Yandex is Russia’s biggest search engine and internet company co-founded by Arkady Volozh but the co-founder is now saying his goodbyes to the company.
An internal message to staff ahead of corporate restructuring where ownership of the company’s core services is moved around to different hands was revealed.
Volozh left his CEO position as well as his position on the board of directors after the EU included him on its list of sanctions against Russian entities and individuals in June.
Volozh called the EU’s decision “misguided”.
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Yandex’s core service includes its search engine which has earned it the “Russin Google” title. While it’s not popular anywhere else apart from the far-east country, the search company is said to have sought a balance between its Western investors on one side and the Kremlin on the other.
It recently sold its news feed and homepage to state-controlled rival VK in its attempt to depoliticize its business operations and gain more trust overseas.
“As you know, I haven’t really been involved in Yandex’s Russian business for some time, but this year I had to step down from the company completely,” Volozh said in a message, seen by Reuters.
“With everything happening over the past several months, I realize that I never said goodbye. New Year is the right opportunity to fix that,” he said.
“Yandex was the project of a lifetime for me and not only for me,” he said. “Thanks to everyone who helped to build the best technology company in the country.”
Yandex declined to comment.
Yandex’s Dutch-registered holding company last month said it planned to divest ownership and control of most of Yandex Group, including its main revenue-generating businesses, a move that could lead to enhanced Kremlin influence over some of Russia’s backbone internet services.
One of President Putin’s longtime allies, Alexei Kudrin, also joined the company as a corporate development adviser.
The international divisions of Yandex’s self-driving technologies cloud computing, data labeling, and edtech would then be developed independently from Russia.
“It’s my hope to be able to advise the four international start-ups, that might in the future develop independently from Yandex,” Volozh said.
“May the next year bring peace to everyone.”
