Arkady Volozh, Yandex’s CEO and government director, resigned from his place, the corporate introduced immediately.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Volozh personally. Yandex has not been sanctioned by the EU, U.S., or UK. Volozh had a forty five.3% voting and eight.6% financial curiosity in Yandex.
Why we care. Yandex is mostly considered Russia’s Google, although Yandex pre-dates Google (Yandex launched in 1997). Yandex’s share of the Russian search market is estimated to be at 48%, behind Google’s 49%, in response to StatCounter – however Yandex says it owns 61% of the search market. So this improvement, in addition to others beneath, imply it’s price maintaining a tally of the state of the corporate when you work on any websites that depend on Yandex natural visitors.
What Volozh mentioned. “Whereas I think about this determination to be misguided and finally counterproductive, I don’t intend to provide any directions to my household belief so long as sanctions are in place. Throughout this time the belief will vote in step with the suggestions of the Board. Whereas I’ll proceed to help the workforce wherever attainable, this determination is in the very best pursuits of the corporate and its stakeholders.”
Go deeper. On March 22, Wired printed Is Russia’s Largest Tech Firm Too Massive to Fail? The article particulars how all the things Volzh helped construct over 20 years started crumbling in 20 days.
Timeline of Yandex turmoil. Listed here are some vital Yandex tales since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24:
- Feb. 28: Nasdaq suspended buying and selling of Yandex shares. (Nasdaq)
- March 3: “We imagine that our present knowledge middle capability and different know-how crucial to operations will enable us to proceed to function within the bizarre course for a minimum of the subsequent 12 to 18 months. Within the occasion of any extended suspension of provides of {hardware}, software program or different know-how utilized in our enterprise or choices, if we’re unable to safe various sources, our operations may very well be materially adversely affected over time.” (Yandex)
- March 7: Esther Dyson and Ilya Strebulaev resigned from Yandex’s board of administrators (Yandex).
- March 15: Yandex Deputy CEO and Govt Director Tigran Khudaverdyan, who had been sanctioned earlier within the week, resigned. (Yandex)
- March 16: Yandex rumored to be in negotiations to promote its media division (information and Zen). (TechCrunch)
- April 27: Yandex’s Q1 financials had been launched. Yandex reported an adjusted internet lack of 8.1 billion roubles ($110 million). The corporate mentioned it skilled continued secure operations and robust development throughout most of its companies till Feb. 23. (Reuters)
- April 28: Yandex introduced the sale of stories and Zen to VK. (Yandex)
- Might 18: It was reported that Yandex was exploring promoting search and mail and transferring its headquarters to Israel. (Knowledge Middle Dynamics)
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Danny Goodwin is Senior Editor of Search Engine Land. Along with writing every day about web optimization, PPC, and extra for Search Engine Land, Goodwin additionally manages Search Engine Land’s roster of subject-matter consultants. He additionally helps program our convention collection, SMX – Search Advertising Expo. Previous to becoming a member of Search Engine Land, Goodwin was Govt Editor at Search Engine Journal, the place he led editorial initiatives for the model. He additionally was an editor at Search Engine Watch. He has spoken at many main search conferences and digital occasions, and has been sourced for his experience by a variety of publications and podcasts.
