Money no object in Roman's quest for Chelsea empire
The exact worth of the 36-year-old businessman and Siberian provincial governor is unclear, but it appears that even Chelsea's debts are unlikely to trouble his bank account.
Forbes magazine has estimated his net worth at $5.7bn, while the Sunday Times said he was worth £3.8bn ($6.3bn), which put him 19th on their 'Europe's richest 50' list, one place behind Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
His advisers merely say he's a billionaire several times over and that Chelsea's huge debts are now an irrelevance.
Mr Abramovich lost both parents before he was four years old. Adopted by his uncle, he then dropped out of college in Moscow before making his first fortune through oil deals in the early 1990s.
In 2000, he gained a law degree from Moscow State Law Academy in less than a year.
He is one of the major shareholders in the Russian oil firm Sibneft, which after a merger with Yukos Oil is the world's fourth largest oil company.
Abramovich also had significant interests in Russia's aluminium industry and until recently owned a sizeable stake in Russian airline Aeroflot the sale of which may have funded the Chelsea buyout.
As such, he takes his place among Russia's dozen or so most powerful men, mostly those who made a killing out of the crash privatisation programme that followed the collapse of Communism.
Following the advice of the International Monetary Fund, the government of the day led by Boris Yeltsin sold off dozens of state enterprises, often at knock-down prices and usually to former senior Communist party figures.
Abramovich was too young to have been directly involved in the gold rush, but one of the biggest players of the day, Boris Berezovsky, took him under his wing and helped him become a top dog in his own right with the purchase of Sibneft.
Berezovsky has since fallen from grace under President Vladimir Putin and is now in exile in the UK, but Mr Abramovich has managed to stay the course, buying up Mr Berezovsky's stake in Sibneft and TV company ORT and surviving investigations into allegations of shady dealings.
The tycoon's interests do not end in the field of commerce. In 1999, he was elected to the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma.
He is the governor of the remote province of Chukotka in the north-east of Russia, just across the Bering Strait from Alaska.
His takeover of Chelsea is not his first move into the world of sport as he also owns a Russian ice hockey team.
Jonathan Clare, deputy chairman of Citigate Dewe Rogerson, public relations advisers for Abramovich, said he had run the rule over several clubs before opting for Chelsea.
"This is not a snap decision. His people have been looking at a number of football clubs," Clare said.
"They were looking for a club that was already good but also had the capability for further development to the highest levels of the game."
And in words which could be music to Chelsea fans' ears, Clare said the Russian planned to do 'whatever's necessary' to take Chelsea to the highest levels in European football.
"Roman gives few interviews," Clare said. "He is a quiet, self-deprecating man but he loves the game.
"He watches games and watches Chelsea as well as watching football all over the world."
Not surprisingly, soccer clubs scored highly on the stock market yesterday after the Chelsea takeover, but analysts said the sector's debt problems made further deals unlikely.
Under the offer, the 36-year-old Abramovich, through his English offer vehicle Chelsea Ltd, has already agreed to purchase €84.9 million Chelsea Village shares at 35 pence each, just over half of its entire issued share capital.
"But I can't see it happening all round. Why buy a soccer club when you'll have to take on the debt?" said Stan Lock, a soccer analyst at private client fund management firm Brewin Dolphin.
Soccer clubs have been riddled with huge debts due to the building costs of new stadiums and the wages of superstar players.
Some teams have fallen into administration, while others have had to sell their best players to raise cash.
Yesterday, Scottish club Aberdeen decided to cancel their stock market listing due to rising costs.
However shares in Chelsea Village were up 23 percent at 34½ pence in late morning trade.
The acquisition of Chelsea lifted other soccer clubs' shares. Newcastle United were up three percent and Leeds United were up seven percent.
Meanwhile, Tottenham, one of Chelsea's great London rivals, climbed three percent and Manchester United, the world's most popular club, edged up two percent.
United have been the centre of takeover rumours as a number of investors, including Celtic soccer club entrepreneur Dermot Desmond, have built up stakes in the firm.
Brewin Dolphin analyst Lock said United was the most likely takeover candidate, but felt any deal was unlikely in the near future.
"Chelsea looks like a one-off. I can't see there being anyone out there with pockets as deep as Abramovich," he said.
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