In March, Vladimir Potanin leaves the government to focus on business. One of Interros Group’s companies acquires the government’s share in RAO Norilsk Nickel at an investment tender. The winner pays the government over $170 million (80% above the starting price) for a 38% stake in RAO. The Mustcom Ltd Consortium, comprising UNEXIM Bank, Renaissance Capital, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Investment Bank, Morgan Stanley Asset Management and George Soros’s Quantum Fund, win the auction for a 25% + 1 share stake in Svyazinvest for a record $1.875 billion. The government of the Russian Federation, which had promised to hand over licenses for cellular service, changes its plans and refuses to continue privatization. The Interros group represented by UNEXIM Bank subsequently leaves Mustcom. Interros founds ProfMedia Holding to consolidate its media assets. ProfMedia acquires a controlling stake in Komsomolskaya Pravda and Izvestia, as well as a blocking minority in Expert magazine. This is the first time that Forbes magazine mentions the owner of Interros, Vladimir Potanin, as one of Russia’s top five richest men, whose net worth is estimated at $700 million.