14 Mar 2012 07:00
14th March 2012
MAIL.RU GROUP LIMITED
Appointment of new Chairman
Dubai, UAE - MAIL.RU GROUP LIMITED ("Mail.ru Group" or the "Company") announces today that Yuri Milner steps down from the Board of Directors. Dmitry Grishin is elected to the Board of Directors and appointed as Chairman of the Board while retaining his CEO position.
Commenting on his decision Yuri Milner said:
"It has been a great pleasure and privilege to be involved with Mail.ru Group and to take the business from its foundation to its successful IPO in November 2010. Serving as non-executive Chairman since the IPO has allowed me to watch the management team, led by Dmitry Grishin, whom I brought in as a co-founder and worked with for more than 10 years, deliver consistently strong results. I believe that Mail.ru is well placed for taking advantage of its leadership position. I look forward to watching its continued success as Dmitry, and the team, continue to drive the business and execute on the strategy."
Dmitry Grishin, Co-founder and CEO of Mail.ru Group commented:
"On behalf of the Board, management and employees of the Company we would like to thank Yuri for all that he has done for Mail.ru Group. His contribution and his guidance have been much appreciated and valued. We wish Yuri continued success in his role at DST Global."
There are no other changes to management or to the Board.
For further information please contact:
Investor Relations Contacts:
Matthew Hammond
Managing Director Mail.ru Group
Phone: +971 505 56 1315
E-mail: ir@corp.mail.ru
Larisa Millings / Emma Appleton
FTI Consulting
Phone: +44 (0)20 7831 3113
E-mail: mail.ru@fticonsulting.com
Press Contacts:
Ksenia Chabanenko
PR Director Mail.Ru Group (Russia)
Phone: +7 495 725 6359 / +7 916 090 6626
E-mail: ks@corp.mail.ru
Notes to Editors
About Mail.Ru Group
Mail.Ru Group (founded in 1998) is a leading Internet company in the high-growth Russian-speaking Internet markets (Russia is today Europe's the largest Internet market measured by number of users, ComScore, September 2011). Mail.Ru Group's sites reach approximately 84 per cent of Russian Internet users on a monthly basis (ComScore, December 2011) and the Company is the world's fifth largest Internet business, based on page views (ComScore, December 2011).
Having the Communitainment (Communications + Entertainment) strategy the Company is moving rapidly to build an integrated communication and entertainment platform. The Company operates two of the three (TNS, December 2011) largest Russian language online social networking sites (Odnoklassniki and Moi Mir (or "My World")). The Company also operates the two largest Instant Messaging ("IM") networks in Russia (Mail.Ru Agent and ICQ), Russia's leading email service and Russia's second largest Internet portal Mail.ru (based on daily and monthly unique users, TNS, December 2011), and the Company operates Russia's largest online games platform.
The Company holds strategic minority equity stakes in VKontakte (a 39.99 per cent stake) and Qiwi, formerly OE Investments (21.35 per cent interest). The Company also holds small minority stakes in international Internet companies including Facebook, Zynga and Groupon as well as a number of small venture capital investments in various Internet companies in Russia and Ukraine.