Arkady Volozh's farewell message to Yandex staff

Arkady Volozh's farewell message to Yandex staff
/ bne IntelliNews
By Theo Normanton in London December 30, 2022

Arkady Volozh, the co-founder of Russian internet giant Yandex, circulated the following internal farewell message to staff on December 30.

Volozh stepped down as Yandex CEO and left the board of directors in summer 2022 after the EU left the market guessing by designating him in its sixth package of sanctions for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Yandex’s parent company recently announced that it would divest its Russian business, but plans to keep hold of four technology startups which it hopes to grow outside of Russia.

 

[Translation from the Russian original]

The time has come for me to write my farewell post.

People have asked where I am, and what I’ve been doing. As you know, I haven’t really been involved in Yandex’s Russian business for some time, but this year I had to step down from the company completely.

The Board and management have been working on a restructuring plan for the company – in the current environment I think the idea to restructure is sensible and in fact essential.

It’s my hope to be able to advise the four international start-ups, that might in the future develop independently from Yandex.

With everything happening over the past several months, I realise that I never said goodbye. New Year is the right opportunity to fix that. There is a lot that I would like to say to you, but just for today I will be brief.

Yandex was the project of a lifetime for me, and not only for me. We built it together from scratch over the past 30 years, in the face of strong global competition, while always trying to be transparent and fair. Thanks to everyone who helped to build the best technology company in the country.

I love all of you and miss you very much.

May the next year bring peace to everyone.

Arkady

News

Dismiss