Co-founder of Russia’s largest IT company says goodbye to his staff — RT Russia and the former Soviet Union
Arkady Volozh, the co-founder of Russian internet giant Yandex, wrote a farewell letter to staff on Friday as he steps down as the company’s CEO and steps down from the board after being listed on the EU sanctions list.
« As you know, I haven’t managed Yandex’s Russian business for some time, and this year I had to completely leave all positions in the company, » Volozh wrote in an internal Yandex blog post seen by TASS.
“In the turmoil of the past few months, I never said goodbye to you. New Year is a good opportunity to solve this problem”, he said, adding that Yandex was the project of a lifetime. “And not just mine. For all these 30 years, we have built it together, from the ground up, in the face of global competition, striving to act openly and honestly,” he wrote, thanking everyone involved for helping to create « the best technology company » in Russia.
A Yandex representative told RIA Novosti that Volozh would not be involved in the company in any way, even indirectly, after his exit. In November, the company revealed that Alexey Kudrin, a former Russian finance minister and presidential adviser, would join the company’s management team.
Yandex is considered Russia’s largest IT company and primarily serves audiences in Russia and other former Soviet states. The Company provides Internet-related products and services, including search engine, maps, taxis, food delivery, mobile applications, e-commerce, media streaming and other information services.
In his farewell message, Volozh expressed his support for the company’s upcoming restructuring, saying that it seemed to him “reasonable and necessary”.
According to Reuters, Yandex’s Dutch-registered holding company plans to divest ownership and control of most of the Yandex group and spin off the main revenue-generating parts of its business into a separate group of Russian companies that will retain Yandex brand.
The company’s international divisions, which focus on self-driving technologies, cloud computing, data labeling and edtech, are expected to change their names and continue development independently of Russia. Volozh expressed hope that he would be able to advise the four international start-ups in the future.
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