Vedomosti

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

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

Vedomosti
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Ivan Yeremin (via Sapport)
Founder(s)Derk Sauer
Editor-in-chiefAndrey Shmarov
Founded1999 (1999)
LanguageRussian
HeadquartersMoscow
CountryRussia
Circulation64,680[1]
ISSN1814-3881 (print)
1727-7345 (web)
Websitewww.vedomosti.ru

History

Vedomosti was founded as a joint venture between Dow Jones, who publishes The Wall Street Journal; Pearson, who previously published the Financial Times; and Independent Media, who publishes The Moscow Times.[3][4] Independent Media was acquired by Finnish media company Sanoma in 2005.[5]

Sanoma sold its stake in the paper to Demyan Kudryavtsev, former chief executive of Kommersant, in April 2015.[6] Ahead of a new Russian media ownership law prohibiting foreign enterprises from owning more than 20% of Russian media companies, Dow Jones and Pearson also divested their stakes in 2015 to Kudryavtsev,[7][8] who held the right of first refusal.[9]

In March 2020, Kudryavtsev and his partners, Boris Berezovsky associate Vladimir Voronov and former News Corp executive Martin Pompadour, announced their intention to sell Vedomosti to two buyers: publisher of Nasha Versiya Konstantin Zyatkov and managing director of Arbat Capital Alexei Golubovich.[10] Former editor-in-chief Tatiana Lysova criticized the sale, saying that the buyers were "alien to Vedomosti’s rules and ideals."[10]

The following month, the sale was put on hold amid accusations of censorship under editor-in-chief Andrey Shmarov.[11] Shmarov reportedly deleted articles critical of Rosneft's head, Igor Sechin, and banned articles critical of Putin's proposed constitutional changes.[12] According to an investigation by Meduza, Arkan Investment, Vedomostis parent company, had taken out a loan of €28 million from Rosneft's subsidiary the Russian Regional Development Bank (RRDB) to pay off a previous €25 million loan from the Russian state-owned bank Gazprombank which was used to buy Vedomosti in 2015. The investigation also alleged that Rosneft spokesperson Mikhail Leontyev was involved in both the selection of Shmarov as editor-in-chief and in negotiating the sale of the paper.[9] Kudryavtsev confirmed the loan, but claims the loan was not used to buy Vedomosti.[13]

On 29 May 2020, Vedomosti was sold to businessman Ivan Yeremin via his holding company Sapport.[13][14]

On 15 June 2020, five senior editors resigned from Vedomosti in protest to Shmarov's confirmation to editor-in-chief by the paper's board of directors.[15]

References
  1. "Vedomosti". Eurotopics. Federal Agency for Civic Education. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  2. Koikkalainen, Katja (December 2007). "The Local and the International in Russian Business Journalism: Structures and Practices". Europe-Asia Studies. 59 (8): 1315–1329. JSTOR 20451455.
  3. Whalen, Jeanne (8 September 1999). "Dow Jones, Pearson, Dutch Publisher Jointly Launch Newspaper in Russia". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  4. Picard, Robert G. (1989). Media Firms: Structures, Operations, and Performance. Newbury Park: SAGE Publishing. p. 61. ISBN 9780803935013.
  5. "SanomaWSOY acquires the leading Russian magazine publisher Independent Media". Sanoma. 19 January 2005.
  6. "Sanoma agrees sale of stake in Vedomosti and other leading titles in Russia". Sanoma. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  7. Sweney, Mark (20 November 2015). "Pearson and Dow Jones sell stakes in Russian newspaper Vedomosti". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  8. Strokolsky, Konstantin (16 October 2014). "Bloomberg: друзья Путина готовятся купить газету 'Ведомости'". Russian Planet (in Russian). Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  9. Lysova, Tatiana; Golunov, Ivan; Yakoreva, Anastasia (12 May 2020). "'Conspiring with these people': How Rosneft trapped one of Russia's top business newspapers and left the nominal owner with $15.1 million in profits. A joint investigation". Meduza.
  10. "Vedomosti Owner Kudryavtsev Agrees on Sale Deal". The Moscow Times. 18 March 2020.
  11. "Vedomosti Sale Delayed Amid Pro-Kremlin Censorship Scandal". The Moscow Times. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  12. "Vedomosti Sale Put on Hold After Censorship Backlash". Russia Business Today. 1 May 2020.
  13. "Sale of top Russian business newspaper 'Vedomosti' complete". Meduza. 29 May 2020.
  14. "Новым владельцем 'Ведомостей' стал Иван Еремин" (in Russian). TASS. 29 May 2020.
  15. Farber, Gabrielle Tétrault; Zverev, Anton (15 June 2020). "Five senior editors at Russian business newspaper resign, accuse boss of pro-Kremlin censorship". The Globe and Mail. Reuters.
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