Russia’s Google, Yandex pulls out of home country

The owner of Yandex, often referred to as "Russia's Google", is said to be pulling out of its country of origin. Its Dutch-based parent company sold the operation in Russia for 475 billion roubles ($5.2bn), which is much lower than its estimated market value. The sale to a consortium of investors means Yandex's Russian business is now a fully Russian-owned entity.

Yandex has been earlier accused of hiding information about the war in Ukraine from the Russian public.Moscow has welcomed the latest deal which the company said was "the product of an extensive period of planning and negotiation over more than 18 months".

"This is exactly what we wanted to achieve a few years ago when Yandex was under threat of being taken over by Western IT giants," said Anton Gorelkin, deputy head of the Russian parliament's committee on information policy.

"Yandex is more than a company, it is an asset of the entire Russian society," he added.

Founded during the dotcom boom in the late 1990s, Yandex developed its own search engine, mapping and advertising businesses. Other services include taxis and food delivery.

The $5.2bn deal is believed to be significantly lower than Yandex's market value, which was worth around $30bn in 2021. Despite its nickname of 'Russia's Google', Yandex has no ties to the US search engine giant or its parent company Alphabet.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many foreign-owned businesses have exited the country, often selling assets on unfavourable terms.

Russian president Vladimir Putin also ordered the seizure of others, such as assets belonging to Western brands Danone and Carlsberg.