Philanthropist, Politician, Oligarch: The Path of Georgia’s Wealthiest Man, Bidzina Ivanishvili
Congrats Mr. Ivanishvili
Bidzina Ivanishvili has traversed a challenging path—from a philanthropist who discreetly engaged in charitable activities to a widely admired political leader, now labeled by his opponents as a "Russian oligarch." This article, authored by Sputnik columnist Archil Sikharulidze, explores his journey and beyond.
Today marks the birthday of the renowned Georgian philanthropist, billionaire, businessman, politician, and, for some, “Kremlin agent,” Bidzina Ivanishvili. He is a man who not only amassed substantial public capital while remaining in the shadows but also allocated significant portions of his wealth for the benefit of Georgia, ultimately rising to public prominence.
Having repeatedly entered and exited the political arena, Ivanishvili’s role and legacy remain complex. Some criticize him for "informal governance," while others credit him with rescuing Georgia from the authoritarian rule of Mikheil Saakashvili.
Now, as Georgia's geopolitical stakes are set and the nation awaits the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, which could favor the ruling Georgian Dream party with Donald Trump's return to power, it is worth revisiting Ivanishvili’s intricate path to wealth, fame, power, and his controversial status as a "Russian oligarch" in Georgia.
Slow and Steady Wins the Race
In the late 1980s, Ivanishvili, in partnership with Vitaly Malkin, embarked on entrepreneurial activities in Russia.
By 1990, they had become leading sellers of electronic equipment. That same year, Ivanishvili co-founded the "Russian Credit" bank, followed by "Impexbank" in 1993. He also established the metallurgical company "Metalloinvest," the agribusiness firm "Stoilenskaya Niva," and the pharmacy chain "Doctor Stoletov."
Ivanishvili held stakes in the Stoilensky and Mikhailovsky mining and processing plants. By early 2005, he had divested these assets, along with several smaller enterprises, for a total of $2.5 billion. His business strategy revolved around acquiring undervalued companies for tens of millions of dollars and later selling them for billions.
He conducted these transactions discreetly, prioritizing confidentiality. Unlike another well-known Georgian businessman, Badri Patarkatsishvili, Ivanishvili knew precisely when to enter and exit ventures, ensuring he remained unassailable to legal accusations or controversies.
This unique ability secured his status as Georgia’s wealthiest individual, with a net worth reaching a record $7.8 billion, according to Bloomberg.
A widely unknown Philanthropist
In 2004, Ivanishvili obtained Georgian citizenship and actively engaged in the country’s socio-political landscape behind the scenes. This coincided with the Rose Revolution, after which he played a significant role in shaping post-revolutionary Georgia.
Beyond financing various initiatives, Ivanishvili maintained close ties with Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration, which, in turn, benefited from his multimillion-dollar contributions—investments later attributed to Saakashvili’s political vision.
Everyone knew and had heard of the mysterious figure Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia but spent his money in Georgia. This remains part of his image—a man who did not earn a single penny in his own country, or, in the language of the 90s and 2000s, did not steal but only invested in it.
Paradoxically, few people had actually seen Ivanishvili in person. Rumors circulated that he was an unremarkable man of short stature.
The International Charitable Foundation "Cartu," established by Ivanishvili, provided pensions and stipends to prominent Georgian actors, musicians, and other cultural figures who, following the Soviet Union’s collapse, found themselves in dire circumstances.
Numerous politicians, artists, business leaders, and academics not only received financial support for survival and medical treatment abroad when necessary but were also afforded opportunities to continue contributing to their country’s future. By the time he entered politics, Ivanishvili had amassed indisputable social capital.
His role as a benefactor was widely acknowledged, including by well-known Georgian journalist and public figure Nanuka Zhorzholiani, who frequently praised the honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream party for his impartial generosity. However, amidst recent political events, Zhorzholiani, who once referred to Ivanishvili as the "grandfather" of Georgia, has reversed her stance, wishing him "eternal suffering" while actively participating in anti-government protests. Has she, like many others, conveniently forgotten the lifeline provided by the "Russian oligarch"?
Perhaps Ivanishvili’s most significant contribution to Georgia’s cultural development was his unprecedented financial support for the construction of the Holy Trinity Cathedral (Ts’minda Sameba), the second-most important church in the Georgian Orthodox Church after Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. Located in Tbilisi on St. Elijah’s Hill, on the left bank of the Mtkvari River, the cathedral was built on the site of the 17th-century Khojivank Monastery.
Conceived in 1989 to commemorate the 1,500th anniversary of the Georgian Orthodox Church’s autocephaly and the 2,000th anniversary of Christianity, the cathedral’s frescoes were later fully funded by Ivanishvili.
It would be erroneous to speak of Ivanishvili’s philanthropy in the past tense. In 2024, following Georgia’s success in the UEFA European Football Championship, the Cartu Foundation awarded the national football team and coaching staff a total of 30 million lari in bonuses—an act that, predictably, attracted political criticism.
In 2023, the Cartu Foundation donated rugby infrastructure valued at 200 million lari to the Georgian Rugby Union. Between 2011 and 2018, with the foundation’s financial backing, 28 stadiums, two rugby academies, and five hotels were established across Georgia. This marked the first time Ivanishvili and Cartu invested in developing a sport that had remained largely unknown in Georgia throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2017, the foundation inaugurated a state-of-the-art rugby training center in Batumi, later handed over to the city’s municipality.
Among Ivanishvili’s most notable gifts to Georgian society are the dendrological parks near the village of Tskvermagala and in Shekvetili, western Georgia, which feature botanical wonders from around the world.
Critics initially ridiculed the parks as vanity projects for Ivanishvili, but the Georgian Dream party successfully leveraged these achievements to consolidate electoral support, reinforcing the adage that "he who laughs last, laughs best."
What remains less known is that Ivanishvili not only assisted individuals but also supported Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration. However, according to Ivanishvili himself, Saakashvili eventually veered towards authoritarianism—an event that compelled the oligarch to step out of the shadows and actively oppose the regime. It was this transformation that introduced Ivanishvili to the public eye.
Ivanishvili as a Politician
Georgia under Saakashvili was a paradoxical state. On one hand, he was praised for combating corruption and dismantling organized crime; on the other, state violence had become institutionalized.
Over time, key figures abandoned the Rose Revolution government, including its principal financier, Patarkatsishvili, followed by other supporters who found Saakashvili’s governance methods unacceptable.
However, the political opposition was fragmented and lacked cohesion, while the media remained under state control. Society teetered on the brink of rebellion. Against this backdrop, Bidzina Ivanishvili emerged as a political messiah. He had everything—name recognition, public trust, and, most importantly, vast financial resources.
In October 2011, Bidzina Ivanishvili announced the sale of all his business assets in Russia, explaining that he had decided to establish an opposition party in Georgia to challenge President Mikheil Saakashvili. To preempt any allegations of ties to Moscow, he took measures to sever connections, including renouncing his Russian citizenship.
Following this, Ivanishvili began assembling a political coalition with so-called pro-Western forces to gain the support of strategic international partners, presenting them with a viable alternative to Saakashvili. This coalition included prominent Georgian politicians such as David Usupashvili and former Ambassador to the United Nations Irakli Alasania.
To address the issue of media influence, Ivanishvili launched a new television channel, TV 9, just before the parliamentary elections in October 2012. The channel recruited young journalists critical of Saakashvili’s administration, positioning itself as a platform for opposition voices.
The government took various measures to not only obstruct the new channel’s broadcasts but also to remove Ivanishvili from the political arena. For example, his Georgian citizenship, granted in 2004, was revoked. Meanwhile, TV 9 faced financial restrictions, including blocked transactions and confiscated equipment.
In an effort to undermine Ivanishvili’s financial resources, the government targeted his Kartu Bank, aiming to push it toward bankruptcy. Interestingly, Nikanor Melia, a key figure in today’s protest movements, was later convicted in connection with this case.
Widespread public dissatisfaction, coupled with external pressure, forced Saakashvili to concede defeat in the 2012 parliamentary elections. In the words of the famous Roman general, Ivanishvili “Veni, Vidi, Vici” (Came, Saw, Won).
With little choice left, Saakashvili had to transfer power to the individual who not only led his own party but also stood at the forefront of the broader protest movement. Ivanishvili emerged as a national hero, a “savior” and “liberator,” who was expected to bring the one thing Saakashvili’s administration had lacked—justice.
The "Russian oligarch" for now
As soon as Ivanishvili entered politics, discussions about his alleged ties to “dark Russian money” began circulating. Previous acknowledgments of his philanthropy were quickly forgotten, and he was recast as a so-called agent of Russian influence.
By 2012–2013, a dominant political narrative had emerged in Georgia that portrayed pro-Russian forces as working to drag the country back into what was described as the “malicious Russian swamp.” This stood in direct contrast to the vision of a “bright European future” that was purportedly just around the corner.
This rhetoric inevitably recalls the discourse of the Soviet era, in which the promise of a “radiant socialist future” never materialized, leaving a disillusioned populace behind.
Against this backdrop, the opposition party, United National Movement (UNM), along with its political allies, actively promoted the idea that Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party was fundamentally pro-Russian.
This narrative, however, initially failed to gain traction, both domestically and internationally. In fact, Ivanishvili’s policy of pragmatism and strategic balance toward Moscow was met with approval in Washington and Brussels, as there was little interest in provoking tensions with the Kremlin over Tbilisi.
Notably, fomer Columbia University professor and Georgian Dream advisor Lincoln Mitchell observed that Saakashvili’s government had a tendency to label all political opponents as “pro-Russian” to discredit them. He remarked:
“The Georgian government considers anyone who disagrees with it to be a pro-Russian force… If you follow that logic, even I could be labeled pro-Russian. My ancestors left Russia a century ago, immigrated to America, and never looked back. But apparently, if a Russian American criticizes the Georgian government, they are pro-Russian. If a Chinese American does the same, they too must be pro-Russian. Makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Nonetheless, Ivanishvili’s major political misstep lay in his choice of personnel and the errors committed by his appointees.
First and foremost, Georgian Dream engaged in the same divisive rhetoric it had initially sought to challenge, framing its opponents as “traitors” and “foreign agents.” Ivanishvili allowed a political climate to develop where discourse revolved not around facts but around accusations and defamation. His party was branded pro-Russian, while the opposition was cast as agents of foreign influence.
This mutual vilification ultimately benefited the ruling party, which maintained a pragmatic policy that appealed both to the electorate and to foreign allies. Each election cycle, new political “enemies” emerged within the opposition, prompting calls for national unity behind Georgian Dream.
The West’s Push for a "Second Front"
However, the situation changed dramatically with the onset of Russia’s Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine. As President Salome Zourabichvili openly acknowledged, the geopolitical landscape shifted significantly. The West’s objective was no longer cooperation with Moscow but its strategic defeat, a reality for which the political elites in Tbilisi were unprepared.
The Georgian opposition transformed itself from a collection of aggressive anti-Russian actors into pro-Western “freedom fighters” advocating for greater Georgian support for Ukraine. Georgian Dream and Ivanishvili, however, failed to align with the new geopolitical rhetoric, leading to their rebranding as defenders of Russian interests.
Suddenly, past accusations against Ivanishvili resurfaced and gained traction, endorsed by certain European and American politicians. When it became clear that the West sought a government in Georgia aligned with prevailing geopolitical trends, Georgian Dream introduced the controversial “foreign agent” law. Almost immediately, the party was labeled pro-Russian, and Ivanishvili was cast as a “Russian oligarch” who, for years, had allegedly undermined Georgian democracy.
Although these allegations had previously gone unnoticed—presumably obscured by a “Moscow-induced veil of darkness”—they were now being widely circulated. Sanctions were imposed on Ivanishvili, and while they may not have directly affected his financial or political standing, they dealt a severe blow to his legacy and international reputation.
The Complexity of Gratitude
Ultimately, Ivanishvili experienced firsthand the full meaning of ingratitude. Those who remained within Georgian Dream failed to warn him of the dangers posed by the rhetoric of “traitors” and “agents”, leaving the party entrenched in an outdated political discourse.
Meanwhile, many who had benefited from Ivanishvili’s support not only distanced themselves but actively worked against him, both in Georgia and abroad. Former allies, such as fourth and fifth Presidents Giorgi Margvelashvili and Salome Zourabichvili, as well as ex-Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, are among those now posing direct political threats.
These figures, who rose to prominence due to Ivanishvili’s backing, have since become vocal advocates for Western sanctions against him, branding him a “Russian oligarch” and a “Putinist”.
Western journalists and opposition voters rarely question the irony that these former members of a so-called “pro-Russian movement” now claim to be defenders of democracy. Yet, this nuance is largely irrelevant to the broader narrative.
The reality is that neither Ivanishvili nor his allies are Kremlin operatives, nor is the opposition composed entirely of traitors or foreign agents. Rather, they are political actors accustomed to backroom maneuvering and seeking external support against their rivals.
For Georgian voters, the greatest fear is treachery. For Western partners, it is the specter of Russian influence. And thus, the opposition became “traitors”, while Ivanishvili was cast as a “Russian oligarch”.
Happy birthday, Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The article was initially published by Sputnik-Georgia in Russian and is available here.