Yandex, the Russian digital giant, announced today “an agreement in principle” to sell its news aggregation service and infotainment platform ‘Zen’ to VK Company. The terms of the considered transaction are not disclosed.
“While the parties have come to an agreement in principle on a transaction, they are continuing to discuss certain technical details, which will be announced in due course,” reads a succinct press-release. The transaction its subject to the approval of the Russian antimonopoly authorities (FAS).
Controlled indirectly by the the authorities, VK Company (ex-Mail.ru Group) was the main contender to acquire the assets.
Yandex — which runs a variety of digital services on top of its search engine — announcedits intention to sell these assets back in mid-March.
According to sources cited in the Russian media, Yandex seeks to avoid content services in the new political context that has emerged as Russia is at war with Ukraine. A recent law has banned what the authorities consider to be “false” information or just inadequate wording about the Russian military, making news aggregation a politically sensitive business.
While not directly target by Western sanctions against Russia, Yandex is exposed to the international tensions in various ways, as described in the company’s latest annual report to the SEC.
In particular, Yandex has “scaled back or paused many of our planned investments in our businesses both domestically and internationally” due to the current context.
