Russian search engine Yandex may go public on NASDAQ in June or July 2011, trading shares amounting to $1 billion, reported Bloomberg and Russian business daily Vedomosti. According to unnamed sources, the IPO would be managed by Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.
Fiber-optic communication provider TTK will launch a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) to serve its main shareholder, the state owned Russian railways (RZD). By using its backbone network for mobile data traffic, TTK intends to get discounts from mobile operators. The project is being discussed with the three leading Russian mobile operators: MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon.
Two Russian IT giants, Yandex, the leading Russian-language search engine, and Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of IT security and threat management solutions, have been ranked among the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies worldwide by U.S. business magazine Fast Company. Yandex took the 26th place in the ranking and Kaspersky Lab the 32nd.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ordered that federal agencies be provided with digital signature technology by June 2011 and that they begin using an electronic document management (EDM) system in January 2012.
The Russian edition of Elle magazine has launched a full-fledged online store. Instead of using affiliated stores, Elle.ru allows users to stay on the site to complete their orders and make payment. A call center provides online shoppers with assistance.
The Skolkovo Innovation Prize contest received 2,318 submissions from a total of 10,681 participants. The contest, conducted in partnership with Cisco, is designed to attract talented inventors to Skolkovo, the state-sponsored innovation hub under construction near Moscow.
The South Telecommunications Company (STC) has announced plans to build a $34-million fiber-optic communication line along the Black Sea shore in Russia.
Softline Venture Partners, a fund owned by Softline, a leader on the Russian software licensing market, has invested an additional $500,000 in Emegamall to take a controlling stake in the company. The transaction was based on a valuation of $2 million, reports Oborot.ru, a specialized online resource.
Igor Shchegolev, the Russian minister of Communications and Mass Media, announced that future tenders for mobile frequencies will include stipulations obligating operators to deploy their networks in regions with low population density.
SAP recognized SAP Russia as its most successful subsidiary in 2010, with the 5th highest contribution to the overall corporate revenue of all its divisions, reports Vedomosti, a Russian business daily.
The Bashkir subsidiary of MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator, has agreed with the Bashkir government to invest over 2 billion rubles ($67 million) in developing its network in Bashkortostan between now and the end of 2012.
In a speech dedicated to Internet freedom in the world, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced yesterday that the Department of State would open Twitter accounts in several new languages, including Russian.
