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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsYes—but only in the carefully defined sense of the former Yandex.ru media homepage and portal. Yandex’s binding 2022 agreement with VK covered Yandex News, Yandex Zen, and the main page where those services appeared. That media-oriented homepage was renamed dzen.ru and placed under VK’s control. Yandex did not sell its entire search engine or all of its online services: it moved its main entry point for Search, Mail, and other non-media products to ya.ru.
What Yandex transferred to VK
Yandex’s August 23, 2022 announcement described three connected parts of the transaction:
- Yandex News, its news-aggregation service;
- Yandex Zen, its recommendation, blogging, and infotainment platform; and
- the main page where News and Zen were hosted—the former media-heavy Yandex.ru homepage.
That third element is the detail often lost in shorthand descriptions saying only that “Yandex News and Zen” were sold. The agreement explicitly included the homepage itself as a media portal. Yandex said VK would control and further develop its content, appearance, and functionality after the transaction closed.
Did VK acquire the entire yandex.ru domain?
It is reasonable to say that VK acquired or took control of the former Yandex.ru homepage. It is too broad to say, without qualification, that VK bought all of Yandex.ru or Yandex’s entire technology business.
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Four different things should be separated:
- Domain:
yandex.ru, the web address. - Homepage or portal: the landing page that combined search with prominent News and Zen feeds.
- Media assets: News, Zen, and the associated portal experience.
- Search service: Yandex’s search technology and business.
The available official description establishes the transfer of the media assets and the main page hosting them. It does not support the claim that VK acquired Yandex’s entire search infrastructure, corporate group, or every service historically reachable through the domain.
What happened to the old Yandex.ru homepage?
After the deal closed, the former media homepage was to become dzen.ru, controlled by VK. Visitors using the old Yandex.ru experience were redirected toward that VK-controlled portal.
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In practical terms, the change was more than a rebranding of two standalone products. The familiar media-focused front page also moved out of Yandex’s control. Contemporary reporting by TechCrunch described the portal as continuing to expose Yandex Search through an embedded integration. That did not mean the search engine had been sold; it meant that a Yandex service could remain available through a portal controlled by VK.
Where did Yandex Search go?
Yandex designated ya.ru as its new primary entry point for Search, Mail, and other non-media services. This was the clearest signal that the search business remained separate from the transferred media homepage.
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The simple before-and-after is:
| Before the transaction | After completion |
|---|---|
| Yandex.ru combined search with News and Zen feeds. | VK controlled the former media portal, renamed dzen.ru. |
| The homepage was Yandex’s prominent entry point for several services. | Yandex promoted ya.ru as its search-focused main page. |
| News, Zen, and the surrounding media experience were part of Yandex’s offering. | Those media assets moved to VK, while Yandex retained Search and other non-media activities. |
Therefore, the statement “VK bought Yandex’s search engine” is misleading. The more accurate formulation is that VK obtained Yandex’s News and Zen media businesses together with the former Yandex.ru media homepage.
What did Yandex receive?
The transaction was structured around an exchange of assets. Yandex transferred News, Zen, and the former media homepage; in return, it acquired Delivery Club, a Russian food and grocery-delivery service. Yandex said Delivery Club would join its E-commerce, Mobility and Delivery segment while retaining its brand.
TechCrunch characterized the transaction as a pure asset swap without a financial component. The official Yandex announcement identifies Delivery Club as the consideration but does not use that exact characterization, so the “no cash component” description should be attributed to the contemporary report.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Timeline of the Yandex–VK transaction
- April 28, 2022: Yandex announced an agreement in principle to sell News and Zen to VK, with detailed terms still to come. See Yandex’s announcement.
- August 23, 2022: Yandex announced the binding agreement. This fuller description explicitly included the main page where News and Zen were located, and outlined the planned move to dzen.ru and ya.ru.
- September 12, 2022: The transaction was reported as completed after approval by Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service. The redirect to the VK-controlled successor portal was expected to begin at that point.
Announcement and completion were not the same event. Yandex’s planned homepage change was conditional on the transaction closing, which is why the August agreement and September completion should not be treated as interchangeable dates. Yandex’s investor blog also described the old homepage moving under VK only after completion: Yandex investor explanation.
Why the homepage mattered
The old Yandex.ru page was not simply a blank search box. It combined search with prominent news headlines and personalized Zen content, making the homepage itself part of Yandex’s media distribution system.
Yandex said the transaction formed part of a strategic exit from media businesses, apart from entertainment streaming, and that the company would refocus its main entry point on Search and other technology services. Contemporary reporting placed the move in a wider context that included political pressure, censorship concerns, and reputational difficulties surrounding a news-heavy portal. Those issues are reported context, not a complete official statement of Yandex’s motives.
The precise answer
So, did VK buy Yandex.ru? VK obtained the former Yandex.ru media homepage and portal as part of its acquisition of Yandex News and Zen. But that should not be expanded into a claim that VK bought Yandex’s entire search engine, all Yandex products, or the whole Yandex corporate business.
Yandex separated the businesses by shifting its principal search-and-services entry point to ya.ru. The old media experience became dzen.ru under VK, while Yandex Search remained a distinct Yandex service—even if it could still be exposed through the VK-controlled portal.
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