Boris Zingarevich Net Worth

Boris Zingarevich has an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, Boris Zingarevich profile (figures as of October 20, 2026). That is up from $1 billion in 2019.

Boris Zingarevich is a Russian entrepreneur and investor who made his fortune in pulp, paper and timber. He was born on July 8, 1959, in the town of Sebezh in the Pskov region of the USSR, to a family of teachers. He has a twin brother, Mikhail Zingarevich, who became one of his business partners.

He graduated from the Pulp and Paper Technological University in Leningrad with a diploma in engineering, and he worked his way up in the pulp and paper industry to the position of chief engineer before starting his own business.

Beyond forestry, Zingarevich has invested in energy storage. In the early 2000s he made startup investments in Ener1, a company that develops energy storage technology and makes lithium-ion batteries for transportation, power grids and industrial electronics. He also invested in the Think Global electric car project.

How Boris Zingarevich made his money

In the early 1990s Zingarevich and his university schoolmate Zakhar Smushkin got involved in barter trading with Russian pulp and paper mills. In 1992 he founded Ilim Pulp Enterprise with his brother Mikhail and Smushkin, and he was in charge of operations and development projects as a board member. Later in the decade, during Russia's privatization, the partners bought their first plant, the Kotlas pulp and paper mill. Ilim grew into the largest vertically integrated timber company in Russia.

In 2007 the partners formed a joint venture with International Paper, which bought 50% of Ilim for about $650 million, most of it in cash. The same year Zingarevich set up Ilim Timber from wood processing assets that were not part of the venture. In 2023 International Paper sold its 50% back to the Russian partners. He still controls Ilim Timber, a large processed timber firm.

How Forbes has valued Boris Zingarevich

Forbes put Zingarevich's net worth at $1 billion in 2019. It was $1.2 billion in 2020 and $1.1 billion in 2021. He then returned at $1.4 billion in 2023.

After the partners bought back full control of Ilim, his figure rose to $2.1 billion in 2024 and stayed at $2.1 billion in 2025. On the 2026 World's Billionaires List he was valued at $1.9 billion, which matched the Forbes real-time billionaires tracker as of October 20, 2026.