This is likely related to the US imposing secondary sanctions early this year.
Yandex would lose access to their US/EU bank accounts if they were still operating in Russia.
Yandex to divest its Russia-based businesses
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Re: Yandex to divest its Russia-based businesses
#12Re: Yandex to divest its Russia-based businesses
#13>(Russian Google)
Are there people here who don't know Yandex? Genuinely curious, if you didn't know what it is I'd like to hear from you.
Re: Yandex to divest its Russia-based businesses
#14Huh? What are their other businesses then? Is this some weird accounting trick?
Weird accounting tricks in Russia include "the new nobility" making you offers that you cannot refuse. This is a country in which the FSB (equivalent of the FBI) is running their own protection rackets, even on a small scale of a local shop. Property law works very differently over there, which is to say it doesn't quite exist.
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Re: Yandex to divest its Russia-based businesses
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wiki says they're incorporated in Netherlands.
Finally Europe has a European Google!
Yandex was there for many years now. Its just that now this is "european" Yandex and in Russia there is a "Moscow Yandex".
Also - search tech will remain in Moscow. EU Yandex is mainly about cloud solutions, self-driving cars etc.
Re: Yandex to divest its Russia-based businesses
#16More like Alphabet selling off its Google and downscaling two orders of magnitude.
Don't think it will get the cash, it probably has obligations for almost every cent, so this would be a virtual deal mostly.
Re: Yandex to divest its Russia-based businesses
#17>(Russian Google) Are there people here who don't know Yandex? Genuinely curious, if you didn't know what it is I'd like to hear from you.
You're over-estimating how many people actually "surf" the net. I'd wager most of HN knows Yandex, but you're average, non-tech industry, person in NA has essentially no need or situation when they would run into Yandex (aside from streaming, even then they probably aren't explicitly going to the yandex url). You would see the same case for a Chinese search engine.
People in general spend a remarkable amount of time visiting the same 3-4 websites over and over and some apps.
Re: Yandex to divest its Russia-based businesses
#18Huh? What are their other businesses then? Is this some weird accounting trick?
Weird accounting tricks in Russia include "the new nobility" making you offers that you cannot refuse. This is a country in which the FSB (equivalent of the FBI) is running their own protection rackets, even on a small scale of a local shop. Property law works very differently over there, which is to say it doesn't quite exist.
Volozh could stay in Moscow and keep Yandex, though he was not acting CEO for some time.
But, he decided he prefers Israel (residing "behind the bump" in general sense). In modern political climate, you have to choose between having your pie and eating it.
Re: Yandex to divest its Russia-based businesses
#19>(Russian Google) Are there people here who don't know Yandex? Genuinely curious, if you didn't know what it is I'd like to hear from you.
I know it but only because they didn't require phone confirmation for email accounts so it was great for sockpuppets.
I've asked around here to my colleagues and none of them have ever heard of it. One of them asked if it's the same as baidu :)
Re: Yandex to divest its Russia-based businesses
#20Huh? What are their other businesses then? Is this some weird accounting trick?
The article mentions them: Following completion of the sale transaction, YNV will retain a portfolio of international businesses and other non-Russian assets, including four early-stage technology businesses and other assets: * Nebius AI, an AI cloud platform that is one of the largest providers of GPU capacity in Europe; * Toloka AI, a data solutions partner for GenAI and Large Language Model development; * Avride,…
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