VK, previously known as Mail.ru Group, owner of Russian social network VKontakte, reported a second-quarter net loss of 3.4 billion roubles ($56 million). The loss is partly due to a 14 billion rouble ($231 million) foreign exchange hit. The VKontakte network, often compared to Facebook, has emerged as a key player in the race to …
Russian digital giant VK hit by second quarter loss Read More
Yandex publishes today its annual Sustainability Progress Report covering the company’s environmental, social and corporate governance results in 2021 and outlining key accomplishments within each of the sustainability priority areas. Yandex presented its full sustainability agenda in 2020. A number of streams, for example, cybersecurity, the quality of services and employee wellbeing, are closely aligned …
Vladimir Kiriyenko, the new CEO of internet major VK Company, enjoyed a day in the limelight at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in June (SPIEF). “We have exceeded a monthly audience of 100 million and a daily audience of 50 million,” he told a room full of executives and officials. “For us, that’s a …
VK set to become Russia’s digital leader as crisis shakes up sector Read More
Kaspersky Labs has acquired a 15% stake in Motive Neuromorphic Technologies (Motive NT) for “ few dozens of millions or rubles” (hundreds of thousand USD), according to media reports last week. Established in 2017, this company processes visual information using deep neural networks. It creates software and hardware systems to recognize objects or people on …
Russia’s war on Ukraine and the subsequent western sanctions seem to have put the once-thriving Russian and Belarusian gaming industries in serious trouble. It took just weeks to Wargaming, the Belarusian-born, Cyprus-headquartered developer of World of Tanks and World of Warships, to react to the events. In early April, the company announced its decision to “leave Belarus and …
How Russian game developers have been hit by the shockwave of war Read More
US telecoms equipment maker Cisco will end operations in Russia and Belarus in response to the war in Ukraine, the company told Reuters on Thursday. The company had initially suspended its operations in Russia, including sales and services, in March after the Kremlin ordered troops into neighboring Ukraine. Hundreds of foreign businesses have exited Russia …
Cisco announces wind-down of operations in Russia, Belarus Read More
Yandex has published YaLM 100B, a bilingual neural network for generating and processing text. It’s the largest GPT-like model in the public domain. It can be used freely by developers and researchers from all over the world. YaLM 100B contains 100 billion parameters, more than any GPT-like model available in open-source under a license that …
Yandex publishes YaLM 100B, the largest GPT-like neural network in open source Read More
Earlier this month Rostec, a state corporation that comprises more than 700 enterprises in the fields of defense and technology, announced they have developed a blockchain platform to provide a “real alternative to SWIFT in international settlements.” Russian banks were excluded from the SWIFT system last February as part of the sanctions imposed by Western countries in response …
Russia’s Rostec develops blockchain system as “real alternative” to SWIFT Read More
Russian writer and artist Pavel Pepperstein and generative neural network ruGPT-3 have co-authored a story book called Trying to Wake Up. The book has just been published in Moscow by independent publisher Individuum. Trying to Wake Up is touted as “the world’s first collection of short stories resulting from the collaboration of a writer and a neural …
Russian writer and neural network team up to compose 24 short stories Read More
In the instable environment created by Russia’s war on Ukraine, Yandex’s annual report to the US Security Exchange Commission (SEC) provides details on a range of pressing business issues and potential company risks. The report was issued Thursday by Yandex’s Netherlands-headquartered mother company, which has been listed on the Nasdaq since 2011. After the resignation …
Yandex scales back “many planned investments,” withdraws 2022 financial guidance Read More
Avito, Russia’s leading classifieds platform (a subsidiary of OLX Group, owned by Naspers affiliate Prosus), will operate as an independent Russian business, “We can confirm OLX Group has taken a decision to cease all involvement in its Russian operations. The separation process is underway which will decouple the companies into two independent entities. Avito will operate …
Naspers’ OLX no longer involved in operations of Russian subsidiary Avito Read More
Playrix, a global Russian-founded mobile gaming giant, acquired a minority stake in AppQuantum, a Cyprus-based, Russian founded mobile gaming developer and publisher. The deal took place in late 2021 but was announced only in early February. Launched in 2017 by Evgeny Maurus, AppQuantum is behind such titles as Dragon Champions, Evil Clicker and Gold & Goblins. While claiming “dominant positions” in clicker and …
Russian-founded gaming giant Playrix continues investment spree Read More
