The rumors aired in late 2020 about dissensions between Mail.ru Group (an LSE-listed Russian Internet major) and Sber (the state-controlled financial and technology giant previously known as Sberbank) could be confirmed soon.
The Financial Times learned that the two groups are considering splitting jointly-owned assets, including meal delivery service Delivery Club and ride-hailing service Citimobil. These companies are part of a joint venture called O2O, agreed in 2019, into which the two partners injected some $160 million in August 2020, just seven months ago. FT cited O2O as valued at $1.6 billion.
According to the business publication, Mail.Ru and Sber went as far as asking the Kremlin for recommendations on how to separate the concerned assets.
The Kremlin denied any involvement: President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday the divorce was “not something for the Kremlin. It is a business relationship between two companies,” as reported by The Moscow Times.
It seems the two sides have failed to align their strategic visions of the ecosystem they were aiming to build jointly. Sber sees its financial services at the core of this ecosystem, while Mail.ru Group insists on the central role of its social network VK. According to a previous FT report, Mail.ru Group would also be reluctant to let social network VK and its other assets become excessively dependent on Sber’s payment solutions.
Mail.Ru and Sber are reportedly dissatisfied with how O2O is squaring up against competition from Yandex, Russia’s technology champion.
In the middle of last year Sber put an end to its alliance with Yandex, the archrival of Mail.ru Group. The company also cancelled an important investment in e-commerce major Ozon, but recently agreed with M.Video a strategic partnership in this field.
