MOSCOW, August 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian smartphone manufacturer Yota Devices will not relocate its headquarters from Moscow to Canada, the company’s press service said on Monday.
“We are talking about opening an office in Canada and not about relocating the headquarters,” the press service said.
Earlier, The Financial Post reported that the company was planning to move to Toronto or Waterloo by the end of this year. The decision to relocate its headquarters to Canada was motivated in large part by lower costs, tax benefits and government support, on top of the potential recruitment opportunity, CEO Vlad Martynov was quoted as saying.
Yota Devices started in 2009, making primarily 4G routers and modems before introducing its YotaPhone 1 in December 2013, featuring an LCD touchscreen on the front and an always-on e-reader style screen on the back. Some 70% of the company’s 150 staff is currently based outside Russia, spread across six offices, including some sales marketing and logistics in Frankfurt, and manufacturing based out of Singapore, and three sales staff in Toronto.