All news

Russian social network VKontakte gets new CEO

Boris Dobrodeyev has been appointed the general director of Russian social network VKontakte

MOSCOW, September 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Boris Dobrodeyev has been appointed the general director of Russian social network VKontakte, the company said Thursday in a statement.

VKontakte’s founder Pavel Durov resigned from the general director position in late April. The conflict between VKontakte’s shareholders led to delay in appointing a new CEO, whose duties had been performed since April on a temporarily basis by Dobrodeyev.

On Tuesday, Mail.Ru Group, which owned 52% in VKontakte, said that it had consolidated 100% of the social network by acquiring the remaining stake from investment fund United Capital Partners (UCP), controlled by Ilya Shcherbovich, for $1.47 billion. UCP, Mail.Ru Group and Pavel Durov also agreed to abolish mutual claims.

On the new position, Dobrodeyev will focus on the development of the project’s strategy and will be responsible for the financial and commercial activities of the social network.

Andrey Rogozov, director of VKontakte’s development department, was appointed the operating director and will curate all product and technological development of the social network.

Dmitry Sergeyev, VKontakte’s executive director, will become the general director of the holding company VK.COM.

“Today the company has made the appointments that we proposed earlier, prior to raising the stake in VKontakte to 100%, and that could not be fulfilled earlier due to disagreements between shareholders. We are sure that these appointments and the end to the instability period will allow us to proceed with the VKontakte team's projects and initiatives in the best possible way,” Mail.Ru Group said in a statement. As of January, VKontakte’s daily audience counted some 60 million people.