Alexander Mamut is now the sole owner of Rambler&Co, Russia’s fourth Internet group in terms of audience, via his investment vehicle A&NN Investments.
Mamut, which held a 50% stake in the group since its formation in 2013, has paid $295 million to Vladimir Potanin to acquire the remaining 50%, exercising an option which was part of the 2013 agreement.
The two billionaires had then decided to merge their respective Internet assets – Rambler-Afisha and SUP Media, – creating a group that now attracts more than 30 million Internet users in Russia every month, according to Mediascope/TNS (1), or 42 million if including mobile audience. This the fourth-largest Internet audience in Russia behind Yandex, Mail.Ru Group and Google.
Christened Rambler&Co, the group controls a number of online media outlets, including Afisha.ru, Championat.com, Gazeta.ru, Lenta.ru, Motor.ru, Rambler News Service (RNS) as well as Rambler.ru, a news portal which aggregates content from a variety of publishers, and blogging platform LiveJournal.
In 2015, the group acquired WomenJournal and Passion, two online magazines were previously which were held by Direct Group.
Rambler&Co also includes an online travel agency, a price comparison servic (Price.ru), an event ticket booking service and a restaurant booking service. The group also has online advertising sales activities.
“The completion of the acquisition of Rambler&Co comes as part of our long-term strategy,” said A&NN Director Marina Grenberg. “We see a big development potential in the Russian Internet and media sector, which stands as one of our investment priorities.”
(1) Users from 12 to 64 years of age, not including mobile Internet access, in November 2016, according to Mediascope/TNS.
Sources: Rambler News Service, Vedomosti
