According to media reports last week, the alliance of Sber (the state-controlled financial and technology giant previously known as Sberbank) and Mail.ru Group (an LSE-listed Russian Internet major) is not stabilized yet.
Financial Times reported the two companies are yet to align their strategic visions of the ecosystem they are building jointly. Sber sees its financial services at the core of this ecosystem, while Mail.ru Group insists on the central role of its social network VK.
FT even heard that the two companies recently discussed a hypothetical dismantling of O2O, the joint venture they created just a year ago to develop ride-hailing and food delivery activities.
Mail.ru Group would also be reluctant to let social network VK and its other assets become excessively dependent on Sber’s payment solutions.
According to FT’s sources, Sber feels it should have more weight in Mail.ru Group’s governance. Under agreements signed in October 2019, Sber’s 35% stake in MF Technologies provide 20% of the voting rights as well as a 1.8% economic interest in Mail.ru Group.
Mail.ru Group’s press secretary Sergey Luchin told FT that his group and Sber are developing two independent ecosystems, and might even compete in certain niches. This situation, however, is “fully compatible with developing assets jointly and at parity in the fields of food tech and transportation.”
A Sber representative said that the jointly owned assets are “growing successfully” and “will become leaders in their segments based on equal involvement” from the two groups.
In an exchange with Russian online publication The Bell, a source conceded the existence of “some tensions” between Mail.ru Group and Sber, which have an equal weight (45%) in O2O. However, the parties are not preparing for a divorce, considering that their alliance entails more benefits than disadvantages.
Sber put an end to its alliance with Yandex, the archrival of Mail.ru Group, just a few months ago. The company also cancelled an important investment in e-commerce major Ozon.
