Russian billionaires bid for stake in Yandex's local assets

Technology company Yandex has received bids from Russian billionaires for a stake of about half of the company's local business, valuing it at over $7 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

Yandex did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Billionaires Vladimir Potanin and Vagit Alekperov bid for at least a 51 per cent controlling stake in Yandex's Russian business, which they value at about 560 billion roubles ($7.21 billion) to 600 billion roubles, the report said citing people familiar with the matter.

The board of Yandex might discuss the bids next week when it meets in Dubai, the report added.

The Kremlin will need to sign off on the final group of buyers, Bloomberg said.

Since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022 Yandex, often dubbed "Russia's Google", has struggled to balance pressures from Western investors and is also appealing to a Nasdaq plan to delist its stock.

Yandex's primary advertising competitor, Alphabet Inc's Google, stopped selling online advertising in Russia last year.

The company also sold its news aggregator platform Yandex News and content recommendation service Yandex Zen to its Russian rival VK in 2022.

($1 = 77.7205 roubles)