Sber, Russia’s state-controlled financial and technology giant (previously known as Sberbank), has brought its stake in Rambler to 100%, buying the 45% stake of billionaire Alexander Mamut.
These shares will be paid for in tranches, stated Sber. The first one, worth 3 billion rubles (nearly $38 million at the current exchange rate) will be settled immediately, while the second one is yet to be determined and will be paid “within a year.”
As part of the deal, Alexander Mamut is also selling his shareholding in the ‘Khudozhestvenny’ movie theater in Moscow.
Sber initially acquired a 46.5% stake in August 2019 and an additional 8.5% in July this year.
Sber says it is “happy with the results of cooperation achieved since 2019, how fast the Rambler Group assets are evolving, and their synergies with the ecosystem.”
From multimedia, to news site, to advertising technologies
For example, the Okko multimedia service is already part of the SberPrime subscription, while Okko’s SmartBox set-top box is being used as the basis for SberBox. Sber now intends to add Okko to its SberPortal, “the world’s first multimedia smart display with premium sound, a virtual assistant, touch, voice, and gesture recognition.”
“Sber will stay focused on the accelerated growth of Okko’s market share to make the multimedia service the largest OTT platform in Russia.”
A leader of the Russian media and entertainment industry, Rambler Group also runs the Rambler & Co media service holding company, which tops a monthly audience of 66 million people. It features over 30 media assets and services, including the Rambler portal, Lenta.ru, Gazeta.Ru, Championat, WMJ.ru, Secret Mag, Motor, LiveJournal, and several other media assets.
Rambler& Co also features some B2B and B2C assets, including the Afisha media service platform, the online ticketing platform Rambler/Kassa, RTB (real-time bidding) advertising technologies, etc.
