Dmitry Grishin

Early life

Grishin was born in 1978 in Kapustin Yar, a Russian rocket launch and development site in Astrakhan Oblast. His father was a designer of radar systems for the MiG-29 jet fighter. At the age of 12, Grishin saw a VCR for the first time and the mechanics of the machine sparked his lifelong interest in robotics.

Education

1995 - Graduated from physics and mathematics school No. 4, Saratov(Russia)

2001 - Finished MSTU with red diploma with a degree CAD

Technology career and Mail.ru

While attending Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Grishin started working for the U.S. software company Axiom Int, overseeing programmers in Florida from his student hostel in Moscow. He worked as Design Engineer, Senior Software Developer, and IT consultant while with Axiom. In March 2000 he began to work for netBridge as head of the project development division of the online auction site Molotok.ru; a year later, he was promoted to CTO. After the dot-com bubble burst in the U.S., the company's funding disappeared, so netBridge and Port.ru — another struggling company that included the project Mail.ru — merged in 2001. By December 2001, he was the company's technical director. He became executive director in June 2002 and succeeded Yuri Milner as CEO in April 2003.

Under Grishin, Mail.ru expanded to become Russia's second largest web company by revenue. It provides a suite of consumer products including chat services, e-mail, and a social network, Odnoklassniki. In 2010, Mail.ru held the first large IPO by a Russian internet firm, raising $912 million. In addition to chat, email, social, and search services, Mail.ru earns revenue from games and ads. 90% of Russian internet users regularly use Mail.ru's services.

In November 2013, Grishin launched Mail.ru's U.S. subsidiary, My.com. My.com is based in the Netherlands with operations in California. Since launching, My.com has released a suite of mobile messaging, e-mail and gaming applications for iOS and Android devices and has announced upcoming MMORPG PC games.

In 2013, Grishin was named to MIT Technology Review's annual "35 Innovators Under 35" list. Outside of Mail.ru, he serves on the Board of Directors in Haslop Company Ltd. (Search for «Mamba» in the Internet) and Molotok Holdings Ltd. (Links on the Internet: "Molotok.ru"). Grishin resides in Moscow, and is married with one child. He speaks Russian, English and Chinese.

In October 2016, Grishin stepped down as CEO of Mail.ru, but remained as a Chairman until May 2022.