throw at DAZN. He built his fortune in Russia but sold the last of his assets there in 2013. Born in Odesa, when Ukraine was under Soviet control, he moved to a city north of Moscow as a child.
At university in the Russian capital he met his former business partner and fellow Ukrainian Viktor Vekselberg, 68, who is now under western sanctions. During the 1980s they built up then offloaded large stakes in Russia's largest aluminium company and a leading oil company.
Blavatnik settled in the US, where he studied at Harvard and Columbia universities. In 1986 he founded his investment operation Access Industries in New York. It has holdings worth $35 billion (£28.2 billion) in 30 countries, including a majority stake in Warner Music. Warner, which is partly listed on the New York stock market, is worth $14.4 billion. The shares have lost 20 per cent since of their value between February and the compilation of this year's Rich List — and largely explains Blavatnik's lower wealth this year. Access also owns 20.5 per cent of LyondellBasell, a publicly traded chemicals manufacturer and the world's largest producer of polypropylene, which is today worth almost $30 billion. Blavatnik's bet on Lyondell was described by Forbes as 'the greatest deal in Wall Street history'.
His control of Warner Music and Access's funding of a succession of award-scooping films had made Blavatnik a fixture on the red carpet. He co-produced The Zone of Interest, which was named best international film at last year's Oscars. It focuses on the life of the Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife, Hedwig, who lived with their family in a home next to the concentration camp. An adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, currently showing on Broadway — and featuring Succession star Sarah Snook — was nominated for six Tony awards.
Blavatnik is planning to invest hundreds of millions of pounds buying up media businesses and producing new TV shows, films and theatre in coming years. Danny Cohen, the former director of the BBC's TV output who is now president of Access Entertainment, says the group will consider large acquisitions in Hollywood. 'We'll spend a few hundred million if we can find the right things,' Cohen recently told the Financial Times. Access recently increased its investment in A24, the production house behind the hit film Everything Everywhere All at Onceand the recent Civil War. Access is also seeking to invest more in South Korea as the media and music scene there continues to grow fast.
Blavatnik, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2017 for his services to philanthropy, has four children with his American wife, Emily Appelson. As well as their London home, they have properties in New York worth several hundred million dollars. He also owns hotels in Hollywood and Miami Beach, and the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat on the Côte d'Azur in France, plus the Ocean Club luxury resort in the Bahamas. Blavatnik spent £45 million on acquiring the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the West End of London and has given money to a range of cultural causes, including £50 million to Tate Modern and £10 million to the Courtauld Institute of Art.
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