From Designing the World's Most Used Gun to Making Vodka: Mikhail Kashnikov's Life and Net Worth

What is Mikhail Kalashnikov's net worth?

Known widely for creating the most used assault rifle across the globe, Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947 or AK-47, Mikhail Kalashnikov, a Russian general, writer, and inventor, had earned a net worth of $1.5 million. The aspiring poet who had also written six books, was once deported by his family to Siberia from Kurya but traveled alone 600 miles to get back, and joined the military at 19. He started off making improvements for tanks and also got injured fighting Nazis. Apart from creating the most popular firearm ever, Kalashnikov also created a brand of vodka.

What are Mikhail Kalashnikov's sources of income?

Despite more than 100 million AK-47s being made while he was alive, Mikhail Kalashnikov didn't make a lot of money from his invention. He didn't directly profit from the gun and only got a regular salary from the Soviet government. Later on, he owned 30% of a company called Marken Marketing International (MMI), managed by his grandson. MMI had the rights to use the Kalashnikov name for various things like knives, clothes, and even Kalashnikov Vodka. Towards the end of his life, Mikhail earned a good income by showing up at arms shows worldwide. His family kept the rights to the term "AK-47" until 2016 when a legal battle gave the rights to a government-owned defense company.

Because of his engineering skills, Kalashnikov started creating new equipment for the Soviet military, and began working on a new rifle after focusing on a submachine gun. Through the '40s, Kalashnikov kept inventing, and one of his creations, the Mikhtim, became the foundation for several prototype rifles. Within just two years, it became the go-to assault rifle for the Soviet Army.

Kalashnikov didn't stop there; he kept designing weapons, although nothing he made later became as famous as the AK-47. By 2009, an estimated 100 million assault rifles were reproduced with his design.

Personal life

Mikhail Kalashnikov's personal life had its share of sadness. He met his wife, Yekaterina, at a military testing range near Moscow. She was an artist and helped him turn his ideas into drawings. They got married in 1943 and had four kids, but Yekaterina passed away in 1977. His youngest daughter, Natalia, moved in to keep him company, but tragically died in a car crash six years later. As his hearing started to get worse, Kalashnikov lived alone, but had a driver and a country house by the lake. Another daughter, Yelena, helped out at home and on his trips abroad, especially when he went to arms fairs. Kalashnikov, who loved shooting, also spent time designing hunting rifles.

Honors

During Mikhail Kalashnikov's 75th birthday bash in 1994, President Boris Yeltsin gave him Russia's top honor, the Order of St Vladimir. Then, in 2009, when he turned 90, President Dmitry Medvedev declared him a "Hero of the Russian Federation."

FAQs

What guns did Mikhail Kalashnikov make?

He is most famous for developing the AK-47 assault rifle and its improvements, the AKM and AK-74, as well as the RPK light machine gun and PK machine gun.

Why is AK-47 so famous?

The model and its variants owe their global popularity to their reliability under harsh conditions, low production cost, availability in virtually every geographic region, and ease of use.