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Usmanov Buys Portion of Odnoklassniki.ru
Businessman Alisher Usmanov is in talks about buying from Digital Sky Technologies (DST) a portion of Odnoklassniki.ru., Vedomosti reported. DST co-owns Odnoklassniki.ru (the web of classmates), Mail.ru and a raft of other assets; the worth of property where it has stakes is estimated at between $2 billion and $3 billion.
Ondnoklassniki.ru is one of Russia’s most popular social webs used to find school and/or university mates. The project was launched in early March of 2006. Odnoklassniki has roughly 20 million of registered users today.
Usmanov is eyeing the majority stake, said an unnamed source close to one of businessman’s partners. The parties agreed on the deal a few months ago, said a source with a big Internet company, but Usmanov’s spokesman declined to comment and DST representative said they aren't willing to dispose of the majority ownership.
The owners of stakes that Usmanov may finally buy out, the deal price and its form are yet unclear.
Alisher Usmanov is by far not a newcomer on the lucrative Internet market. Its Kommersant Holding owned web-edition Gazeta.ru, which it swapped for a sizeable stake in Sup Fabrik (owner of Russia’s LiveJournal), and Usmanov’s Media Technology Center has launched Newstube.ru video service, Vedomosti reminded.
www.kommersant.com
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