Who put Andrei Shmarov as the head of Vedomosti - the owners of the newspaper, its buyers or the presidential administration?

On Thursday, April 23, it became known that the transaction to sell Vedomosti in question. One of the potential buyers, the founder of the investment company Arbat Capital, Alexei Golubovich, the day before, notified the publisher of Vedomosti Gleb Prozorov about his possible exit from the transaction. Star of stumbling - and. O. The editor -in -chief Andrei Shmarov, who has become the main character of several editorial scandals. None of the transaction participants want to be responsible for its appointment. Several interlocutors of Medusa call him "candidate of the presidential administration."

One of the future buyers of Vedomosti, the founder of the Arbat Capital investment company Alexei Golubovich, on April 22, notified Gleb Prozorov’s publisher of his possible exit from the transaction. His letter was at the disposal of The Bell.

Who and to whom sells the newspaper

Demyan Kudryavtsev announced the sale of “Vedomosti ” to Alexei Golubovich and Konstantin Zyatkova (50% each). He said that the transaction should be closed within one to two months, but the transfer of assets to the management of new owners will begin on March 18. Later, the Forbes source reported that the transaction was delayed for about four months, including because of coronavirus. Kudryavtsev said that if the “Vedomosti” would not work, the publication would have to be closed. According to him, the financing of the publication was worth "big money", now "this money has ended."

Formally, Kudryavtsev for a year and a half has not owned Vedomosti, they were re -registered on the "member of the family of his friend Vladimir Voronov."

As Golovich writes, he considers himself free from the obligations "to do something further on this project according to the previous plan." Among the reasons preventing the completion of the transaction on the purchase of Vedomosti, he called difficulties in finding investments due to the crisis, as well as resonance and “politicization” of the conflict in the editorial office. At the end of the letter, he expressed his readiness in some form to cooperate with the “Vedomosti” in the search for investors and the restructuring of the debt.

Whether another buyer of Vedomosti considers the possibility of refusing the transaction - the head of the Version Publishing House Konstantin Zyatkov, is unknown.

The interlocutor, close to one of the parties to the transaction, told Medusa that Gorevich considers the settlement of the conflict within the editorial office caused by the appointment of a new and. O. editor -in -chief Andrei Shmarov.

The obvious difference in understanding the role of journalists and rules of high -quality press among Shmarov and journalists of Vedomosti is visible from his conversation with the editors, which took place only 10 days ago. And on April 23, Vedomosti on behalf of the editorial office published an article where all the conflict situations of the last month are described - and it was concluded that Shmarov’s actions undermine confidence in the publication and threaten his reputation.

One of the employees of Vedomosti told Medusa how Shmarov became and. A.: The editor -in -chief of the newspaper Ilya Bulavinov appointed him as his deputy, then the general director of the newspaper Business News Media JSC, Gleb Prozorov, on the basis of the decision of the only shareholder (company Arkan Investment JSC), issued a labor contract with Shmarov as the acting editor -in -chief. It was impossible to appoint him immediately as an editor -in -chief without a decision of the Board of Directors under the charter of JSC “Business News Media”, and the board of directors was dissolved on the day of the announcement of the transaction on March 17.

Formally potential buyers did not play a role in this procedure. Bulavinov told Medusa that he could neither confirm nor refute this information.

Previously, Zyatkov said that Bolovich suggested that Shmarov’s candidacy for this position, because they have long been familiar. But the interlocutor of Medusa, close to one of the parties to the transaction, denies this. According to him, the appointment of Shmarov to the acting chief editor is the initiative of Demyan Kudryavtsev; He just did not want to advertise it.

Kudryavtsev told Medusa that he had nothing to do with the newspaper in the transitional period and now. According to him, the director of Arkan Investment JSC, Alexander Karpov, signed what potential buyers who were transferred to the management were asked before the transaction. The fact that the “Vedomosti” is transferred to the management of future owners, Kudryavtsev said on March 17, when an announcement of the upcoming transaction was made. “Unfortunately, this was the only possible option,” Kudryavtsev believes.

“The condition of the deal was like this: you buy a business and steer a business, but the chief expense is brought from the presidential administration,” says the interlocutor close to the leadership of the newspaper. “Shmarov was chosen as a compromise figure,” adds the interlocutor of Medusa, close to the transaction.

It was the position of the presidential administration by Shmarov yesterday explained to reporters a ban on publication (and even mentioning in the publication) of the Levada Center sociological service. “According to Shmarov, the Levada polls does not want to see the presidential administration in Vedomosti. And if the editorial office wants to survive, the advantage of the administration must be listened to, ”Ksenia Bolsk wrote in her telegram channel Vedomosti editor.

“Shmarova cannot be removed, because his candidacy is agreed with the presidential administration, the new chief editor should also be coordinated, and Golubovich and Sonyatkov do not want to go there after a scandal with Levada,” says another Medusa interlocutor, close to one of the parties to the deal.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov to the question of the Medusa correspondent about the Kremlin’s attitude towards what is happening in Vedomosti said: “We cannot comment on the editorial policy, we do not want to do this, get into the editorial affairs of a particular media.”

The term of the contract with Shmarov expires in six months. He himself refused to speak with Medusa. Konstantin Zyatkov did not answer the calls of Medusa. Alexey Golubovich refused to comment.

Anastasia Yakreva