Golden highlight of the program

Following conversations at various levels about the undesirability of the presence of foreign businesses in the largest Russian Internet projects, rumors appeared that the Yandex company itself could transfer to Sberbank a “golden share” that would allow it to veto transactions. Vedomosti wrote about this. On April 20, Kommersant published a long interview with the creator and CEO of Yandex Arkady Volozh, in which he says that the company really intends to transfer such a “golden share” to a state-owned company, although it is not yet known which one. Let us recall that at the end of March, the Minister of Communications and Mass Communications Igor Shchegolev said that leading Russian Internet companies should belong to domestic owners. In early April, President Dmitry Medvedev said foreign investment in these companies was inevitable, “but it needs to be monitored” because it is a “security issue.” Now Volozh, proud that his company has become part of the country's infrastructure, says that he "takes into account national interests." For one euro, a state-owned company will be sold a “golden share” of the Dutch joint-stock company Yandex NV, which is the parent company of Yandex, and this share will make it possible to veto the consolidation of more than 25% of the shares in one hand, that is, to transfer control of the company to someone else - “neither foreign nor Russian players.” Volozh clarified that this will not interfere with the sale of small blocks of shares and entry into the stock exchange. According to the general director, the state’s attention does not frighten him, and in general it is necessary to limit the sale of large blocks of shares in companies that are important for the country, especially since this is done everywhere in the world. Volozh told the newspaper that the Kremlin discussed the idea of ​​merging large Russian Internet companies - Yandex, Mail.ru, Odnoklassniki and VKontakte - into one, but Yandex made it clear that it was categorically against this idea. Controlling stakes in the other three named organizations already belong to businessman Alisher Usmanov, with whom, according to Volozh, Yandex was unable to agree on the purchase of a 10% stake. It is still unclear what kind of company can receive the “golden share” of Yandex. Volozh said that it should be controlled by the state, transparent and not be a competitor to Yandex.