Expenditures for anti-crisis measures in the amount of 1 trillion rubles, ivi mobile application: news highlights September 1

World

• Italy has arrested 11 villas of the Russian billionaire, co-owner of fertilizer manufacturer Akron, Vyacheslav Kantor. Among the properties seized, including villas purchased from the mother and brother of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

• US authorities have banned semiconductor maker Nvidia from exporting to Russia and China two types of processors that are designed to speed up machine learning tasks.

Russia

• Yarovaya said that the goal of the creators of artificial intelligence is to reduce the number of people:

  “Do you know how much artificial intelligence eats today? Those who are creating artificial intelligence today are creating it in the hope of supplanting humans.”

• The Russian Society of Authors filed lawsuits against the Karo cinema chains and the united cinema network Formula Kino and Cinema Park. The total amount of claims is almost 18 million rubles.

• The Ministry of Digital Development wants to modify the legislation on public procurement so that companies owned by offshore companies can work in the state order market.
• Two-thirds of Russian regions have estimated spending on anti-crisis measures at 1 trillion rubles. In the regions, they fear that the funds allocated by the federal center will not be enough to implement anti-crisis programs, and the revenue shortfall – about 70 billion rubles – will be more than the current estimate.

Business

• Vkusno-i Tochka owner Alexander Govor plans to buy the Russian assets of Finnish disposable tableware maker Huhtamaki. According to Reuters, Govor is willing to pay up to 151 million euros for them.

• A company with Russian roots iFarm has developed and put into commercial operation a vertical farm for the cosmetics industry. At the production site in Marseille, the French company Capsum, a partner of Chanel, will grow microgreens, herbs and flowers for its products.

• Russian hardware and server manufacturer Softline Computers has rebranded, the new brand is Inferit. The changes will affect the entire product line, it will not affect the provision of services.

• Tochka, a bank for entrepreneurs and companies, has launched a Telegram bot that will allow retail customers not to spend money on terminals. It is enough for the cashier to type the purchase amount into the bot, and the bot will generate a QR code, according to which the buyer will pay for the goods using the fast payment system (FPS).

• Yandex.Market launched clothing, footwear and accessories from Italian and German premium brands: Baldinini, Liu Jo, Bikkembergs. Soon, the service will also present Principe Di Bologna products.

• M.Video launched an electronics store in the metaverse. The space was created following the model of the existing points of sale in the network, it is painted with the colors of the brand and combines two locations at the same time. The project is launched in the Roblox universe.

• Demand for condoms in Russia has fallen since January in both pharmacies and retail chains, down 16.4% and 6.6% year-on-year. Analysts cite cost savings, the transition to alternative sales channels and the contraceptives themselves, as well as a decline in sexual activity by Russians among reasons for the decline.
• Offers appeared on Avito, Ozon, Plati.ru with the help of buying games from publishers who left Russia. Among them are The Last Of Us Part I from Sony, FIFA 23 from Electronic Arts, etc.

Transportation

• A third of mandatory checkpoints during technical inspection of cars were canceled in Russia – from 82 to 55.

Services

• During the year, the number of Mir Pay users has multiplied by 20. The NSPK did not disclose absolute figures. The service has every chance of becoming a competitor to SBPey, but they will compete indirectly as they use different payment technologies.

• Ivi will launch a mobile subscription like Netflix. The cost will be 99 rubles, which is almost 4 times lower than the current price of access to video service content – 399 rubles per month.