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Yandex’s News and Zen Deal With VK Closed in a Delivery Club Swap

Yandex transferred News, Zen and their associated portal to VK in September 2022, receiving Delivery Club in a non-cash business exchange.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
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Yandex’s Russian operating subsidiary completed the transfer of its News aggregation service, Zen infotainment platform and the Yandex main page hosting them to VK on September 12, 2022. In return, Yandex acquired 100% of VK’s Delivery Club food-and-grocery delivery business. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service had approved the transaction. It was a business exchange, not a disclosed cash sale.

What each company gave and received

Yandex VK
Transferred Yandex News, a news aggregation service; Zen, a recommendation, publishing and infotainment platform; and the main page where the services were integrated, along with related brands and technologies. Transferred 100% of Delivery Club, its food-and-grocery delivery business, to Yandex.
Received Delivery Club, which Yandex added to its E-commerce, Mobility and Delivery segment. Gained control of News and Zen and the former Yandex portal, which became the VK-controlled dzen.ru.

Yandex’s August 2022 announcement described a transfer broader than two standalone apps: it included the associated portal and related News and Zen rights. VK said it acquired the services’ technology and identity as well. Yandex’s binding-agreement announcement and VK’s completion announcement set out those terms.

How the transaction unfolded

  1. April 28, 2022: Yandex announced an agreement in principle to transfer News and Zen to VK. Yandex’s announcement.
  2. August 23, 2022: Yandex announced a binding agreement, subject to Russian antimonopoly approval. It also described the planned portal and app changes. Yandex’s announcement.
  3. September 8, 2022: Yandex completed its acquisition of Delivery Club, according to its later annual filing. Yandex’s 2022 Form 20-F.
  4. September 12, 2022: Yandex completed the transfer of News and Zen to VK after approval by Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service. VK also confirmed that the acquisition had closed. Yandex’s completion notice.

The companies began reflecting the transferred businesses in their third-quarter 2022 reporting. Yandex said it deconsolidated News and Zen from September 12; its Q3 2022 financial materials record the change.

Why Yandex exited News and Zen

Yandex’s stated reason was strategic. Its board and management said stakeholders, including Class A shareholders, would be better served by exiting media businesses other than entertainment streaming and concentrating on other technology and transactional services. The company retained other entertainment activities; this was not a sale of all of Yandex’s media interests. Yandex’s announcement describes its rationale.

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That corporate explanation sits alongside a more difficult 2022 context. Contemporary reporting connected the planned divestment to political and regulatory pressures around online speech and news distribution after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. TechCrunch’s coverage at the time discussed that environment. It is important to distinguish this outside analysis from Yandex’s stated rationale: the available company announcement does not identify Kremlin pressure as the sole cause of the deal.

What the transition meant for users

Yandex’s August announcement described the intended changes, rather than guaranteeing that every interface would remain unchanged afterward:

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  • ya.ru was to become Yandex’s new main page and entry point for Search, Mail and other non-media services.
  • The former Yandex homepage hosting News and Zen was to become dzen.ru under VK control.
  • Yandex planned a new Android app called Yandex with Alice; the existing Android app was to become Yandex Start, a browser in which users could choose a start page.
  • The Yandex iOS app was to continue without News and Zen.

These are the changes Yandex announced in 2022, not a current guide to every app feature, account arrangement or user experience. The announcement does not establish how every user’s bookmarks, creator audience or settings were handled after the transition.

Was there a cash price?

The companies’ completion announcements did not disclose a cash purchase price. The consideration Yandex announced was Delivery Club, transferred to it in exchange for News and Zen.

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Yandex’s 2022 Form 20-F assigned a RUB 38.620 billion fair value to the non-cash consideration in its accounting for the Delivery Club acquisition. That is an accounting measurement, not evidence that VK paid RUB 38.620 billion in cash or that the amount was a separately disclosed cash sale price. Yandex also reported a gain associated with deconsolidating News and Zen. The filing explains its accounting treatment.

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What changed for VK and Yandex

VK expanded its content ecosystem

The acquisition brought a news aggregator, a personalized recommendation and publishing platform, their related technology, and the former Yandex portal into VK’s portfolio. It expanded VK’s presence in news and content discovery beyond its social-networking roots. VK’s annual reporting referred to the acquired business as Zen.Platform and consolidated it in its 2022 accounts. VK’s 2022 IFRS report documents its accounting for the acquisition.

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Yandex shifted its public-facing focus

For Yandex, the transaction removed News and Zen from its consolidated operations and added Delivery Club to its delivery and commerce portfolio. The announced move of its main entry point to ya.ru separated its search and other non-media services from the former portal that moved to VK.

The ownership change mattered for media distribution

News aggregation and personalized content recommendation shape how readers encounter information, even though neither service is the same as an independent newsroom. Moving these platforms and their associated portal from Yandex to VK changed who controlled that distribution infrastructure. The transaction alone does not establish a particular editorial policy or prove how content moderation changed afterward.

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