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Mail.ru More Profitable then Google
Naspers, the South African media holding that owns 33 percent of Mail.ru, has released the financial results for the web portal for 2006-2007. Its EBITDA margin is almost twice that of Google and six times that of Russian competitor Rambler. Banks with which Mail.ru has discussed the underwriting of an IPO estimate the value of the portal at $2 billion. Judging from the company’s accounts, that is an unprecedented multiplicator of 56 EBITDA.
According to report for the 2008 financial year (ending March 31), Mail.ru receipts increased by 90 percent to $55.8 million in the 2007 calendar year. EBITDA increased 94 percent in the same period. Higher receipts did not decrease profitability. Mail.ru’s EBITDA margin was 63.1 percent in 2006, and 64.5 percent in 2007. The EBITDA margin of Google is 35.9 percent, and of Rambler 11 percent.
According to the report, 68 percent of the portal’s income is derived from media advertising, and only 14 percent from contextual ads. The remaining 18 percent comes from partnership projects, paid services and similar sources. The monthly audience for the site is 52 million unique visitors. It has 41 million active e-mail users (up from 30.7 million in September 2007).
Mail.ru is 100-percent owned by netBridge Ltd., an offshore company, the beneficiaries of which are not disclosed. It is known only that Naspers owns 33 percent of it, while the remainder belongs to businessman Yury Milner’s Digital Sky Technologies and the American company Tiger Global Management. The shareholders held talks with Citibank, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse in May on placing stock on the London Stock Exchange.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 27, 2008
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