Tepper vs Alekperov
Appaloosa Management and Lukoil.
The differences
- Forbes puts Vagit Alekperov about $1B ahead of David Tepper.Forbes figures from 9 Oct 2026 and 9 Oct 2026.
- Both started the company their money comes from.
- Vagit Alekperov is about 7 years older than David Tepper.
- David Tepper is from United States; Vagit Alekperov is from Russia.
Put someone else on either side
Side by side
Tepper
AlekperovThe money
- Net worth, Forbes
- $28.5BForbes, 9 Oct 2026
- $29.5BForbes, 9 Oct 2026
- Net worth, Bloomberg
- $28BBloomberg, 16 Oct 2026
- $25.5BBloomberg, 8 Oct 2025
- Forbes rank
- No. 80Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026
- No. 78Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026
- Billionaire since
- Not stated
- Not stated
Where it came from
- How it started
- Founded itLeft Goldman Sachs, where he headed the junk-bond desk, to found Appaloosa Management in 1993
- Founded itIn 1991 he took three large ministry-controlled oil fields and set up Lukoil
- Main source
- His own capital in Appaloosa's hedge funds and the Carolina PanthersBloomberg: Appaloosa hedge funds $10.8 billion, Carolina Panthers $8.07 billion, cash $9.18 billion
- Lukoil stock and dividendsBloomberg: most of his fortune is a 28.3% Lukoil stake; he has collected more than $13 billion in dividends
- Companies
- Appaloosa Management, Carolina PanthersAppaloosa Management: President and founder; Carolina Panthers: Owner and chairman
- LukoilLukoil: Founder; no executive or board role
- Biggest stake
- Carolina Panthers100% owned
- Lukoil8.6% owned
The person
- Born
- 1957East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
- 1950Baku, Azerbaijan
- Country
- United StatesLives in Palm Beach, Florida, United States
- RussiaLives in Moscow, Russia
- Education
- Graduate degreeEconomics degree, University of Pittsburgh (1978); master's in industrial administration, Carnegie Mellon University (1982)
- Graduate degreeMaster of science in engineering, Azerbaijan Institute of Oil and Chemistry (1974)
- Parents
- Son of Harry Tepper, an accountant, and Roberta Tepper, a schoolteacher
- Youngest of five children; his father, an oil worker, died when he was 3
What they give
- Giving Pledge
- Not a signer
- Not a signer
- Foundation
- The Tepper FoundationFounded in 1996 as the David A. Tepper Charitable Foundation; led by his daughter Randi
- Our Future FoundationSet up and financed by him; makes interest-free loans to social enterprises
- Lifetime giving
- Not stated
- Not stated
Role and record
- Role now
- Runs the companyPresident of Appaloosa Management; owner and chairman of the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC
- Founder, no executive roleLukoil shareholder; left the presidency and board in April 2022
- Successor
- Not stated
- Vadim Vorobyev, first executive vice president, was named temporary president of Lukoil in April 2022
- Public office
- Member, Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets, Federal Reserve Bank of New York2014
- Soviet deputy minister overseeing the oil industrybefore 1991
- Legal record
- None found
- 2022: UK government; 2025: UK Companies HouseSanctioned by the UK in April 2022; he stepped down as Lukoil president days later. Disqualified from acting as a company director from 9 April 2025 as a person designated under UK sanctions (UK sanctions list reference RUS1334).
