Vedomosti

Vedomosti (Russian: Ведомости, IPA: [ˈvʲedəməsʲtʲɪ], lit. "The Record") is a Russian-language business daily published in Moscow.[2]

For the eponymous newspapers of Imperial Russia, see Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti and Moskovskie Vedomosti.

Vedomosti
TypeBusiness daily
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Demyan Kudryavtsev
Founder(s)Derk Sauer
Editor-in-chiefIlya Bulavinov
Founded1999
LanguageRussian
Circulation155,100[1]

History

Vedomosti was previously a joint venture between Dow Jones, the Financial Times[3] and the publishers of The Moscow Times.[4]

The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal sold their stakes in 2015, ahead of a new Russian media ownership law prohibiting foreign enterprises from owning more than 20% of stake in Russian media companies[5] which came into effect in 2016. Finnish newspaper operator Sanoma also sold its stake in the paper in 2015.

Between 2015 and March 2020, the paper was owned by a joint-stock company with three partners including Demyan Kudryavtsev, who also owns The Moscow Times, and was previously chief executive of Kommersant.[6] Kudryavtsev partnered with Vladimir Voronov and Martin Pompadour owned a holding company named Business News Media (BNM),[7] through their partnership in Arkan Investment.[8]

Publisher Konstantin Zyatkov and businessman Alexei Golubovich were to purchase the assets of BNM sometime after 18 March 2020. Golubovich is the owner of the Arbat Capital investment company, while Zyatkov appears to be an ardent patriot. Former editor Tatiana Lysova criticized the sale to the new owners, saying that they were "alien to Vedomosti’s rules and ideals."[7]

On 1 May, 2020, the sale was put on hold amid concerns about the direction under new editor-in-chief Andrei Shmarov. Golubovitch appears to have departed the deal around about here. Five deputy editors appealed to Vedomosti’s new owners to appoint a different editor-in-chief on March 31. Reportedly, Shmarov chose to discard "columns critical of Russian oil giant Rosneft... coverage of independent poll results and articles critical of Putin's proposed constitutional changes."[9]

The sale transaction was completed on 29 May, 2020, with Ivan Yeremin as the sole owner through his holding company Sapport. Zyatkov bowed out for unknown reasons. It was then revealed that Arkan Investment "had taken out a 28 million euro loan from Rosneft’s Russian Regional Development Bank (RRDB)." Kudryavtsev later confirmed this information.[8][10]

On 15 June, 2020, the five senior editors (mentioned above) resigned en masse from Vedomosti.[11]

References
  1. Медиакит газеты Ведомости (PDF). p. 7.
  2. Katja Koikkalainen (December 2007). "The Local and the International in Russian Business Journalism: Structures and Practices". Europe-Asia Studies. 59 (8). JSTOR 20451455.
  3. Robert G. Picard, ed. (2002). Media Firms: Structures, Operations, and Performance. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 61. Retrieved 26 December 2014. – via Questia (subscription required)
  4. Whalen, Jeanne (8 September 1999). "Dow Jones, Pearson, Dutch Publisher Jointly Launch Newspaper in Russia". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  5. "Bloomberg: друзья Путина готовятся купить газету "Ведомости"". Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  6. Sweney, Mark (20 November 2015). "Pearson and Dow Jones sell stakes in Russian newspaper Vedomosti". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  7. "Vedomosti Owner Kudryavtsev Agrees on Sale Deal". The Moscow Times. 18 March 2020.
  8. "Sale of top Russian business newspaper 'Vedomosti' complete". Meduza. 29 May 2020.
  9. "Vedomosti Sale Put on Hold After Censorship Backlash". Russia Business Today. 1 May 2020.
  10. "The new owner of Vedomosti is Ivan Eremin". TASS. 29 May 2020.
  11. "Five senior editors at Russian business newspaper resign, accuse boss of pro-Kremlin censorship". The Globe and Mail Inc. 15 June 2020.


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