Alexander Shulgin will handle the company's Russian business

From September 1, the permanent CEO and one of the founders of the largest Russian search engine Yandex, Arkady Volozh, will leave his post to “concentrate on strategic tasks.” Arkady Volozh will be replaced by Alexander Shulgin, who currently holds the position of financial director of Yandex.

One of the founders of the largest Russian search engine “Yandex” Arkady Volozh
Photo: Evgeny Dudin, Kommersant / buy photo

The planned personnel reshuffle at Yandex is stated in the company’s press release . From September 1, Alexander Shulgin, the current financial director of the company, is appointed general director of Yandex LLC. He will be involved in managing the Russian “Yandex business.” As the Internet company said in a statement, Arkady Volozh will be responsible for Yandex “in general, as before”: he remains the head of the Yandex group of companies (unites business in Russia, the CIS, Turkey. - Kommersant ). Greg Abovsky, who is currently Yandex's vice president for investor relations and corporate development, will be appointed the new CFO of Yandex.

“Running a company of this size requires a lot of time and effort. I am glad that Alexander Shulgin will take on this responsibility. He is exactly the person who will do an excellent job managing a business in Russia. By transferring this part of the work, I will be able to concentrate on strategic tasks, including the search for new business models, new markets and areas of application of our technologies,” Arkady Volozh is quoted in a Yandex press release. Yandex representative Ochir Mandzhikov, in a conversation with Kommersant, noted that Mr. Volozh had been “every year thinking about how to strengthen the company” since 2009. “He was looking for his right hand and found it in the person of Alexander Shulgin, who came to Yandex in 2010,” said Ochir Mandzhikov.

At the end of the first quarter of 2014, Arkady Volozh was the largest shareholder of Yandex and controlled 10.44% of the company's capital. Shareholders of the Internet search engine also include a group of BC&B Holdings funds (6.3%), Yandex management (5.5%), other investors who invested in the company before the IPO (Oppenheimer Funds, Thornburg Investment Management, etc.), 6% belongs, the rest is in public circulation. The “Golden Share” is owned by Sberbank.

Alexander Shulgin came to Yandex in 2010 as financial director. In 2011, with his participation, the company conducted an initial public offering on NASDAQ. Before Yandex, Mr. Shulgin worked for ten years in various positions at Coca-Cola, in 2007 he became the financial director of Coca-Cola in Russia.

Mr. Shulgin takes over as CEO of Yandex amid falling advertising revenues in the media. According to the results of the second quarter, Yandex’s revenue from media advertising fell for the first time. Overall, the company's advertising revenue growth slowed to 34% from 39% in the first quarter.

Vladislav Novy

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Arkady Volozh resigned as CEO of Yandex