Joseph Lemire, 53 $ 12-15 million #10 Richest
The Most Successful Expats
Under his umbrella company, Gala Media, American Joseph Lemire is largely credited with introducing Ukraine’s first music chart and live DJ radio broadcasts.
Serhiy Zavalnyuk
The Michigan native went against an obscure law that forbade radio disc jockeys to broadcast live on the fateful rainy night of Oct. 16, 1995.
That’s when he asked his favorite, DJ Pasha, to talk to listeners about the music he chose for them. Later, in August 1996, Lemiere and DJ Pavlo “Pasha” Shylko started a Top 20 chart of most favored artists. Ukrainian rockers like Okean Elzy and VV became immediate overnight hits.
His Gala Radio station soon became the nation’s most listened to station.
“Back in the 1990s, three to four guys would run a radio station without a clear-cut idea of what it was all about,” Lemire told the Kyiv Post back then.
In 1994, state-owned radio stations offered a steady diet of programming that lacked variety: the morning exercise lady, afternoon folk music, dinner-time poetry readings and evening classical music.
Four FM stations operated in Kyiv then: a Moscow rebroadcast, Voice of America and two local operations.
There was little advertising. And there were no jingles, weather, traffic reports or loud morning shows either. Ukrainian FM primarily featured a smugly cool dude at the mike doing minute-long transitions between his personal favorites, usually Smoke on the Water or Stairway to Heaven.
Lemire’s initial investment was $500,000 for a 30 percent stake; later, the total investment grew to $2.2 million. By 1996, it had become profitable, grossing around $1.5 million annually.
Today Lemiere owns 99 percent of the radio station, which he obtained in 2006, as well as the gala.net web portal. He dabbles in television production and has residential real estate projects in Ukraine and China.
A certified public accountant and lawyer by training, Lemire first came to Ukraine to set up businesses for multinational companies and organizations.
“Never ever give up. There are so many good people in Ukraine, but the country needs more role models and we’ve produced some of them.”
– Joseph Lemire.
He set up the first Kyiv International Bank with the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, opened the original importer of BMW cars, the first Western Union and other businesses.
But his rise wasn’t smooth. Repeated attempts have been made to take over his station and he has had to seek justice twice in arbitration courts. “We recently won a case against the Ukrainian government,” he said, referring to the way radio frequencies are unfairly and arbitrarily allocated in Ukraine.
“We did it in the framework of the U.S.-Ukraine bilateral investment treaty and, in the next few months, the arbitration court will be enforceable.”
Lemiere said that, in more than 15 years, he has donated more than $1 million to various charities under Gala’s name to promote youth, including every Ukrainian Olympic team.
As for the lessons he’s learned: “Never ever give up. There are so many good people in Ukraine, but the country needs more role models and we’ve produced some of them. We’ve had more than 1,000 people come through Gala and we’ve always taught them to take the ‘Gala’ high road by doing good while doing your best.”
