Yandex, often described as the Google of Russia, sold its local businesses at a bargain price. Bloomberg reports The Dutch-headquartered search and services giant has divested its Russian operations for 475 billion rubles ($5.2 billion) in cash and stock. The new owners include the management group, as well as Russia’s largest domestic energy company Lukoil, Russian businessman and former CEO of Gazprom Alexander Ryazanov, and others. Now that Yandex has cut ties with Russia, given the sanctions affecting businesses with Russian ties, it will be able to grow and partner more freely. The occupation of Ukraine.
Since the war, Yandex It faced repercussions such as delisting from Nasdaq. Its founder Arkady Volozh faced European Union sanctions in the summer of 2022 for supporting the company’s Russian propaganda. The company soon sold its news collection service, and Voloj publicly denounced the war.
He reports that Yandex will cut ties with Russia first appeared in late 2022. At that time, the company was facing the repercussions of sanctions and there were rumors that there was no way to develop projects without Western technology. However, it took a year and a half of negotiations between Yandex and the Kremlin (a necessary step) to allow Yandex NV to divest from its Russian business. The final deal came at a discount of at least 50 percent, which is customary when the Kremlin deems a registered country — in this case, the Netherlands — unfriendly.
