Yandex, also known as Russia's Google, sold its Russian businesses such as search engines and ride-hailing services to a Russian company for 770 billion yen, just half of its corporate value.
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Yandex , an IT company known as the ``Russian Google'' for its various businesses including search engines and ride-hailing services, has announced that it has sold all of its operations in Russia to a group of Russian investors. The sale price was 475 billion rubles (about 770 billion yen), just half of Yandex's market capitalization.
Yandex — Company news — Yandex NV Announces Binding Agreement to Divest its Russia-based Businesses
https://yandex.com/company/press_center/press_releases/2024/05-02-2024
Yandex owner to exit Russia in $5.2 billion deal | Reuters
Why the $5.2 billion sale of Russia's Yandex is significant | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/why-52-bln-sale-russias-yandex-is-significant-2024-02-05/
Yandex to sell its remaining Russian businesses for $5.2B — half its market value | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/05/yandex-to-sell-its-remaining-russian-businesses-for-5-2b-half-its-market-value/
Yandex, founded in 1997, is Russia's largest IT company, providing online services such as search engines, e-mail, and translation sites, as well as taxi dispatch services. On the other hand, legally, the holding company Yandex NV in the Netherlands is the head office, and it is listed on the American stock exchange `` Nasdaq '' to emphasize that there is no influence from the Russian government. As of November, the market capitalization was over 30 billion dollars (approximately 3.45 trillion yen at the exchange rate at that time).
However, with Russia starting its military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the direction of Yandex will change dramatically. In March 2022, NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading in Yandex shares. Yandex's market capitalization fell by 75% in just six months after the invasion of Ukraine.
In March 2023, Nasdaq notified four Russian companies, including Yandex, of delisting. In response to Yandex's objections to this, Nasdaq allowed the company to remain listed on the condition that it ``complete the restructuring and sale of its Russian business by the end of 2023.''
In response to this, Yandex plans to separate its main businesses such as search engines and ride-hailing services from Yandex, distribute the recovered funds to investors through buybacks and dividends, and plan to expand its business outside of Russia in 2023. It was reported in November.
Giant IT company Yandex, also known as 'Russia's Google', plans to sell all its Russian operations - GIGAZINE
Then, on February 5, 2024, Yandex NV officially sold Yandex's main business to a group of Russian investors. The Russian government requires foreign companies to sell their assets at half price when they withdraw from Russia, and this transaction is half the market capitalization based on the average stock price up to January 31, 2024, which is approximately 475 billion yen. It was held at the Louvre. The cash consideration to Yandex NV will be paid in Chinese yuan, which is convenient for both companies.
Yandex NV will sell the business to 'members of the senior management team of Yandex's Russian operations,' 'Rukoil, a Russian-based oil company,' and 'Russian entrepreneurs Alexander Chachava and Pavel Plus. , Alexander Ryazanov”.
The sale of the business by Yandex NV, after obtaining Russian regulatory and equity approvals, is expected to take place in two stages, with the first stage expected to be completed during the first half of 2024, and the second stage on completion of the first stage. It is expected to be completed within the next seven weeks.
After the completion of the sale transaction, Yandex NV will provide AI cloud platform 'Nebius AI', data solution partner 'Toloka AI' for large-scale language model development, 'Avride' for autonomous driving technology development, and educational technology services. Businesses such as TripleTen will remain. “The main challenge in this divestiture was not to destroy the essence of these remaining businesses,” Yandex NV said.
John Boynton, Chairman of Yandex NV, said: 'Since February 2022, the Yandex Group and our team have faced unprecedented challenges. This sale is the best possible solution for our shareholders, team and users. The divestiture will allow our shareholders to recover the value of the business we are selling, while unlocking new international growth potential for the business that Yandex NV will retain. Additionally, the divested business will be operated under new ownership.'
Furthermore, after the completion of the sale, Yandex NV has announced that it will stop using the 'Yandex' brand name and will develop its own branding for overseas operations.
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