Connect with us

Business

Russian Tech Giant Reaches $5 Billion Deal to Quit Russia

Published

on

Russian Tech Giant Reaches $5 Billion Deal to Quit Russia

The parent firm of Russia’s most prominent technology company, Yandex, said it has agreed to sell all its assets in the country for about $5 billion, which would be one of the largest corporate exits from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

The invasion had roiled Yandex — often referred to as “Russia’s Google” — and turned its attempts to navigate between the Kremlin’s authoritarian policies and a Western blockade of the Russian economy into the most dramatic example of the war’s impact on the country’s once-vaunted tech sector.

The deal announced on Monday came after 18 months of negotiations. It is an attempt by some of the company’s executives to shield Yandex’s new generation of businesses from the war’s fallout and to obtain relief from European sanctions.

Under its terms, Yandex’s Dutch-registered parent company, known as YNV, would sell all its businesses based in Russia, which represented 95 percent of its revenues between January and September of last year, to a group of Yandex managers and Russia-connected investors. The businesses for sale account for most of the company’s assets and employ the bulk of its 26,000 employees.

The assets include a popular internet browser and Russia’s main food delivery and taxi-hailing apps. After the sale, YNV would keep control of four smaller subsidiaries focused on artificial intelligence, which are already operating outside Russia. The new entity would employ about 1,300 people, including about 1,000 technology specialists, most of them Russian.

YNV’s chairman said in a statement on Monday that the sale would enable the A.I. businesses — which develop technologies like self-driving cars, cloud computing and machine learning — to grow under new ownership unconnected to Russia.

The buyers would pay in shares and cash — in Chinese yuan transferred outside of Russia — in a deal worth about $5.2 billion in today’s prices. That value represents roughly half of Yandex’s current market capitalization, a reflection of steep discounts that the Kremlin has imposed to punish companies that have tried to leave the country and are based in countries that the Kremlin considers unfriendly.

Companies based in the West have faced extreme hurdles in their attempts to leave Russia in the past two years. Russian authorities must sign off on buyers, price and terms, often forcing the exiting companies to sell at fire-sale prices.

The deal is subject to government approvals in Russia and must be acceptable to European regulators. Yandex said it expected the first stage of the sale to take place by the middle of the year.

Aleksei L. Kudrin, Russia’s chief government auditor and a longtime confidant of President Vladimir V. Putin, became an official adviser to Yandex’s Russian businesses in December 2022, a step widely seen as an attempt to win government support for the restructuring plan.

“For us, it is important that the company continues to operate inside our country,” Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, told reporters on Monday, referring to Yandex. If the deal is approved, “the Russian management of the company would remain the largest owner — that’s also important,” he said, adding that he cannot comment on the details of corporate negotiations.

Various Western-based companies, including Danish brewer Carlsberg and German power company Uniper, had announced sales of their Russian assets to local buyers, only to have the deals scuppered by the Kremlin.

The buyers of Russia’s most recognizable tech company do not include any prominent members of the country’s business elite, a reflection of YNV’s difficult task of finding investors with large enough pockets but without direct connections to the Russian government or sanctioned officials and oligarchs.

The group of buyers is led by some of Yandex’s Russian management team, and includes tech entrepreneur Alexander Chachava and an investment fund owned by Russia’s largest private oil company, Lukoil. YNV said none of the buyers are under Western sanctions, and they are not allowed to sell or transfer their stakes for a year after completing the deal. These conditions are aimed at addressing Western concerns that the deal could ultimately benefit Kremlin insiders.

After the invasion of Ukraine, at least three senior Yandex executives publicly condemned the war, becoming some of the most prominent Russian businessmen to break with the government line. Thousands of the company’s employees have left the country following the invasion, often to continue working remotely.

The antiwar declarations, however, have not shielded the company from Western backlash. The European Union has sanctioned Yandex’s founder, Arkady Volosh, and its deputy chief executive at the time, Tigran Khudaverdyan, for enabling Russia’s war effort, forcing them to step down from the company to maintain its access to Western financial services.

The European Union said Yandex’s news aggregation service at the time had blocked antiwar content, in effect enabling Russia’s propaganda. The company said it had no choice but to comply with Russia’s strict censorship laws, and has since sold the news aggregation service.

Mr. Volozh has called the sanctions against him “misguided.”

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is barbaric, and I am categorically against it,” Mr. Volozh, who lives in Israel, said in a statement in August. “I have to take my share of responsibility for the country’s actions,” he said, without offering additional details.

After being sanctioned, Mr. Volosh cut formal ties to YNV, but still owns about 8 percent of the company’s shares.

The post Russian Tech Giant Reaches $5 Billion Deal to Quit Russia appeared first on New York Times.

The Business Diary magazine is a comprehensive publication that centers around business and economic development news. It covers a wide range of topics including finance, mining, technology, environment, climate finance, and agriculture. With its focus on providing valuable insights and updates, the magazine caters to readers who are interested in staying informed about the latest developments and trends in the business and economic landscape of Zimbabwe.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Business

Meet World’s Richest Family Who live In $478m House, Own 700 Cars

Published

on

Meet World’s Richest Family Who live In $478m House, Own 700 Cars

According to The Jerusalem Post, the Nahyan royal family of the United Arab Emirates is a dominant corporate and political force in the Gulf area, as well as one of the world’s wealthiest families.

Their net worth is greater than the combined wealth of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the head of the Nahyan family, is the UAE’s President and the ruler of Abu Dhabi.

He has 18 brothers, 11 sisters, nine children, and eighteen grandchildren. All of the family members reside together in the “Qasr Al-Watan,” a massive edifice spanning 380,000 square meters and valued at $478 million.

The family’s real estate holdings comprises opulent houses and developments both in the UAE and abroad.

They own eight aircraft, including one Airbus A320-200 and three Boeing 787-9s. Sheikh Mohammed’s personal collection includes a $478 million Boeing 747 and a $176 million Boeing 787.

In addition, they have three of the world’s largest yachts.

Their car collection is nothing short of astounding. According to reports, their vehicles are split out over four museums in the UAE and Morocco. The family owns more than 700 cars, including Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

The family owns 81% of the City Football Group, which includes football clubs like Manchester City, Mumbai City, Melbourne City, and New York City.

Continue Reading

Business

Want to work at Meta? Average salary package in Mark Zuckerberg’s company is…

Published

on

Want to work at Meta. Average salary package in Mark Zuckerberg's company is

Big companies often get highlighted for the huge compensations that they offer and the perks one gets while working for them. Meta’s average package is a whopping $379,000, according to a recent SEC filing. The company, which employs around 67,000 people, said that its median employee made over $379,000 in the year 2023.

Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the US Capitol, in Washington, US. (Reuters)

The average pay for a tech position falls between $35,000 to $120,000 depending on the role, but Meta’s pay is significantly higher than that. However, giants like Google and Amazon offer packages that go well above $300,000 for similar positions.

Unlock exclusive access to the latest news on India’s general elections, only on the HT App. Download Now!

Also, higher-level software engineers and researchers in Meta make more in base pay than product designers and user experience professionals in the company.

What Mark Zuckerberg said on working at Meta?

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year that working at Meta is not easy even if it offers such lucrative packages. He said that the year 2024 will be the “year of efficiency” in the company as he expects employees to maximize output and productivity.

How much does Mark Zuckerberg earn?

In the year 2023, Mark Zuckerberg noted a total compensation of $24.4 million in ‘other compensation,’ and a base salary of $1. According to Fortune, this covered his costs related to his private jet. His wealth has increased by over $47 billion this year alone, despite receiving a nominal salary of $1 since 2013.

As per reports, the company’s net profit in the January to March period rose to $12.4 billion with total revenue up by 27 percent, at $36.5 billion.

The company wrote in a filing, “We believe that Mr. Zuckerberg’s role puts him in a unique position: he is synonymous with Meta and, as a result, negative sentiment regarding our company is directly associated with, and often transferred to, Mr. Zuckerberg. Mr. Zuckerberg is one of the most-recognized executives in the world, in large part as a result of the size of our user base and our continued exposure to global media, legislative, and regulatory attention.”

Continue Reading

Business

Egypt’s Richest Man, Nassef Sawiris’ Wealth Surges by $410M in Just over a Week.

Published

on

Nassef Sawiris, chief executive officer of Orascom Construction, speaks during a television interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York, New York, on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. Photographer: Stephen Yang/Bloomberg News

Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris, the richest individual in his home nation and one of Africa’s most powerful businessmen, has seen his fortune increase by $410 million in just nine days. This strengthens his position atop the continent’s wealth pyramid and moves him up the worldwide rich list.

Sawiris’ net worth increased from $8.27 billion on April 16 to $8.68 billion as reported by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which analyzes the fortunes of the world’s 500 wealthiest individuals. This works out to an amazing average daily gain of $45.56 million.

The wealth increase reverses prior losses and brings Sawiris’ year-to-date gains to $271 million. This is primarily due to the performance of his investments in the Dutch fertilizer firm OCI N.V. and the German apparel brand Adidas. Sawiris owns 38.8 percent of OCI and 6% of adidas.

Adidas’ share price has risen 11.51 percent since April 16, from €202.50 ($217.03) to €225.80 ($242). This spike pushed the company’s market capitalization beyond $40 billion, increasing Sawiris’ ownership by an estimated $266.63 million. His stake in OCI has also increased by $35 million, reaching $2.17 billion from $2.13 billion. Sawiris’ surprising leap propels him nine ranks up the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, from 300th to 291st.

Adidas’ recent increases have boosted market confidence in its 2023 success. Despite ending its partnership with Kanye West’s Yeezy brand in October 2022, Adidas topped expectations with a €268-million ($292 million) operating profit, exceeding projections by roughly €1 billion ($1.08 billion).

Adidas is looking for fresh collaborations following the Yeezy split. CEO Bjorn Gulden hinted about possible collaborations with pop culture luminaries, including Taylor Swift as a candidate.

Furthermore, a significant coup for the corporation is Liverpool Football Club’s forthcoming transfer from Nike to Adidas uniforms beginning in the 2025-2026 season, securing a lucrative five-year contract gained after Adidas outbid Nike and Puma.

Continue Reading

Trending