Yandex is one of the leading Russian-speaking Internet companies, popular not only for its search engine, but also for all the services it provides together, such as cloud storage, email, maps and more, under one formula. similar to Google.
Recently, the CEO of the company was added to the blacklist of individuals and companies in the European Union, due to the invasion of Ukraine that began at the end of February.
Yandex co-founder receives EU sanctions and resigns from his post as director
Arkady Volozh co-founded the Yandex search engine in 1997. In 2000 he became the company’s CEO, which he held until last Friday, the day he made his resignation official.
The reason for the resignation of the key man behind the popularly called “Russian Google”, arises as a consequence of the decision of the European Union to include it in its black list, where the people and corporations subject to sanctions are concentrated. In this case, the EU’s justification was for “materially or financially” supporting Russia, according to the agency. Reuters.
“The European Union has imposed sanctions on Mr. Volozh personally. Neither Yandex nor the subsidiaries of the Group have been included in the sanctions lists of the European Union, the United States or the United Kingdom. We do not believe that these developments will affect the company’s operations, its financial position or its relations with partners.”Yandex noted through a release.
Yandex is headquartered in the Netherlands and has subsidiaries in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In its message, the company emphasizes that the sanctions were applied individually to its recently resigned director and not to the company.
In addition to his executive stake, which represents 45.3% of the board’s votes, Volozh also has an 8.6% economic stake in Yandex NV. Not being a majority shareholder of Yandex, the sanctions imposed do not fall on the company or its subsidiaries.
During the validity of these sanctions, Volozh transferred his voting power to the board of directors and his economic participation, subject to a “family trust”, will follow the recommendations of his administrative council.
From Yandex they affirm that the company will continue to function normally. “The Board continues to function normally. Yandex has a strong and deep management team that is well positioned to take the company to new levels with the continued support of the Board.”they also pointed out in their statement, where they did not miss the opportunity to also comment that the EU’s determination is classified as an unfair measure.
