Gazprom-Media, a leading media holding affiliated with gas giant Gazprom, is about to acquire an 82.7% stake in WebMediaGroup, the owner of several Internet and e-commerce sites in Russia. The planned acquisition was appoved last week by the Federal Antimonopoly Service, reported the e-commerce online portal Oborot.ru.
The details of the transaction are unknown, but it is likely that Gazprom Media will buy the stakes of two existing shareholders – Gazprom Bank (21.6%) and Arktika (61%) – with Leader Innovation keeping its 17.4% stake.
Founded in 2007, the WebMediaGroup includes Dostavka.ru, an important e-commerce site, and Zoomby.ru, an aggregator of broadcast-quality video content that raised $10 million last year.
The group also includes a range of theme-based consumer portals based on urban interests (Menu.ru, InOut.ru, Weekend.ru), personal finance (Bank.ru), and photography (Photosight.ru).
Oborot.ru also indicated that Gazprom Media and Rostelecom, the national telecom operator, have plans to merge RuTube.ru, Now.ru (currently properties of Gazprom media) and Zoomby.ru (belonging to Rostelecom) into one jointly held company.
Founded in 1998, the Gazprom-Media holding comprises television, radio, printing press, cinema production, advertising, movie theaters and Internet assets. Its income reached 52.3 billion rubles (nearly $1.7 billion) in 2012.
