Tatyana Kim built Wildberries from $700 into a $9 billion e-commerce giant. Now Ukrainian drone strikes have hit 23 facilities, killing nine employees and destroying $5.9 billion in goods.
Tatyana Kim built Wildberries from a $700 website launched from her Moscow apartment in 2004 while on maternity leave. The e-commerce company now resembles a Russian Amazon, pulling in $9 billion in revenue last year by Forbes' estimate. Kim herself is worth $8.1 billion, making her the richest woman in Russia.
She keeps a low profile. Kim described herself as "introverted" in a 2018 interview with AFP. She rents rather than owns a home, Bloomberg reported, and lives modestly despite the fortune.
The war with Ukraine has changed the business in a more direct way. Ukrainian drone strikes have hit at least 23 Wildberries facilities, killing nine employees and destroying $5.9 billion in goods, according to The New York Times. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes target logistics hubs "involved in providing the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment and other gear," BBC reported. Kim called the strikes "terrorist attacks" in a July video message.
Kim was born in 1975 near Moscow and studied at the Kolomna State Pedagogical Institute, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. She and her ex-husband, IT entrepreneur Vladislav Bakalchuk, share seven children. Their divorce was finalized in 2025 after 22 years of marriage.
Wildberries began as a small venture reselling clothes from Otto, a German retail company. "At first, I did everything myself, collecting the goods and taking them to customers on the other side of Moscow by subway or bus," Kim told Bloomberg in 2018. She hired delivery workers and rented storage as the business grew. Russian bodybuilder Sergei Anufriev provided early backing in 2006, Bloomberg reported.
By 2026, Wildberries has more than 1 million sellers on its platform, according to parent company RWB. Brands sell clothes, electronics, and housewares. The retailer launched in Europe in 2021, expanding into Germany, Italy, Spain, and France, The Moscow Times reported. Operations now cover Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, and the UAE.
In 2024, Wildberries merged with outdoor advertising company Russ Group to create RWB. Kim owns 100% of Wildberries LLC, which holds 65% of the merged entity. RWB bought Russian cosmetics chain Rive Gauche in December 2025 and acquired a controlling stake in online pharmacy Eapteka in July 2026 as part of its plan to grow the health division, Forbes reported.
The company is also building financial infrastructure. After SWIFT disconnected seven Russian banks in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg reported in 2024 that Kim would work with Russ Group on a new digital trading platform as an alternative to SWIFT. The project was to be overseen by Maxim Oreshkin, Russia's former minister of economic development, who was handpicked by President Vladimir Putin. In 2026, RWB announced a partnership with VTB, Russia's second-biggest bank, which agreed to buy an initial 5% stake in Wildberries' bank, WB Bank, Reuters reported. The companies said they would combine VTB's banking infrastructure with RWB's technology.
Kim's status as a self-made billionaire has drawn questions. In 2020, The Bell reported that her then-husband earned $5 million from selling stock in an internet provider. Wildberries representatives told the outlet the money was not involved in starting the company.
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