Mail.ru Group is in discussions with other owners of Vkontakte.ru with a view to take full control of this leading social network, said Dmitry Grishin, the group’s general manager.
In an interview with the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, Grishin went on to say that “We currently own 32.49% as well as an option on 7.5%. It would be strategically correct for us to take control of the social network or, even better, to acquire all its shares. We are holding a dialog for that.”
When Mail.ru Group went public on the London Stock Exchange in October 2010, the fact that it did not control Vkontakte.ru was regarded as a weak point. Analysts for Goldman Sachs, one of the banks that prepared the IPO, estimated that full control would reduce the risks related to Vkontakte’s competition with Odnoklassniki and MoiMir, two other social networking sites owned by Mail.ru Group.
What is more, a synergy between the three sites would allow them to increase traffic and revenues, believes Anna Lepetukhina, analyst for Troika Dialog, as reported in the Russian business daily Vedomosti.
When asked to name the group’s main competitor, Grishin replied, “Facebook.”
DST Global, a leading Russian investment fund, has stakes in both Mail.ru Group and Facebook.
Update March 3
“We rule out, and consider to be utopian, a full integration of Vkontakte into Mail.ru Group,” said Pavel Durov, Vkontakte.ru’s general manager and main shareholder, in an open letter. He denied holding any discussions about an increase of the Mail.ru Group stake in Vkontakte.ru.
