Mail.Ru
 |
|
| Type | Public corporation |
|---|---|
| Traded as | LSE: MAIL |
| Foundation date | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Russia |
| Key people | Dmitry Grishin |
| Industry | Internet information providers |
| Products | Internet services (electronic mail, search engine, website catalogue, instant messaging, blogging, information, answers service) |
| Owner | Digital Sky Technologies |
| Slogan(s) | Национальная почтовая служба (National post service) |
| Website | mail.ru |
| Alexa rank |  31 (April 2013[update])[1] |
| Type of site | web portal |
| Advertising | yes |
| Available in | Russian |
| Launched | 15 October 1998[2] |
| Current status | active |
Mail.ru is the largest free e-mail service of the Runet. The business was originally owned by Port.ru, a company founded in 1998 by Eugene Goland, Michael Zaitsev and Alexey Krivenkov as spin-off from DataArt. It received an initial investment of USD 1 million from the well-known investor (and fencing champion) James Melcher.
The Mail.ru business expanded rapidly to reach the No. 1 market position in Russia by 2000. Attempts to fund the company’s expansion in 2000-2001 were thwarted by the collapse of the technology bubble and Mail.ru was forced to seek merger partners.
In 2001, Yuri Milner, who was managing NetBridge (the owner of less popular internet brands) persuaded the well-known entrepreneur Igor Linshits to back a merger of the Mail.ru business with NetBridge. Igor Linshits subsequently took an active role in the development of the Mail.ru business. In connection with the merger, Milner became Mail.ru CEO.
The company started to operate under its present name on 16 October 2001. Before that time its brand name was owned by Port.ru. It is headed by Dmitry Grishin. As of 2009, its global Alexa rating is 29.[3]
In 2003, Milner resigned from Mail.ru and subsequently set up another internet venture, Digital Sky Technologies (DST).[4] In 2006, Igor Linshits sold his stake in Mail.ru to Tiger Fund and Milner's DST for more than $100 million. In September 2010, DST changed its name to Mail.ru Group.[5] Dmitry Grishin became one of the Mail.ru Group co-founders.[6]
In October 2010, Mail.ru announced plans for an IPO via the London stock market listing of a subsidiary – also called Mail.ru – worth more than $5bn.[7] The IPO will offer a stake of about 17% of the subsidiary. The subsidiary will include about a quarter of the group’s shareholding in Facebook, stakes in Russia’s two biggest social networking sites and Mail.ru. The company has hired Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and VTB Capital to run the listing.
In March 2012, Yuri Milner has stepped down from the role of Chairman of Mail.ru and from the Board of Directors.[8] Dmitry Grishin was elected to the Board of Directors and appointed as Chairman of the Board while retaining his CEO position. There were no other changes to management or to the Board.[9]
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[edit] Statistics
- According to Alexa data for June 2007[update], Mail.ru was the most popular Russian site on the web.[10]
- In 2005 there were more than 30 million users with 25 million emails a day.
- By the end of 2006 it was announced that a strategic agreement with Yandex was achieved about the use of a Yandex search engine instead of Google. This has been reversed in January 2010.[11]
- In January 2007 30% shares of Mail.ru were bought by South African company Naspers for $165 million.[12]
- It is reported by Grishin that the two other shareholders are the Digital Sky Technologies (DST) and Tiger Global Management (TGM).
[edit] Main Services
- Blog.mail.ru — Blogs
- Files.mail.ru — File hosting service
- Foto.mail.ru — Image hosting
- Games.mail.ru — Online games
- Mail.ru — Instant messaging client
- My.mail.ru — Social network
- Otvet.mail.ru — Questions and answers
- Poisk.mail.ru — Social search engine
- Video.mail.ru — Video hosting
[edit] References
- ^ "Mail.ru Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
- ^ "Mail.Ru празднует 10-летие" (in ru). Archived from the original on 2010-08-27.
- ^ "www.alexa.com". www.alexa.com. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
- ^ Digital Sky Technologies ("DST") Changes Name to Mail.ru Group[dead link]
- ^ Weaver, Courtney (2010-10-26). "Testing Russian charm in the City". Ft.com. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
- ^ "Mail.ru group corporate governance". mail.ru group. 2012-03-18. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
- ^ Weaver, Courtney (2010-10-08). "Investors offered a slice of Facebook". Ft.com. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
- ^ "Yuri Milner Is Freed From Mail.ru Board To Take Care Of Business". TechCrunch. 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
- ^ "Mail.ru group limited: Appointment of new Chairman". mail.ru group. 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
- ^ "www.alexa.com". www.alexa.com. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
- ^ Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 (2009-12-15). "Confirmed: Google To Power Search, Ads On Mail.ru Starting January 2010". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
- ^ "African Naspers buys 30% stake in one of Russia’s biggest internet portals". C-News. 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
[edit] External links
- (Russian) Mail.ru Portal
- (English) Alexa stats for mail.ru
