Russian search large Yandex has confirmed the completion of the sale of two of its flagship media properties, information and Zen, to native social media large, VK, following regulatory approvals.
As we reported again in March, Yandex started wanting for methods to dump its information aggregator and running a blog recommender platform inside the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a end result of the Kremlin has cranked up administration of the media and freedom of expression — in search of to type the narrative round what it solely ever refers to as a “particular navy operation”. The Russian state has additionally sought to clamp down on anti-battle sentiment, elevating risks for media owners. And we understand Yandex insiders had come to search advice from information and Zen as “poisonous property”.
In an announcement at the second, the Dutch registered agency introduced its Russian working subsidiary had accomplished the sale of the information aggregation platform and Zen “infotainment” service to VK — confirming too the acquisition of one hundred% of the meals supply service, supply membership, which had been owned by VK.
The transaction acquired approval from the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Yandex added.
Following closure, supply membership turns into a aspect of Yandex’s ‘E-commerce, Mobility and supply’ half. And Yandex’s assertion notes that, as of at the second, the mannequin be consolidated inside the group’s monetary outcomes — with these adjustments as a consequence of be mirrored in its third quarter monetary outcomes.
As we reported final month, the sale consists of the Yandex.ru homepage which might cross to VK — with friends to that web site being redirected to a renamed mannequin of the web content, dzen.ru, which is managed and developed by VK.
The redirect is anticipated to start occurring later at the second.
We understand that the deal to promote information and Zen to VK was a pure asset swap — with no monetary aspect to the transaction.
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