The owners of the book service Bookmate decided to stop the business in Russia

Yandex has already acquired the rights to the Bookmate brand in the CIS, a Vedomosti source said of the deal between the companies.

Yandex did not comment on this information. The publication’s interlocutors did not specify when exactly Bookmate would leave the Russian market, the head of the Russian division, Andrey Baev, declined to comment.

Now the service works as usual, in particular, Russian users can purchase all three subscription fees.

Earlier this summer, it became known about Yandex’s plans to purchase a license to use the Bookmate technology platform, which in the future will allow the company to launch its own book service.

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

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.