He graduated from high school in 1983, and following this enrolled in the Civil Engineering Department at Dagestan Polytechnic Institute in 1984, though his obligatory military service for the Soviet Army brought his studies to a halt just one year later.

[21] After completing his service in 1986, Kerimov continued his studies at Dagestan State University,[22] where he graduated with a degree in financial accounting and economics in 1989.

[28] Kerimov was paid 150 roubles (approximately $250 dollars) a month and he and his wife lived in a worker's hostel attached to the plant, where they shared one room of a two-room flat.

[8] Eventually, Kerimov rose to the rank of Deputy Director General at Eltav and began to dabble in investing alongside during the fall of the Soviet Union.

[8] Fedprombank financed lagging industries and Kerimov and his associates soon became creditors to large utility companies, allowing them to continue to provide key services.

[8] In late 1999, Kerimov bought a 55% stake in the oil trading company Nafta Moskva, the successor to the Soviet monopoly firm Soyuznefteexport, for $50 million.

[32][33] In 2003, Kerimov managed to secure a $43 million loan from the state-owned Vnesheconombank, which he invested in the oil and gas company Gazprom.

[8] Within the next year, share prices for the Russian gas company doubled and Kerimov was able to pay off the entirety of the loan within four months.

[34] In 2004 Sberbank, now the largest bank in Russia and Eastern Europe, provided Kerimov with a loan of $3.2 billion.,[25][35][36] which was later repaid, and these funds were also invested in equities.

[38] In November 2005, Kerimov's Nafta Moskva acquired JSC Polymetal, one of Russia's largest gold and silver mining companies.

[42] As markets around the world began to tighten in 2007, Kerimov and his associates expected that Russia would suffer more than the West from the impending economic crisis.

Kerimov decreased his stakes in Gazprom and other Russian blue chips and approached Wall Street, proposing to invest the vast majority of his fortune to defend the institutions from short-sellers.

[8] In 2007, Kerimov invested billions in Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and other financial institutions.

[citation needed] In December 2013 Kerimov sold his shares to property investor Sergei Gordeev and businessman Alexander Mamut,[52] who owns a stake in precious metals miner Polymetal.

[44] In July 2013, Uralkali announced it was pulling out of the BPC cartel, dropping prices and increasing production to maximum capacity in a grab for market share.

Uralkali's then-CEO Vladislav Baumgertner [ru] attended in Kerimov's place and was arrested by state security forces and charged with "abuse of power".

[66] Moscow Times quoted a former deputy editor of Forbes Russia Kirill Vishnepolsky as describing Kerimov as a "Russian Warren Buffett" for a similarly astute investment style.

[68] In March 2012, it was reported that Kerimov had given the club a summer transfer budget of over €230 million, in an attempt to qualify for the UEFA Champions League within the next three seasons.

[8][73] In September 2010, Member of Russian Parliament Ashot Egiazaryan accused Kerimov of conspiring with the city government of Moscow to forcibly acquire his 25% stake in the project.

[8] After claiming he received death threats, Egiazaryan fled to the United States to seek asylum and filed lawsuits in a civil court in Cyprus, the London Court of International Arbitration and on Capitol Hill claiming that a campaign of threats of criminal prosecution and armed police raids forced him to give up his shares.

[74] According to Kerimov's lawyer Mr Egiazaryan transferred his interest in the Moskva Hotel as part of a legitimate business deal but was overextended and was deep in debt.

[citation needed] Pending deliberation by the courts, Kerimov's assets were frozen, upsetting Uralkali's $39 billion joint bid with Chinese company Sinochem for the Canadian Potash Corp.[75][76] The Nicosia district court in Cyprus lifted Kerimov's billion dollar asset freeze in February 2011, arguing that the plaintiffs "failed to prove the urgency of their petition.

In October 2015, Suleiman Kerimov sold his interest in the property to businessmen Yury and Alexey Khotin for an undisclosed amount.

[17][84] Kerimov is one of many Russian oligarchs named in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.

[88] In October 2024, the Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov said he was ready to formally declare a blood feud against Kerimov and two Russian State Duma deputies who he said were planning to order his murder.

In a post on Telegram on Wednesday evening, October 9, Kadyrov said he had held a meeting with commanders and heads of Chechnya's security forces.

As TASS reports, Kadyrov mentioned Kerimov and State Duma deputies Bekkhan Barakhoev and Rizvan Kurbanov "in the context of the incident in the Wildberries office."

[8] On 26 November 2006, in Nice, France, Kerimov was seriously injured after losing control of a $650,000 Ferrari Enzo on the Promenade des Anglais.

[8] Known for spending much of his fortune on parties, the Russian billionaire has paid for celebrities such as Christina Aguilera, Shakira,[100] Amy Winehouse[8] and Jessie J[101] to perform at his events.

[130] On 20 March 2017, Kerimov was awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", II class by President Vladimir Putin for his outstanding contribution to the development of parliamentarianism and legislation.