Mikhail Prokhorov was the chairman of Polyus Gold from 1999 to 2003.
In October 2017, Prokhorov and Viktor Vekselberg sold 3% of Rusal for $315 million in an accelerated bookbuilding
 During the largely un-regulated privatization of former state-controlled industries after the collapse of the USSR, Prokhorov and Potanin (the latter by then a deputy prime minister who oversaw privatization) were able acquire the shares from the workers of Norilsk Nickel for a fraction of their estimated market value and seize ownership of the company

