VK (company) facts for kids
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Formerly
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| Public | |
| Traded as | MCX: VKCO LSE: VKCO |
| Industry | Internet information providers |
| Founded | 15 October 1998 |
| Headquarters | Moscow, Russia |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Vladimir Kiriyenko (CEO) |
| Services | electronic mail, search engine, file hosting service, social networking (VK, OK.ru), instant messaging, e-commerce, communication, transport |
| Revenue | $1.36 billion (Lua error in Module:Wd at line 1575: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).) |
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Operating income
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−$1.13 billion (Lua error in Module:Wd at line 1575: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).) |
| −$57.1 million (Lua error in Module:Wd at line 1575: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).) | |
| Total assets | $5.27 billion (Lua error in Module:Wd at line 1575: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).) |
| Total equity | $2.45 billion (Lua error in Module:Wd at line 1575: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).) |
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Number of employees
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More than 10 000 (2022) |
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VK, also known as Mail.ru Group until October 2021, is a big technology company from Russia. It started in 1998 as the company behind Mail.ru, which is an e-mail service. Over time, it grew to become a very important company in the Russian-speaking part of the internet.
VK runs the Mail.ru email service and its main internet portal. It also manages popular Russian social networking services like VK, Odnoklassniki, and Moi Mir. Besides these, VK offers many other services. These include online shopping, transport services, and communication tools. They even have special products for businesses, like email and communication systems.
In 2014, about 86% of all internet users in Russia visited VK's websites each month. The company was one of the top five largest internet companies based on how many pages people viewed. In October 2021, Mail.ru Group changed its name to VK Company Limited. This new name came from its most popular product, VKontakte.
History of VK
The company started in 1998 as Port.ru. It was created by Eugene Goland, Michael Zaitsev, and Alexey Krivenkov. They received an early investment of $1 million from James Melcher.
The Mail.ru business quickly grew to be the number one in Russia by 2000. However, plans to get more money for growth in 2000–2001 were stopped. This happened because of a big crash in the technology market. So, Mail.ru had to look for other companies to join with.
In 2001, Yuri Milner helped Mail.ru merge with NetBridge. NetBridge owned several internet brands. After the merger, Milner became the CEO of Mail.ru. The company officially started operating as Mail.ru on October 16, 2001. Dmitry Grishin later became its head.
In 2003, Milner left Mail.ru to start a new internet company called Digital Sky Technologies (DST). In 2006, Igor Linshits sold his part of Mail.ru to Tiger Fund and Milner's DST for over $100 million. In September 2010, DST changed its name to Mail.ru Group. Dmitry Grishin became one of the co-founders of Mail.ru Group.
In February 2010, Mail.ru bought the video game developer Astrum Nival. Astrum Nival then became part of Mail.ru. In September 2011, the studio changed its name to Allods Team. This studio is known for making games like Allods Online and Skyforge.
In October 2010, Mail.ru Group planned to offer its shares to the public. They wanted to list a part of their company, also called Mail.ru, on the London Stock Exchange. This part of the company was valued at over $5 billion. After this public offering, the global operations continued as a private company called DST Global.
In March 2012, Yuri Milner stepped down from his role as Chairman of Mail.ru. Dmitry Grishin took over as chairman while also remaining the CEO.
In November 2012, Mail.ru decided to stop using Google for its search services. By the summer of 2013, Mail.ru was fully using its own search engine. Around the same time, Mail.ru Group bought the internet domain My.com. This showed their plan to grow their services worldwide.
On October 3, 2016, Mail.ru announced that they had bought all the shares of the game developer Pixonic. In January 2018, Mail.ru bought ESForce for $150 million. ESForce is a company that owns many esports businesses, including Virtus.pro and SK Gaming.
In September 2018, Alibaba announced they would buy a 10% share in Mail.ru. In July 2019, Tencent-backed iDreamSky and Mail.ru Group announced they would work together in the gaming world. In December 2019, Mail.ru Group partnered with Sberbank to create a food and transportation service called O2O.
In 2020, several large investors bought shares and bonds from Mail.ru. These investors included the Russian Direct Investment Fund and China's Tencent. The money was used to develop the O2O service and AliExpress Russia.
In November 2021, Sberbank sold its shares in "MF Tekhnologii" to Gazprombank. "MF Tekhnologii" is a company that controls VK. In December 2021, Sogaz Group bought all the shares that USM (owned by Alisher Usmanov) had in "MF Tekhnologii".
On September 26, 2022, the VKontakte social networking app was removed from Apple's App Store. Other VK apps like Mail.ru, Mail.ru Cloud, VK Music, and VK Clips were also removed.
On October 7, 2022, VK's company "ITR" bought most of the shares of Movika. Movika is a company that makes interactive video platforms. On December 19, 2022, VK announced they would buy 51% of "Medium Quality Production." This company is a leader in making digital video content in the CIS region.
In February 2023, VK bought 75% of the educational website Uchi.ru. This meant VK now owned 100% of the company. Later, Uchi.ru was allowed to buy the UFirst chain of English language schools.
In July 2023, a VK company called VK Digital Technologies won a contract. This project will help Russian government workers switch from Telegram to local communication services. In December, VK announced it bought YClients Group. This is Russia's largest online booking and business automation platform.
In February 2024, VK announced they had created their own large language model (LLM). This model learned from comments in open VKontakte groups. Its first features are being tested on Mail.ru services. In May 2024, VK bought a 40% share in Intickets. This company helps people buy tickets for Moscow museums and theaters.
Services and Products
VK Group offers many online communication and entertainment services for people who speak Russian all over the world. These include:
- Email & portal – Mail E-mail, the main Mail.ru website, and other content projects.
- Social networks – VK, OK.ru, and My World.
- Instant messaging – Agent and ICQ.
- Online Games – Games offered through a brand called My.Games. These include MMO games, social games, and mobile games.
- Search & e-commerce – Their own search engine, Headhunter (for jobs), and Price comparison tools.
- My.com – A platform that combines communication and entertainment.
- Cloud – Online storage space, similar to Dropbox, with apps for computers and phones.
- DST Global – Investments in other companies.
- Marusia – A voice assistant app for smartphones.
- Сapsula – A smart speaker.
- DonationAlerts – A service that helps people who stream videos earn money.
Challenges and Issues
On May 15, 2017, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, signed a rule to ban Mail.ru and its social networking services. This included VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. This ban was part of Ukraine's actions against Russia. Many people criticized this ban, saying it limited people's right to information. Mail.ru estimated that this ban cost them about 1.5% of their total money earned in 2017.
In 2017, some secret documents called the Paradise Papers were made public. These documents showed that Russian organizations invested a lot of money in Facebook and Twitter between 2009 and 2011. These investments were made through Yuri Milner, who founded Mail.ru and DST Global.
In 2023, a court in Moscow fined VK 60,000 roubles (about $900 US dollars). This was because data from 3.5 million Mail.ru users was leaked.
See also
In Spanish: VK (empresa) para niños
