Yandex will buy a license to use Bookmate technologies

Part of the Bookmate team will move to Yandex and implement developments in the IT holding company's infrastructure, as well as develop the platform using Yandex's expertise, Bookmate CEO Andrey Baev said.

Yandex clarified that they are not going to buy the service or a stake in its legal entity.

Yandex already has several media assets: the Kinopoisk online cinema, the Yandex.Music music service, and the Yandex.Afisha ticket service.

Vedomosti sources know that the IT holding company had been planning to launch its own e-book service for a long time, and a year earlier it was negotiating with existing services on merger and acquisition transactions or buying a license to use the technology platform. The company itself has not commented on these plans.

Bookmate was founded in 2010 by the British Simon Dunlop and the Russian Viktor Frumkin. At that time, the service became part of the Russian Dream Industries holding company (it also included the Zvooq music service and Theory&Practice media). In November 2017, Bookmate acquired a 51% stake in independent publisher Individuum, and in December 2017, Dream Industries went out of business. In 2020, Bookmate became a 65.5% owner of Popcorn Books.

At the end of 2021, the revenue of the Russian legal entity Bookmate LLC increased by 50% to 205.39 million rubles, the net loss decreased by 45% to 137 thousand rubles. This legal entity is wholly controlled by Irish Bookmate Limited.