Yandex Detaches from Russia: Nebius Group Emerges | Generative ai in Banking Mckinsey | Generative ai Course Free | Generative ai Healthcare Companies | Turtles AI

Highlights

• Yandex’s Separation: Yandex completed its separation from Russian operations in a $5.4 billion deal.
• New Name and Leadership: The new Netherlands-based entity will be named Nebius Group, with Arkady Volozh as CEO.
• AI Focus: Nebius Group will focus on AI-related activities, abandoning the search sector.
• Strategic Reorganization: The divestment required a complete overhaul of the group’s operations, aiming to mitigate the impact of international sanctions.

Yandex has completed a major separation from its Russian operations, finalizing a $5.4 billion deal that will allow it to operate without ties to Russia. The tech giant, known as the "Google of Russia," moved its intellectual property out of the country in 2022 due to international sanctions.

Founded in 1997 during the dotcom boom, Yandex reached $9 billion in annual earnings by 2023, expanding far beyond the search engine to include maps, navigation, e-commerce, cloud computing, autonomous vehicles, and AI services. The IP transfer was a strategic move to mitigate the impact of international sanctions imposed on Russia.

In August 2023, Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, signaling a clear break from Russian politics. Volozh will now serve as CEO of the new Netherlands-based entity, named Nebius Group. The Yandex brand will no longer be used by the parent company after July 30.

The agreement for the sale of Yandex’s Russian operations to a Russian consortium was signed on February 4, 2024. The July 15 announcement celebrates the final closure of the deal, with Yandex offloading its remaining minority stake, approximately 28%, for $2.8 billion in cash and 162.5 million parent company class A shares.

John Boynton, chairman of parent entity Yandex NV, stated that completing the cross-border divestment involved a complete overhaul of the group’s operations, which will emerge as a collection of AI-focused businesses, excluding the search sector. "Today’s announcement marks the end of a long and complicated chapter in the life of our company. All connections with Russia have now been severed," Boynton declared.