Magnit (Магнит, "Magnet") is one of Russia's largest food retailers. It was founded in 1994 in Krasnodar by Sergey Galitsky. As of March 2016, the company had 12,434 stores in 2,385 locations. They include 9,715 convenience stores, 225 hypermarkets, 2,337 Magnit Cosmetics stores, and 157 Magnit family stores. The company employs more than 140,000 people and has been opening several dozen stores each month.

Since 2006, the company has developed a chain of "Magnit" hypermarkets in many Russian cities and towns. It overtook its rival X5 Group as Russia's largest retailer in terms of sales in April 2013, although it is still under-represented in Moscow. As of July 2014, it is the world's fourth largest retailer by market capitalization. However, the largest retailer in Russia in 2017 is the X5 Group.

Since November 2021 Marathon Group owned by Alexander Vinokurov has become the largest shareholder

The founder of Magnit retail chain, Sergey Galitsky, established JSC Tander in 1995.

In 2004, the retail chain was "rebooted", adopting the convenience store format. At the same time, the company was wrapping up its wholesale operations that distributed household chemicals and perfumes, and switched capacity from its Krasnodar-based trade centre to the distribution complex in Kropotkin. Six years after its establishment, the Magnit retail chain expanded to 1,000 stores nationwide. In 2005, the number of stores had already reached 1,500; the company surpassed Pyaterochka in total revenue.

In 2010, Deloitte – a multinational consulting services provider – included Magnit in its list of the world's top 250 retailers. The same year, the company opened its first store under the drogerie format – Magnit Cosmetic.

In 2014, Magnit became the largest Russian importer. During the same year, its stores were equipped with cashless payment terminals and started introducing self-service checkouts. The company began construction of its own greenhouse complex in Krasnodar Krai. In 2015, Magnit became the first Russian chain to reach the 10,000-store milestone, demonstrating record growth rates. Analytical data showed that every 10th ruble spent by Russian households went to Magnit.

In 2017, Magnit increased the number of its distribution centres to 36. The company also launched the first Magnit Pharmacy and Magnit Cash&Carry stores. The same year, operations started at its button mushroom production facility, the largest of its kind in Russia. In 2017, Magnit was placed 3rd in Baker Tilly's list of Russian businesses with the highest intellectual capital. In 2018, the company opened outlets in the offices of Russian Post. The same year, Magnit joined the ranks of the world's largest public companies in Forbes' Global 2000, becoming the only Russian retailer on the list.