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Arkady Volozh

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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Yurievich and the family name is Volozh.
Arkady Volozh
Аркадий Волож
Volozh in 2018
Born (1964-02-11) 11 February 1964 (age 60)
Guryev, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union (now Atyrau, Kazakhstan)
CitizenshipRussian, Maltese, Israeli
Alma materGubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forPrincipal founder and former CEO of Yandex
SpouseMarried
Children6

Arkady Yuryevich Volozh (Russian: Аркадий Юрьевич Волож; born 11 February 1964) is a Russian billionaire oligarch[1][2][3][4] and businessman,[5] technology entrepreneur, computer scientist, investor and philanthropist. He pioneered the development of search and navigation technology as well as intelligent products and services powered by machine learning. Volozh co-founded several IT enterprises, including CompTek, Arkadia, InfiNet and Yandex.

In June 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sanctions were imposed against Volozh and he then stepped down from all his positions in Yandex and left the company.[5] In March 2024, Volozh was removed from the EU sanctions list after the holding company that he leads, Nebius Group, sold its interest in Yandex.[6] Volozh has lived in Tel Aviv with his family since 2014.

Early life

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Volozh was born in Guryev, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union (now Atyrau, Kazakhstan) into a Russian-Jewish family.[7] His father was a petroleum geologist, and his mother was a music teacher.[8] He attended Republican School of Physics and Mathematics in Almaty, Kazakhstan,[9] and then studied applied mathematics at Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow, graduating in 1986.[10]

Career

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Arkady Volozh demonstrates Yandex's driverless car prototype to Vladimir Putin at Yandex HQ in 2017

Volozh is a serial entrepreneur with a background in computer science. After working at a state pipeline research institute, he started a small business importing personal computers from Austria. He went on to co-found several IT enterprises besides Yandex, including a Russian provider of wireless networking technology InfiNet Wireless, and CompTek International, one of the largest distributors of network and telecommunications equipment in Russia.[11]

Volozh co-founded CompTek in 1989. He also started working on search in 1989, which led to him establishing Arkadia Company in 1990. The company was developing search software. In 1993, Arkady Volozh and Ilya Segalovich developed a search engine for "non-structured information with Russian morphology".[12]

Arkady co-founded Yandex in 1997, later leaving his position as CEO of CompTek International to become the CEO of Yandex in 2000.[13]

Yandex, a Nasdaq listed company, developed, and offered a variety of technologies and services under Volozh, in the fields of Ecommerce, navigation, mobility, autonomous vehicles, payments, music, emails and more.[14] The Yandex IPO in 2011 was the largest one until then, after the Google IPO in 2004.[15] In November 2021 the company was valued at 30 billion dollars.[16]

As part of a larger effort to spread machine learning, Volozh and the Yandex team established the Yandex School of Data Analysis in 2007, offering a free master's level program in data science. The program has grown to include six branches, online courses, and other learning programs through multiple partnerships. In 2018, the school opened a branch in Tel Aviv to launch a one-year career advancement program in machine learning.[17][18]

Resignation from Yandex

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On 3 June 2022, the European Union sanctioned Volozh as part of its package of sanctions against Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine, citing the role of Yandex in "promoting state media and narratives in its search results" and removing "content related to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine".[19] The same day, Yandex released a statement saying that Volozh would resign from his posts and step down from the board of directors, effective immediately.[20] However, the Yandex home page, yandex.ru, kept showing the state-controlled news from 2014[21] until the Yandex News service and the yandex.ru domain were finally sold for profit in September 2022.[22] After the sale, the new official homepage became ya.ru. However, the sold Yandex.ru domain still redirects to the news source up to this day and is seamlessly integrated with the search engine, making little to no difference from the user's perspective. As a result, the gateway ranks top 8 in the world and top 1 in the country, exceeding the official page about 10 times in terms of the number of visits [23] (last checked in August 2023).

The decision to include Volozh in the sixth sanctions package came as a surprise to many around the world and in Russia.[24] Volozh and his board described the move as misguided and counterproductive. What might have amplified the surprise around the decision is the history of Volozh and his company to refuse to fall in line with the Russian authorities. In 2019 Yandex refused to hand over to the FSB (Russian internal security service) the encrypted keys to its email service. The EU decision was based on the Yandex News aggregator service.[25] Although the Russian law mandates to impose censorship, namely to put headlines from officially registered Russian media outlets,[26] on the other hand, nobody required to keep the censored service either. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, further restrictions were introduced by the Russian government on the local media, which turned the news aggregator into a showcase of official Russian messages. The Board of Yandex NV announced its intention to get rid of the news aggregator shortly after the war started. In the summer of 2022, it was confirmed that rival internet group VK took over the news aggregator, while Yandex exited the news aggregation business completely.[27]

On 30 December, Volozh addressed a farewell message to the company in an internal message, calling the plan to restructure Yandex "reasonable and necessary".[28]

In February 2024, the European Union decided not to extend sanctions against Volozh, which expire on March 15. One of the arguments was a statement by Volozh, who called Russia's invasion of Ukraine “barbaric”.[29]

Life in Israel

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In 2014, following the Russian annexation of Crimea, Volozh moved to Tel-Aviv, Israel, where he lives with his family.[24] His parents also moved to Israel the same year.[30] Volozh's connection to Israel began even long before that; from 2010 to 2012 he served as a board member of Face.com, an Israeli facial-recognition company which was sold to Facebook in 2012. Volozh was also an investor in the company.[31] From 2015 to 2020 he served as a board member of NeuroSteer, an Israeli company that specialized in brain signal processing and big data analysis.[32] He later moved on to launch a series of services in Israel as well as opening an office and an R&D center in the country. In an interview in 2019 Volozh stated that Israel is a very attractive country, first and foremost because of its human potential, but also because of its role in the global economy.[33] Volozh also frequently appears in professional technological conventions and forums in Israel.

According to Agentstvo, the website of Volozh described him as "a Kazakhstan-born, Israeli tech entrepreneur, computer scientist, investor, and philanthropist" and did not mention his Russian background. Yandex was described as "one of the largest internet companies in Europe" and its Russian origins were not mentioned.[34] Kyiv Post, citing Wikiganda, argues that Volozh deleted some elements related to his past life in Russia on his Wikipedia page using an IP address.[35]

Subsequently, on 10 August, Volozh made a statement against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, describing it as "barbaric".[36] He also stated that although he moved to Israel in 2014, he has to take his share of responsibility for the country's actions.[37][38]

Personal life

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He is married to Irina Volozh, whom he met while studying at the institute; they have 6 children.[39] His son Lev Volozh is a founder of MoscowFresh and a former manager of the Yandex Taxi service. His son Timofey Volozh is involved in music.[40] His daughter Anna-Ester runs the Dragonbee animation agency.[41]

In December 2020, his net worth was an estimated US$2.6 billion.[10] Following the fall of the share price of Yandex stock as a result of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Volozh's net worth at the end of February 2022 was estimated to be US$580 million.[8]

In 2016, Volozh applied for and received Maltese citizenship through its investment program.[42]

As of 2022 Volozh lives in Tel Aviv with his family, and is an Israeli citizen, according to Wired.[8]

In June 2022, Volozh was sanctioned by European Union.[43] In February 2024, the European Union decided not to extend sanctions against Volozh.[29]

Forbes ranking

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As of September 2023, he held the 2405th position in the Forbes World's Billionaires rating with a wealth of $1.5 billion.[44]

References

[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Arkady Volozh.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arkady Volozh.
  1. ^ Hogg, Ryan. "Russian tech billionaire wants sanctions lifted after he criticized Ukraine invasion, report says". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  2. ^ Goodyear, Sheena. "Judge says squatters can stay in Russian oligarch's Amsterdam mansion". www.cbc.ca.
  3. ^ Starobin, Paul. "Is Russia's Largest Tech Company Too Big to Fail?". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 22 July 2024. In short, he's the opposite of the stereotypically boastful, political knife-fighting Russian oligarch.
  4. ^ Jankowicz, Mia. "Squatters who took over a sanctioned Russian oligarch's mansion are told by judge they can stay". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b "The Internet Pioneer Brought Low as Kremlin Ally by EU Sanctions". Bloomberg.com. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  6. ^ Meaker, Morgan. "Europe Lifts Sanctions on Yandex Cofounder Arkady Volozh". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  7. ^ Kartintseva, Varvara (20 June 2018). "Кем были предки Тинькова, Касперского, Дурова, Воложа и Овчинникова — Офтоп на vc.ru". vc.ru. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  8. ^ a b c Starobin, Paul (22 March 2022). "Is Russia's Largest Tech Company Too Big to Fail?". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Миллиарды "Яндекса". В процессе поиска". forbes.ru. 18 March 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  10. ^ a b "Arkady Volozh - Forbes List of Billionaires 2020". Forbes. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Arkady Volozh". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  12. ^ Andy Atkins-Krüger, Search Engine Land. Yandex: Not Copying But Searching For Google's Underbelly. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
  13. ^ Management team Archived 5 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Yandex corporate site. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
  14. ^ Gershkovich, Evan (19 August 2020). "The uneasy coexistence of Yandex and the Kremlin". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  15. ^ "ענקית החיפוש יאנדקס זינקה ב-56% ביום הראשון למסחר: "אנחנו יותר טובים מגוגל" - בעולם".
  16. ^ "הסנקציות נגד מנכ"ל יאנדקס מקרבות את הלהבות לישראל | כלכליסט". 17 March 2022.
  17. ^ Zyrianova, Anastasia (14 September 2018). "The IT behemoth that you might have never heard of". BBC News. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  18. ^ Wenkert, Amarelle (23 January 2018). "Yandex Partners With Tel Aviv University to Launch AI Study Program, Scholarships". calcalistech.com. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  19. ^ "Russian Internet Giant Says CEO Steps Down Following EU Sanctions". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  20. ^ "Yandex Founder, CEO Resigns After Being Hit By EU Sanctions". The Moscow Times. 3 June 2022.
  21. ^ Daucé, Françoise; Loveluck, Benjamin (22 April 2021). "View of Codes of conduct for algorithmic news recommendation: The Yandex.News controversy in Russia | First Monday". First Monday. doi:10.5210/fm.v26i5.11708. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  22. ^ "Yandex's sale of News and Zen to VK completes". TechCrunch. 12 September 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  23. ^ "Yandex.ru traffic analysis". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  24. ^ a b Normanton, Theo (17 June 2022). "EU keeps market guessing with designation of Arkady Volozh". intellinews.com. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  25. ^ "CEO of Yandex, known as 'Russia's Google,' resigns following new EU sanctions and months of boardroom chaos". First Monday. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  26. ^ "Russia fines Google for not complying with search results law: TASS". Reuters. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  27. ^ "Yandex's sale of News and Zen to VK completes". 12 September 2022.
  28. ^ "Yandex Co-founder Bids Farewell to Partitioned Russian Tech Giant". The Moscow Times. 30 December 2022.
  29. ^ a b "EU to lift sanctions slapped on two Russians, one Slovak over Ukraine war, diplomats say". Reuters. 22 February 2024.
  30. ^ "Arkady Volozh, Co-Founder and CEO, Yandexwith Hila Korach, Senior Journalist & Summit's MC". YouTube. 19 November 2021.
  31. ^ "Facebook set to buy Face.com for $80-100m - Globes". en.globes.co.il. 30 May 2012.
  32. ^ "Arkady Volozh - Co-founder and CEO - Nebius Group | LinkedIn".
  33. ^ ""לא באנו לפה בגלל המוניות. באנו בשביל המוחות"". 12 July 2019.
  34. ^ "Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh updates his entrepreneurial bio. Russia shrinks to marginal mention". meduza.io. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  35. ^ "Russian Billionaires Try to Hide Ties with Kremlin by Editing Wikipedia Pages". Kyiv Post. 15 April 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  36. ^ Sauer, Pjotr (10 August 2023). "Co-founder of Russian tech giant Yandex condemns 'barbaric' war". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  37. ^ "'I have to take my share of responsibility': billionaire tech executive and Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh clarifies his political position". Meduza. 10 August 2023.
  38. ^ "Yandex Co-Founder Arkady Volozh Condemns 'Barbaric' War in Ukraine". The Moscow Times. 10 August 2023.
  39. ^ "Arkady Volozh". Forbes. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  40. ^ "Upcoming Releases". Tinnitist. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  41. ^ "Exclusive Interview With 'Johanne' Director Anna-Ester Volozh". Ros Gilman. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  42. ^ "Основатель "Яндекса" Аркадий Волож купил гражданство Мальты". Meduza. 10 January 2018.
  43. ^ Eur-lex-europa: Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/883 of 3 June 2022 amending Decision 2014/145/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, June 2022
  44. ^ Rob LaFranco; Chase Peterson-Withorn (eds.). "Forbes World's Billionaires List: Nearly half of all billionaires are poorer than they were a year ago". Forbes. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
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