Timur Turlov has built a career that took him from making his first stock-market investment as a teenager to becoming the founder and majority shareholder of Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding Corp. Today, the Kazakhstan-based entrepreneur has an estimated net worth more than $6 billion and controls a financial and technology group operating across 24 countries. But his biography extends beyond the numbers: from his early years in Russia and the launch of Freedom during the 2008 financial crisis to his move to Kazakhstan and family life. Here is a closer look at the businessman behind one of Central Asia’s most prominent international companies.
Timur Turlov in Numbers: Age, Origin, and Fortune at a Glance
Timur Turlov is the founder, CEO, and majority shareholder of Freedom Holding Corp., a financial technology group whose shares trade on Nasdaq under the ticker FRHC. He was born on November 13, 1987, in Lobnya, a town in the Moscow region. As of August 2026, Turlov is 38 years old. He has lived in Almaty since 2011 and has been a citizen of Kazakhstan since 2022.
The main source of his wealth is his stake in Freedom Holding Corp. SEC filings show that Turlov owns 42,405,112 shares of the company. Following an additional share issuance in the summer of 2026, the total number of shares outstanding increased to 63,787,666, putting his ownership stake at approximately 66.5%. In its July proxy statement, Freedom also reported Turlov’s stake at roughly 66.5%.
Forbes classifies Timur Turlov as self-made entrepreneur. According to the publication’s real-time ranking as of August 25, 2026, his net worth was estimated at $6.7 billion. This figure is not fixed: a substantial portion of his wealth consists of publicly traded FRHC shares, so the estimate rises and falls with their market value.
Freedom grew out of a brokerage business launched in 2008. By the summer of 2026, the group said it operated in 24 countries and spanned brokerage, banking, insurance, telecommunications, payments, and other digital services. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, which ended on June 30, 2026, Freedom generated $732.5 million in revenue, while its assets reached $14.05 billion.
Wife, Children, and Family Life
Timur Turlov is married to Elena, whom he met while studying. The couple married in August 2008. They have six children – three sons and three daughters – and the family lives in Almaty.
When discussing family life, Turlov emphasizes that he and his wife have distinct roles at home. As he puts it: “At work, I am the president, but at home, Elena is the president.” According to Turlov, his wife takes the lead in managing the household, the children’s education, and day-to-day family decisions.
Timur Turlov says he does not believe in choosing his children’s careers for them or simply handing them an established business. He has expressed the principle this way: “Don’t try to raise your children. They will resemble you anyway. Raise yourself.” Turlov has explained that he tries to show his children through his own behavior what he considers acceptable and unacceptable, and that he does not plan to automatically steer them toward careers at Freedom. He has also said that passing on values, knowledge, and skills matters more to him than simply transferring accumulated wealth.
Net Worth: Tracking Timur Turlov’s Fortune Over the Years
Timur Turlov’s wealth is closely tied to the growth of Freedom Holding. Turlov himself told Forbes that in 2008 he and his co-founders raised about $100,000 in startup capital. By the time Freedom Holding uplisted to Nasdaq in October 2019. Freedom announced that trading was expected to begin on October 15, 2019. Historical Nasdaq Data Link figures cited by StockAnalysis put Freedom Holding’s market capitalization on October 16 at approximately $801.7 million; its shares were trading at around $14-$15 at the time.
As Freedom’s share price rose, so did Turlov’s personal wealth. In 2021, Forbes included him in its global billionaires list for the first time, estimating his net worth at $2.1 billion. In 2022, the figure was approximately $2.4 billion, rising to $3.1 billion in 2023. Forbes Kazakhstan estimated his fortune at $3.3 billion in 2024 and $5.8 billion in 2025.
The trend, however, has not been linear. In March 2026, Forbes estimated Turlov’s net worth at approximately $5.2 billion. By August 25, the publication’s real-time profile showed $6.7 billion. Such swings are to be expected when most of a person’s wealth is tied to publicly traded shares.
Forbes’s methodology involves valuing stakes in public and private companies, along with other known assets, while accounting for known debts. In its real-time ranking, the value of major publicly traded holdings is regularly adjusted in line with stock market prices.
In Turlov’s case, his main publicly traded asset is his stake in Freedom Holding. According to Freedom’s filings, he owns 42.405 million shares and, following the 2026 share issuance, approximately two-thirds of the company. With Freedom’s market capitalization at around $10 billion, the value of his stake alone broadly aligns with Forbes’s current estimate of his net worth. As a result, Freedom’s share price has a direct impact on Turlov’s position in billionaire rankings.
A Post-Soviet Childhood in a Moscow Suburb
Timur Turlov was born in the final years of the Soviet Union and grew up during the economic turmoil of the 1990s. Public biographies state that his mother worked as a research scientist and largely raised the children on her own. His father left the family when Timur was about three years old, and Turlov has said that he barely remembers him.
Timur Turlov later described his family’s financial situation by recalling the conditions in which they lived. According to his recollections, six people shared a room measuring less than 30 square meters. In interviews, he has linked this experience to his early desire to earn his own money and achieve financial independence.
His interest in financial markets did not come from a family business. There is no public evidence that Turlov inherited entrepreneurial capital or an operating business from his parents. Forbes explicitly classifies him as a self-made entrepreneur. As a teenager, he taught himself how stock exchanges and trading systems worked.
Early Trading Career and University Years
Timur Turlov made his first trade at around 15. According to him, he inherited about $800 from his grandfather and invested roughly 20,000 rubles in shares of Dalenergo. He sold the shares two weeks later at a small loss. The same stock later rose roughly sevenfold.
At 16, Turlov began working at the Moscow office of World Capital Investments, a firm specializing in U.S. equities. There, he gained practical experience in trading and exchange infrastructure. In 2005, he moved to a division of Uniastrum Bank, where he helped develop services that gave clients access to U.S. trading platforms.
At the same time, Turlov studied at the Faculty of Economics and Management of the Russian State Technological University named after K. E. Tsiolkovsky, known as MATI. He specialized in economics and business management and graduated with a degree in economics and management. He combined his studies with work focused on U.S. markets: he attended classes during the day, while his workday extended into U.S. trading hours. Turlov graduated from university in 2009.
Founding Freedom Finance During the 2008 Crisis
The global financial crisis of 2008 marked Turlov’s transition from employment to entrepreneurship. The division where he worked on U.S. market operations was shut down, and Turlov, together with several former colleagues, decided to establish their own brokerage company.
In the early days, the brokerage’s founders called prospective clients themselves. Turlov says they became highly skilled at cold calling. The business began to gain traction about a year later, as U.S. markets recovered in 2009. As Russian investors’ interest in Western markets grew, Freedom began attracting more clients.
The company initially had a narrow focus: providing investors across the former Soviet Union with access to U.S. securities markets. This business became the foundation of Freedom Finance and, later, the international Freedom Holding Corp. group.
Scaling Freedom Holding Corp. and the Nasdaq Uplisting
In 2015, Timur Turlov merged his business with the U.S.-listed company BMB Munai. Following the reorganization, the company was renamed Freedom Holding Corp. Forbes describes the deal as the transaction through which Turlov’s business became part of a U.S.-listed company.
The next major milestone came in 2019, when Freedom moved to Nasdaq. In October, the company announced that its shares had been approved for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker FRHC.
Freedom subsequently expanded beyond its brokerage model. In Kazakhstan, the group moved into banking and insurance, then added payments, travel, ticketing, and e-commerce services, and later entered telecommunications. According to the company, by August 2026 the group was operating in 24 countries.
Freedom’s market value increased more than tenfold from the time of its Nasdaq uplisting. At the close of trading on August 24, 2026, FRHC shares were priced at approximately $157, giving the company a market capitalization of around $10 billion. The all-time closing high was recorded on August 6, 2025, at $190.14 per share, while the intraday high that day exceeded $194. The 2025 rally came amid the expansion of the company’s ecosystem, strong financial results, and FRHC’s inclusion in the Russell 3000. It is more accurate, however, to describe the record high as reflecting a mix of company-specific and broader market factors rather than attributing it to a single event.
The company’s financial results show how far the business has grown from its origins as a small brokerage. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, Freedom Holding generated $2.2 billion in revenue and $153.3 million in net income. A year earlier, net income had been $76.2 million.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, revenue rose 40% year over year to $732.5 million. As of June 30, 2026, the company’s assets had reached $14.05 billion, and it reported 14 million customers across its ecosystem, including customers of partner companies.
Citizenship Explained
Questions about Turlov’s citizenship often arise because his life and career have been closely connected to both Russia and Kazakhstan. He was born and raised in Russia, where he was educated and began his career. Turlov moved to Kazakhstan in 2011; Almaty later became the family’s home and a key base for Freedom’s growth.
In April 2022, Turlov explained that he had begun the process of obtaining Kazakhstani citizenship about five years earlier, when he received permanent residency. He said the decision to seek Kazakhstani citizenship had been made years earlier: for more than ten years, his “center of vital interests has been in Kazakhstan,” where his family lives, where he is a tax resident, and where he sees his future.
Turlov received a Kazakhstani passport in June 2022. Before that, he held citizenship of Russia and Saint Kitts and Nevis. To obtain Kazakhstani citizenship, he renounced both of his previous citizenships.
Kazakh law explains why — citizenship of another state is not recognized for a citizen of the Republic. Official guidance interprets this provision as prohibiting multiple citizenship, including dual citizenship.
His current citizenship is therefore unambiguous: Timur Turlov is a citizen of Kazakhstan. His current Forbes profile also lists Kazakhstan under “Citizenship” and Almaty as his place of residence.
Frequently Asked Questions About Timur Turlov
1. What Is Timur Turlov’s Net Worth?
According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires as of August 25, 2026, Timur Turlov’s net worth was approximately $6.7 billion. His main asset is his stake in Freedom Holding Corp., so the estimate rises and falls with FRHC’s share price.
2. What Is Timur Turlov’s Citizenship?
Timur Turlov was born in Russia but has been a citizen of Kazakhstan since June 2022. To obtain Kazakhstani citizenship, he renounced his Russian and Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenships.
3. Is Timur Turlov Married?
Yes. His wife’s name is Elena. They met while studying and married in August 2008. The family currently lives in Almaty.
4. How Many Children Does Timur Turlov Have?
Timur and Elena Turlov have six children – three sons and three daughters.
5. Who Are Timur Turlov’s Parents?
Public biographical sources state that Turlov’s mother worked as a research scientist and largely raised the children on her own. His father left the family when Timur was around three years old; Turlov has said that he barely remembers him.
6. What Is Timur Turlov’s Religion?
Public biographies describe Turlov as Christian. He has also spoken publicly about his belief in God, although religion is not a major theme in his public business commentary.
7. How Tall Is Timur Turlov?
Biographical publications generally list Turlov’s height as around 199 cm. The English-language publication Share Talk gives his height as 6 feet 6 inches.
