What will happen to Yandex?
Dutch-registered Yandex NV, the parent company of Russian IT giant Yandex, announced on Friday, November 25, that it will restructure its business management.
How says In a company press release, the Yandex NV board plans to change ownership structure and corporate governance.
“Yandex NV is considering the possibility of separating the main part of the business, including a number of foreign regions, into a separate group of companies that will hold the Yandex brand. The Dutch Yandex NV plans to eventually withdraw from the shareholders of this group of companies and change its name, ”said Yandex NV.
In Yandex, it was stated that the allocated group of companies could pass under the leadership of the Russian top management. It will also continue to evolve as a private, independent collaboration. In the Russian market, the company’s automotive projects, cloud technologies, training services and data labeling platforms (Yandex.Toloka) will remain under the same names.
Parent company Yandex NV plans to manage the international segments of all these businesses, which will be transformed into independent companies in the future. The statement emphasizes that all these plans must be approved by the shareholders, so the details of the transformation will be known later.
According to RBC, Yandex NV’s capital is now divided between the founder of IT giant Arkady Volozh (8.5%) and other employees of the company (3.2%), the remaining 87.6% is in free movement. Volozha Trust owns 45.1% of the voting shares, 6.6% is owned by board members, officers and employees. There is also a Public Benefit Fund, which has received a gold share from the company since 2019. In fact, the state has the right to veto all significant changes in the structure of Yandex.
Experts polled by the publication believe that the Russian part of the “Yandex” business will be led by former Yandex NV CEO Tigran Khudaverdyan. Other RBC sources do not exclude that the owner of Interros Vladimir Potanin and the co-owner of the PIK group Sergei Gordeev may show interest in the IT giant.
In the first hour after the announcement of the upcoming restructuring, Yandex shares, which had lost 0.5 percent in the Moscow Stock Exchange since the morning of November 25, started to grow by 1 percent. But then there was a decrease of almost 5%. At 18.35 Moscow time, the company’s papers were traded at 2031 rubles, down 4.65%.
What will happen to Kudrin?
Even before the news about changes to the organizational structure of Yandex TASS, citing sources knowledgeableHe said that Alexei Kudrin, head of the Accounts Room, will leave his post by the end of 2022 and start working at Yandex.
“The transfer of Kudrin will be in the interest of both the state and the company,” the source said. He announced that Kudrin’s reshuffle had been de facto approved and could be formalized on 30 November or 14 December after the Federation Council’s plenary meetings.
At the same time, citing a source familiar with the negotiations, RBC said: authorOn the evening of November 24, Kudrin met with President Vladimir Putin. And during this meeting, he agreed not only on his transition to Yandex, but also on the division of the company’s assets.
According to the addressee of the publication, the Head of the Court of Accounts was scheduled to move to his new place within a week, but due to the nuances in the legislation regarding the appointment of the head of the joint venture, the transition may be delayed by 100 days. a few weeks. Amendments to the 2020 Constitution have shifted the power to appoint the head of the chamber from the State Duma to the Federation Council, but similar changes have not been made to the Law “On the Accounting Chamber”.
The source of RBC noted that for the Russian assets of Yandex, a new legal entity will be created, the position of which Kudrin will occupy. Together with the appointment, they plan to offer him an option for 5% of the company’s shares: he will buy 2% immediately and the remaining 3% after a while.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not confirm at a November 25 briefing that Putin had met with Kudrin on Thursday.
“I cannot confirm anything, I have nothing to add to what I have said,” said Peskov.
In September, a number of media outlets wrote about the possible transition of Kudrin to Yandex – he could head the Public Interest Fund, which allegedly owns a golden stake, or another structure to replace the fund. At the time, the Kremlin also denied that Kudrin’s transfer was coordinated with the president.
Source: Gazeta
Ben Stock is a business analyst and writer for “Social Bites”. He offers insightful articles on the latest business news and developments, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the business world.