VEON

VEON Ltd.
Formerly
 VimpelCom Ltd. (2009–2017)
Public
Traded as NASDAQ: VEON
Euronext: VEON
Industry Telecommunications
Predecessor PJSC VimpelCom and Kyivstar
Founded 2009 (2009)
Founder Dmitry Zimin
Augie K. Fabela
Headquarters Amsterdam, Netherlands
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Ursula Burns (Chairman)
Vacant (CEO)
Products Mobile telephony, mobile phones retailing, international telephony, broadband Internet, IPTV, city-wide Wi-Fi, domain name registrar and others
Revenue IncreaseUS$ 9.78 billion (2016) [1]
Total assets IncreaseUS$ 33.85 billion (2016)[2]
Number of employees
 66,000
Parent Altimo (56.2%)
Telenor (33.0%)
Subsidiaries
Website veon.com

VEON (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.) is a multinational telecommunication services company headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It predominantly operates services in the regions of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is the sixth largest mobile network operator in the world by number of subscribers [3] with 214 million customers.[4] Most of the company's revenue comes from Russia (39%) and Italy (31%).[5]

VEON's brands include Beeline, Kyivstar, Wind Tre, Djezzy, Jazz Pakistan, Banglalink and others.

History

Dmitry Zimin, the founder and honorary president

Russian PJSC VimpelCom was founded in 1992 in Moscow when VimpelCom's co-founders, Dmitry Zimin[6] and American Augie K. Fabela II came together to pioneer the Russian mobile industry.[7] Augie Fabela, who was then a young entrepreneur from the United States, and Zimin, who was a Russian scientist in his fifties, together launched the Beeline brand in 1993.

The company was one of the first mobile carriers in Russia. Its name derives from вымпел, the Russian word for pennon.

New York Stock Exchange

The old logo of OJSC VimpelCom during NYSE listing in 1996-2010

In 1996, PJSC VimpelCom, then the leader of Moscow cellular market (and automatically the largest mobile operator in Russia), became the first Russian company to have its shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange (with "VIP" as the ticker symbol).[8]

The company's main shareholders are Telenor, a Norwegian telecom conglomerate, and Alfa Group, a vehicle of Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman. They have been locked in a years-long struggle for control of this enterprise as well as other telecommunication assets in Eastern Europe.[9][10]

In 2008, PJSC VimpelCom obtained a 49.9% stake in Euroset, the largest mobile retailer in Russia and the CIS, which formerly belonged to its founder Yevgeny Chichvarkin.[8]

United holding company and NASDAQ

Alexander Izosimov was the CEO of VimpelCom Ltd. until May 2011

VimpelCom Ltd. holding company was founded in 2009. In 2009, Telenor and Alfa agreed to merge their assets in VimpelCom and Kyivstar (Ukraine's number one wireless operator) with the aim of creating VimpelCom Ltd. (incorporated in Bermuda).[11]

In October 2010, the united company acquired from Naguib Sawiris two assets:

As of 31 December 2011, the company had 205 million customers across 20 countries.[8] After several divestments and a business transformation, by summer 2017, VEON had a combined subscriber base of more than 200 million across 12 markets.[12]

The company announced that it would switch the listing of its ADS shares from the NYSE to the NASDAQ with trading beginning on 10 September 2013.[13]

In February 2015, the government of Algeria acquired a 51% stake in Djezzy for US$2.6 billion.[14]

2015–present

In September 2014, VimpelCom agreed to sell its majority stake in Canadian mobile operator Wind Mobile for $272 million to its minority owner Globalive.[15]

In the summer of 2015, the United States Justice Department claimed that VimpelCom used a network of shell companies and phony consulting contracts to funnel bribes to a close relative of the president of Uzbekistan, in exchange for access to that country’s telecommunications market.[16] The board of one part-owner, Norwegian telecom operator Telenor, has severed consulting ties with former VimpelCom chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas due to the continuing police investigation.[17]

In November 2015 the company CEO, Jo Lunder was arrested on corruption charges in Oslo, Norway. The case alleges that in exchange for an operating license, VimpelCom has funneled $57.5M to Takilant, a company linked to Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.[18]

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced 18-02-2016 a global settlement along with the U.S. Department of Justice and Dutch regulators that requires telecommunications provider VimpelCom Ltd. to pay more than $795 million to resolve its violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to win business in Uzbekistan.[19][20]

On 27 February 2017, VimpelCom renamed itself VEON, named after the messaging platform that it had developed. The company explained that the re-branding was part of a shift towards marketing themselves as a technology company, and not solely a telecommunications firm.[21]

On 3 April VEON announced the listing and trading of shares of VEON on Euronext Amsterdam, commencing 4 April 2017.[22]

On 19 July 2017 VEON announced launching Personal Internet Platform named VEON in major markets: Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Georgia. The platform provides contextualized, personalized internet experiences and opportunities, enabling customers to call, chat, read, watch, listen and share media, manage account (top up, opt in/out services).[23]

On 27 March 2018 VEON Chief Executive Jean-Yves Charlier resigned and that Charlier’s duties would be temporarily assumed by VEON’s chairwoman, Ursula Burns.[24]


Owners

Veon Shareholder Structure:[25]

  • 47.9% of voting rights (56.2% Economic rights) owned by Altimo (Alfa Group)
  • 43.0% of voting rights (33.0% Economic rights) owned by Telenor
  • 9.1% (10.8%) – Minority Shareholders

Subsidiaries and shareholdings

See also

References

  1. ↑ "VimpelCom on the Forbes Global 2000 List". Forbes. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  2. ↑ "VEON on the Forbes Global 2000 List". forbes.com. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  3. ↑ Pavliva, Halia (2012-04-12). "VimpelCom Rises as Orascom Rejects Fine, Files for Arbitration". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  4. ↑ "VimpelCom". vimpelcom.com.
  5. ↑ Леонид Коник (2012-04-26). "Altimo может потратить $1,5 млрд на увеличение доли в Vimpelcom Ltd. | comnews" (in Russian). Comnews.ru. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  6. ↑ "Founders". About.beeline.ru. 1933-04-28. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  7. ↑ "Founders". About.beeline.ru. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  8. 1 2 3 "Fact Sheet(s)". Vimpelcom.com. Archived from the original on 2013-02-07. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  9. ↑ "Altimo of Russia steps up campaign against Telenor of Norway". New York Times. 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  10. ↑ White, Gregory L. (2009-05-20). "Norway Seeks Caution in Telenor Battle – WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  11. ↑ Nicholson, Chris V. (2009-10-05). "Telenor and Alfa Reach Deal on VimpelCom – NYTimes.com". Dealbook.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  12. ↑ "VEON Business". VEON. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  13. ↑ "Nasdaq snags telecom VimpelCom from NYSE". Marketwatch. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  14. ↑ "VimpelCom closes Djezzy deal with Algerian government". Developing Telecom. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  15. ↑ "Vimpelcom to sell Wind Mobile stake to Canadian minority owner" (Press release). Reuters. 15 September 2014.
  16. ↑ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-29/u-s-seeks-to-grab-300-million-in-uzbek-telecom-bribery-probe
  17. ↑ Editorial, Reuters. "UPDATE 1-Telenor ends consultancy deal with former CEO due to..." reuters.com. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  18. ↑ "Former VimpelCom CEO seized at Oslo airport". The Local. 5 November 2015.
  19. ↑ Press Release: "VimpelCom to Pay $795 Million in Global Settlement for FCPA Violations", U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  20. ↑ Elco Van Groningen, "Takilant Found Guilty of Taking Bribes From Telia, VimpelCom", Bloomberg (July 20, 2016). Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  21. ↑ "Google and Facebook face an unlikely competitor in emerging markets: a telecom giant". Quartz. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  22. ↑ "VEON to list on the Euronext Amsterdam". VimpelCom. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  23. ↑ "VEON Launches Personal Internet Platform in Major Markets". VimpelCom. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  24. ↑ "Veon's CEO resigns, chairwoman to take over temporarily, COO named". Reuters. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  25. ↑ "VimpelCom". vimpelcom.com.
  26. ↑ http://www.vimpelcom.com/pr/fs.wbp
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