Founder quits Russia’s largest social network, cementing the control of Kremlin-loyal tycoon Alisher Usmanov over a key platform amid moves by Putin’s government to tighten control over the country’s media

April 16, 2014 Leave a comment

April 1, 2014 6:54 pm

Founder quits Russia’s largest social network

By Kathrin Hille in Moscow

Pavel Durov, the eccentric founder of Russia’s largest social network Vkontakte, has quit as the company’s chief executive, cementing the control of Kremlin-loyal tycoon Alisher Usmanov over a key platform amid moves by president Vladimir Putin’s government to tighten control over the country’s media.

Mr Durov’s departure had been widely expected after he sold his 12 per cent stake in Vkontakte in January to an ally of Mr Usmanov, Russia’s richest man. Last month, the stake was sold on to Mail.ru. That deal brought the share of the group, which is controlled by Mr Usmanov, in Vkontakte to 52 per cent.

The Vkontakte founder said he was leaving because the acquisition of a 48 per cent stake in the company by United Capital Partners last year had changed the company.

UCP has battled Mr Durov over his move to develop the instant messaging service Telegram, which the investment fund argues should have been done as part of Vkontakte. Mr Usmanov had initially backed the founder in the dispute, but recently become more ambivalent.

“As a result of the events that followed the changes in the shareholders’ composition of Vkontakte in April 2013, the director-general’s freedom of action in managing the company has significantly diminished. It is becoming more and more difficult to advocate the principles that once formed the basis of our social network website,” Mr Durov said in a post on his personal Vkontakte page.

Mr Durov’s statement was adorned with a photo of two dolphins jumping out of the sea and the sentence ‘So long and thanks for all the fish’.

This, and the refusal of a company spokesman to confirm the resignation, initially caused confusion over whether the announcement was an April Fool’s joke.

However, Mr Usmanov’s holding company later confirmed Mr Durov’s departure and said a successor would be picked this week.

With 240m registered users and 60m daily viewers, Vkontakte is far ahead of Facebook, with which it is often compared, in Russia and in the other former Soviet republics.

 

 

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