John Varoli

Last updated

John Varoli is an American public relations practitioner who worked as a journalist in Russia from 1997 to 2010. In that period he wrote about 3,000 articles for publications including the St Petersburg Times, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Transitions magazine, the New York Times , [1] the International Herald Tribune , Bloomberg News, [2] The Art Newspaper , [3] Art & Auction , and many more.

Contents

He also had experience working for TV, hosting in the first half of 2003 a TV program on Russia’s Kultura TV Channel called ‘’A Walk Down Broadway’’. From the middle of 2006 to the middle of 2007 he worked as a TV news producer at the Moscow bureau of Reuters, responsible for producing TV news on a wide variety of topics from across Russia and the former Soviet Union. [4] Currently, he is an independent pro - Russian expert commentator on RTVI, an independent TV station in Russian. [5]

Early career

John Varoli graduated from Cornell University in 1990 with a degree in Russian Studies. He came to Russia in June 1992, and soon after joined with a group of young Russians to create Moscow’s first organization helping the homeless. He served as general director of Off the Streets Charity until 1996, leaving only to care of his new family and moving to St. Petersburg where he began to write for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and for the St Petersburg Times.

In 1998 The New York Times tapped him as a special features writer for St Petersburg and Northwest Russia. For example, he was the first western journalist to interview a Russian hacker. [6] and he wrote special investigative reports, such as covering a rash of brazen thefts from Russian museums, [7]

He also wrote regularly as a features writer for Bloomberg News, and for the London-based monthly, The Art Newspaper. As one of the only full-time foreign correspondents in St Petersburg, he contributed to other publications, including People magazine, Departures and Art & Antiques .

In 2004, Bloomberg News appointed Varoli to its newly created arts department (Muse), and to write about the art market in Russia. From 2004 to 2010, he wrote often for Bloomberg, and The Art Newspaper . He covered Russian auctions in London and New York, as well as interviewing Moscow’s secretive billionaire collectors, and tracking their acquisitions. He also wrote on the problem of fakes on the Russian art market. [8] [9]

John Varoli PR & V Startup Agency

In early 2011, Varoli left journalism and established John Varoli Public Relations, which worked with both corporate clients and wealthy individuals and other figures in the art world. In 2016, he was a founder of V Startup Agency, [10] a PR firm in New York City that works with technology companies and other companies. Varoli remains a partner at the company.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christie's</span> British auction house

Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Amsterdam, Geneva, Shanghai, and Dubai. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, the holding company of François Pinault. In 2022 Christie's sold $8.4 billion in art and luxury goods, an all-time high for any auction house. In 2017, the Salvator Mundi was sold at Christie's in New York for $450 million, the highest price ever paid for a painting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fabergé egg</span> Valuable jewelled egg from Russia

A Fabergé egg is a jewelled egg created by the jewellery firm House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As many as 69 were created, of which 57 survive today. Virtually all were manufactured under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé between 1885 and 1917. The most famous are his 52 "Imperial" eggs, 46 of which survive, made for the Russian emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers. Fabergé eggs are worth millions of pounds and have become symbols of opulence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sotheby's</span> International auction house

Sotheby's is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and maintains a significant presence in the UK.

<i>The Moscow Times</i> Independent online newspaper

The Moscow Times is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates such as hotels, cafés, embassies, and airlines, and also by subscription. The newspaper was popular among foreign citizens residing in Moscow and English-speaking Russians. In November 2015 the newspaper changed its design and type from daily to weekly and increased the number of pages to 24.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Potanin</span> Russian billionaire (born 1961)

Vladimir Olegovich Potanin is a Russian billionaire businessman. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in the early to mid-1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikhail Prokhorov</span> Russian entrepreneur and politician (born 1965)

Mikhail Dmitrievich Prokhorov is a Russian oligarch, politician, and former owner of the Brooklyn Nets. In April 2022, Prokhorov reportedly obtained Israeli citizenship.

Racism in Russia mainly appears in the form of negative attitudes towards non-ethnic Russian citizens, immigrants or tourists and negative actions against them by some Russians. Traditionally, Russian racism includes anti-Semitism and Tatarophobia, as well as hostility towards the various peoples of the Caucasus, Central Asia, East Asia and Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloomberg News</span> International news agency based in New York City

Bloomberg News is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg Markets, Bloomberg.com, and Bloomberg's mobile platforms. Since 2015, John Micklethwait has served as editor-in-chief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Len Blavatnik</span> Ukrainian-born British-American billionaire businessperson and philanthropist (born 1957)

Sir Leonard Valentinovich Blavatnik is a Ukrainian-born British-American businessman and philanthropist. As of January 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at $31.3 billion. In 2017, Blavatnik received a knighthood for services to philanthropy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Lebedev</span> Russian businessman

Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev is a Russian businessman, and has been referred to as one of the Russian oligarchs. Until 1992, he was an officer in the First Chief Directorate of the Soviet Union′s KGB and later one of the KGB's successor-agencies, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dissenters' March</span> Series of Russian opposition protests

The Dissenters' March was a series of Russian opposition protests that took place on December 16, 2006 in Moscow, on March 3, 2007 in Saint Petersburg, on March 24, 2007 in Nizhny Novgorod, on April 14, 2007 for the second time in Moscow, on April 15, 2007 again in Saint Petersburg, on May 18, 2007 in Samara, and on May 19, 2007 in Chelyabinsk. Some of them were featured in various media outlets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass media in Russia</span> Overview of mass media in Russia

Television, magazines, and newspapers have all been operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. Even though the Constitution of Russia guarantees freedom of speech, the press has been plagued by both government censorship and self-censorship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MacDougall's</span> Auction house based in London, England

MacDougall's is a privately owned international auction house based in London, England. Founded in 2004, it is one of Britain's youngest, but fastest growing auction houses. With around 20 million pounds per year in auction sales, MacDougall's is now the 5th or 6th largest auction house in Britain, and consistently one of the three largest in the world for its speciality: Russian Art. The firm has its salerooms in London and representatives in Paris, Moscow, and Kyiv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Opp</span> American photographer

Edward Oppenheimer is an American photojournalist based in Moscow, Russia. He currently works as Director of Photography for the Russian media group Kommersant in Moscow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 anti-war protests in Russia</span> 2014 protest in Russia against military intervention in Ukraine

The 2014 anti-war protests in Russia refers to a series of anti-war demonstrations opposing the Russian military intervention in Ukraine that took place in Russia in 2014. Protesters held two anti-war protest rallies on 2 and 15 March 2014. The latter, known as the March of Peace, took place in Moscow a day before the Crimean referendum. The protests have been the largest in Russia since the 2011–13 Russian protests by the Russian opposition against the alleged electoral fraud committed by United Russia during the 2011 Russian legislative election. Reuters reported that around 20,000 people participated in the 15 March demonstrations.

The U.S. Russia Investment Fund (TUSRIF) was an investment fund from 1995 to 2008. It was established by the United States government to make private investments in the Russian economy. By 2005, it had invested $300 million in 44 Russian companies. James Cook, Managing Director, founded and developered two of the leading companies DeltaBank, the first bank to sell credit cards in Russia, and DeltaCredit, the first bank to sell residential mortgages in Russia. TUSRIF was replaced by the U.S. Russia Foundation (USRF) in 2008, while its financial arm, Delta Private Equity Partners, was purchased by Deutsche Bank in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Vorontsova</span> Eldest child of Vladimir Putin (born 1985)

Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, also referred to as Maria Faassen, is a Russian pediatric endocrinologist. She is the eldest child of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis Sverdlov</span> Russian businessman (born 1978)

Denis Lvovich Sverdlov is a British-based Russian businessman, and the founder and former CEO of Arrival, a British electric vehicle manufacturer based in London. As of April 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$933 million. The businessman who was worth $11.7 billion in April 2021 lost his billionaire status in April 2022. Sverdlov’s 94% decline in net worth is the largest wealth loss of anyone outside China who appeared on last year’s Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

References

  1. Art / Architecture; Amber Room, Lost to War, Is Recreated, The New York Times
  2. Billionaires Splash Out on Middle-East Art as Dubai Fair Grows, Bloomberg
  3. No market is immune: Russia, The Art Newspaper
  4. Legendary Performances, Administration Archived 2010-12-15 at the Wayback Machine , Legendary Performances
  5. "Конкуренты Трампа: кто будет бороться за президентское кресло в США и какие у них шансы". January 19, 2019.
  6. In Bleak Russia, a Young Man's Thoughts Turn to Hacking, New York Times
  7. ARTS ABROAD; Purloined Harem Girls, and Other Russian Mysteries, New York Times
  8. Tycoon Ivanov Vies Faberge, Boosts $2 Billion Museum Collection, Bloomberg
  9. Russia's New Art Regulator Fights to Stem Tide of Forgeries , Bloomberg
  10. "V Startup Agency". V Startup Agency. Retrieved July 23, 2023.