Russia tightens grip on media, as Yandex giant sells homepage, news to rival VK

Russian internet giant Yandex on Tuesday said it had agreed to sell its news aggregation service, Zen content platform and yandex.ru homepage to rival VK in exchange for 100 percent of food delivery service Delivery Club.

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The move marks a significant shift in Russia’s internet landscape, with Yandex effectively passing the reigns that steer the distribution of online content in the country to VK, a firm controlled by state-owned entities after a structural overhaul late last year.

“The board and management of Yandex have concluded that the interests of the company's stakeholders... are best served by pursuing the strategic exit from its media businesses and shifting to a focus on other technologies and services,” Yandex said in a statement.

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