Online portal and search engine Rambler announced last week its first investment since its merger with media company Afisha. Rambler acquired Kanobu Network, the leading Russian network gaming site, for $3.5 million, an unnamed source told the Russian business daily Vedomosti.
While early stage Russian investment fund Kite Ventures sold its stake, Kanobu founder Gadgi Makhtiev indicated he kept some shares and will continue managing the project.
The Kanobu Network includes such websites as Kanobu.ru, OGL.ru and GamesLife.ru. In addition to offering online games, these sites publish news articles and analysis. They also host users’ blogs and videos.
Russian private investment bank Troika-Dialog estimated Kanobu’s advertising revenue to be $1 million. Kanobu claims 3.1 million monthly visitors. With other game projects already attracting 900,000 monthly visitors, Rambler’s game audience now exceeds 4 million monthly users, as compared to 8.2 million online gamers for top internet group Mail.ru Group.
While Kanobu’s business model relies on advertising, Mail.ru Group has a paid model that generated $99.8 million in 2010, representing a large portion of its total income of $324 million.
According to estimates published by the Discovery Research Group, the total value of the Russian online games market reached $540 million in 2010, and is expected to grow to $850 million in 2011.
Sources: Vedomosti
