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MOSCOW, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Russian internet group Mail.ru
Group said on Tuesday it was rebranding as VK, the
initials of its social network VKontakte, and would rename a
number of its services to incorporate the new brand.
The company's move to consolidate its services under one
name mirrors a wider trend among large Russian firms, including
tech giant Yandex and lenders Sberbank and
Tinkoff, to develop an "ecosystem" of online services.
"Today we have taken the decision to name our ecosystem, our
group of companies, VK," Dobrodeev said in a video presentation.
The group's services range from email and education
technology to gaming and ride-hailing. VK is one of Russia's
most recognisable online brands, with users spending more than
1.1 billion minutes a day on the VKontakte social network, often
referred to as Russia's Facebook.
"As opposed to Mail.ru Group, (the VK brand) will be used
not only at the corporate level but also in our products, as its
users were not always aware of their connection with each
other," VK said in a statement.
Dobrodeev said the rebrand would not impact the operational
structure of the business.
"We've never been a user brand, we were a corporate brand,"
Dobrodeev said. "Now some products will be completely renamed,
all new products will be under the new brand, and old products
will retain the brand but have a visual link to VK."
(Reporting by Anna Rzhevkina and Alexander Marrow; Editing by
Mark Trevelyan)