UPDATE: USM gives control of stake in Mail.Ru to Internet firm’s mgmt

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MOSCOW, Oct 22 (PRIME) -- USM Holdings has handed over control of its share in Mail.Ru Group to the Internet company’s management in the name of General Director Boris Dobrodeyev, according to a statement made by USM Holdings’ founder and co-owner Alisher Usmanov, seen by PRIME on Monday.

“I’ve been preparing this transfer over recent years because I’m sure that high-technology companies should be headed by a young generation: talented and ambitious people, attuned to trends of development of the modern digital business,” Usmanov said.

“I’m leaving the management board light-heartedly: our business and financial results have never been higher, and the team of Mail.Ru Group is brilliant professionals. I’m certain that under their rule, the holding will strengthen its position on the market even more.”

After quitting Mail.Ru Group, USM Holdings will develop e-commerce during the next five to 10 years and wants to create a big player in this industry in Europe.

“I’m sure that the future belongs to high-technology companies and Internet projects. There are their own leaders on the market of social networks, where we invested in Facebook, Twitter, and VKontakte in our time, and we see a huge undeveloped market of e-commerce, and we’ll dedicate the coming five to 10 years to its development,” Usmanov said.

“One of my targets for the nearest years is to jointly with our partners from Alibaba to create the biggest e-commerce company in Europe, stealing competitive advantage from such retail giants as Amazon and Ebay.”

In September, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), local mobile operator MegaFon, and Mail.Ru Group announced setting up an e-commerce joint venture with Chinese behemoth Alibaba about AliExpress in Russia and Pandao. The partners plan to close the deal in January–March 2019.

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