Finance
Metals billionaire Potanin acquires minority stake in 'Russia's Google'
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 27, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 27, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Vladimir Potanin acquires a 9.95% stake in Yandex, enhancing potential collaboration on tech projects. This marks a significant shift in Yandex's ownership.
(Reuters) -Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin has acquired a 9.95% stake in internet giant Yandex, often dubbed "Russia's Google", through companies he owns, according to statements from companies involved.
A consortium of Russian investors bought Yandex's Russian business from the company's Dutch parent in July 2024 for around $5.4 billion in cash and shares, ending foreign ownership of the internet company.
Yandex said on Tuesday the expiration of a lock-up period meant that investors in the consortium could now own stakes in Yandex directly, but that no shareholders would gain a controlling interest.
According to Russia's corporate registry, Catalytic People on May 26 acquired Meridian-Servis, an investment company that held a stake in the Yandex consortium.
Catalytic People is a joint venture between Potanin's holding company Interros and T-Technologies. Interros is T-Technologies' largest shareholder, with a 41% stake, according to T-Technologies' 2024 report.
Interros and T-Technologies have said Catalytic People, which also owns a 64% stake in Tochka Bank, will be used to invest in innovative and high-tech projects.
Potanin is CEO and shareholder of Russian metals giant Nornickel but has other investments through Interros.
T-Technologies President Stanislav Bliznyuk said the deal opened opportunities for T-Technologies and Yandex to work together on educational and technology projects.
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow, Gleb Stolyarov, Moscow Newsroom; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Susan Fenton)
Vladimir Potanin acquired a 9.95% stake in Yandex.
A consortium of Russian investors bought Yandex's Russian business, but specific names of other investors were not mentioned.
Catalytic People, a joint venture between Potanin's Interros and T-Technologies, will be used to invest in innovative and high-tech projects.
T-Technologies President Stanislav Bliznyuk stated that the deal opened opportunities for T-Technologies and Yandex to collaborate on educational and technology projects.
The consortium bought Yandex's Russian business for around $5.4 billion in cash and shares.
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