He is the core shareholder in the world’s largest ammonia producer TogliattiAzot,[1] and managed the company in its various incarnations since 1985, as President and CEO for the final 15 years before retiring in May 2011 and stepping down to be replaced by his son, Sergei Makhlai.
[2] In July 2019, the Komsomolsky District Court of Togliatti found Vladimir Makhlai and hist son Sergei guilty of large-scale fraud and sentenced them to nine years in prison.
[3][4] He started his career in 1953 as a turner’s apprentice in his native town Gubakha, moving up to assistant machinist at Gubakhin Chemical Plant in 1961.
He studied for an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Technology at Perm Polytechnic Institute from 1961 to 1965.
He graduated from Production Organizers’ Department at Ural Polytechnic Institute in 1975.