The owner of 99% of the Russian game developer Lesta Games was once again its founder, Malik Khatazhaev. Until September 30, the stock belonged to the Chinese company Lesta Hong Kong Limited, according to data from Rusprofile.
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Lesta Games, a former division of Cypriot Wargaming, considers the Russian market as a priority area of work, representatives of the Russian studio told Kommersant.
“Currently, changes have been made to the corporate structure, which were carried out to implement the company’s long-term plans and priorities,” Lesta Games explained.
The reason for the change of ownership of the studio is not known with certainty, says Alexander Zhuravlev, managing partner of the EBR law firm. According to him, since 2016 “there has been a trend towards disavowal.”
The change in ownership could be due, among other things, to the need to completely distance itself from Wargaming, as “bad actors and foreign media could assume that Lesta Games continues to interact with Wargaming through the Hong Kong structure,” points out a source. he told Kommersant in the video game market.
The legal entity of Lesta Games is Lesta LLC, which includes Lesta Games Moscow LLC and Lesta Games Agency LLC. In 2023, Lesta LLC’s revenue amounted to 4.5 billion rubles and its net profit was 250 million rubles.
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In March 2022, Wargaming transferred the business in Russia and Belarus under the management of Lesta Games. In April of the same year, Wargaming announced that it was no longer associated with Lesta Games.
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In July, Malik Khatazhaev became the new owner of the studio’s Russian and Belarusian business, but in September he transferred his 99% stake to Lesta Hong Kong Limited.
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In October, Lesta Games renamed the World of Tanks and World of Warships games to “World of Tanks” and “World of Ships,” respectively.
Author:
Bogdan Muzychenko
Source: RB
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