By Olga Razumovskaya
MOSCOW--Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who was an early
investor in Facebook Inc. (FB), bought about $100 million of shares
in Apple Inc. (AAPL), Mr. Usmanov's USM Holdings said Tuesday.
News of Mr. Usmanov's Apple stake comes as the U.S. technology
leader has seen its stock fall 38% since its September high. It
could not be confirmed when and at what price Mr. Usmanov had
purchased the Apple shares, and USM Holdings had no further comment
regarding the purchase.
USM Holdings is a limited liability company based in the British
Virgin Islands. It was created in 2012 to consolidate various
investments and holdings of Mr. Usmanov, which are "the result of
more than 30 years of his investment and business development
activities," USM Holdings said on its website. It holds assets in
technology, media, telecommucniations and mining.
The shareholders of USM Holdings are Mr. Usmanov, Vladimir Skoch
and Farhad Moshiri. Their economic interests are divided 60%, 30%
and 10%, respectively, while Mr. Usmanov holds 100% of the voting
rights with respect to USM Holdings.
Mr. Usmanov, who is close to the Kremlin, is a native of
Uzbekistan and had spent six years in an Uzbekistan prison in the
1980s after he was convicted of embezzlement and fraud. He was
exonerated by the Soviet courts and had his record cleared.
Mr. Usmanov holds stakes in the country's No. 2
telecommunications operator MegaFon (MFON.MZ) as well as Internet
company Mail.Ru. (MAIL.LN)
Mr. Usmanov first invested in Facebook during the economic
downturn of 2009 and sold his $1.7 billion stake during the social
network's initial public offering last May.
Apple shares recently rose 2.3% to $440.14.
Write to Olga Razumovskaya at olga.razumovskaya@dowjones.com
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