6 ms·

They moved most of their hosting to Amsterdam (and Stockholm?) 2-3 years ago, I heard. Since then the founder has been forced out by Putin, so I guess it might

They moved most of their hosting to Amsterdam (and Stockholm?) 2-3 years ago, I heard. Since then the founder has been forced out by Putin, so I guess it might be back in Moscow now though. (Haven't really had any semi-inside information for the past year.)

bobuk 10y ago
now it's split between Russia (for russian audience) and Netherland and Finland (for others). Also this https://sputniknews.com/world/20151024/1029057531/finland-heat-yandex-center.html https://sputniknews.com/world/20151024/1029057531/finland-he... may be interesting for you.
- johansch 10y ago
  My feeling is that data center services are much cheaper and more reliable in Europe, so they have probably moved most things that are not directly frontend-facing to CIS there. (Everything just works and there are no insane bribes to pay to various mafias.)
  - bobuk 10y ago
    Oh no, at least not now. Electricity and land so cheap today in Russia, what Yandex starts to build and sell their datacenter to provide "cheap AWS alternative for Russian companies".
    - johansch 10y ago
      But how about the bribes (to get e.g. electricity)? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/business/global/12ikea.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/business/global/12ikea.htm...
      - fpoling 10y ago
        Bribes for infrastructure is not how modern days high level corruption works in Russia. What happens is that for various preferences that a company receives from the state like tax rebates, cheaper electricity etc. one pays back to the official who authorized the deal. The payment (otkat or "rollback" in Russian) is typically indirect, like using a supplier or outsourcing to a company where the official or their relatives have a stake. The direct bribes is really for low-level clerks like police officers or fire hazard inspector s.
      - bobuk 10y ago
        Yandex is a public company with stocks on NASDAQ. Can you ever imagine how it is hard to hide bribes inside of public company budget? :)
        pbarnes_1 10y ago
        Not very. International listings don't need to abide by normal US listing regulations for financial reporting.
        johansch 10y ago
        Two words: "consultancy services"
        bobuk 10y ago
        You can check it on sec.gov. Yandex spend nothing on consultancy for 2014 and 2015 years
        johansch 10y ago
        I can't be bothered to dig right now, but you're saying that a company with 5000+ employees did not use any consultants at all, zero, for 2014 and 2015? I really can't believe that. Edit: there are many ways to hide bribes, of course. Typically it involves overpaying for something. It would be hard for even a non-corrupt tax authority to tell the difference between having bad negotiation skills and bribes.
        bobuk 10y ago
        My point is "big non-government companies in Russia doesn't pay any bribes". But you're right, it's definitely possible do hide some amount of bribe money if you really want to.
        avar 10y ago
        Just give someone a big performance bonus with the understanding that part of it is to be used on bribes? Seems rather easy.
oneloop 10y ago
The founder has been driven out by Putin? Aren't you confusing with Parov, the founder of VK?
- johansch 10y ago
  Yeah, I probably did mix them up. I was possibly confused by this article just before posting that comment: http://calvertjournal.com/news/show/3035/founder-of-yandex-resigns-amid-controversy-arkady-volozh http://calvertjournal.com/news/show/3035/founder-of-yandex-r... (It's hit #4 in Google for his name.)
- elmigranto 10y ago
  > Parov, the founder of VK It's Pavel Durov. https://twitter.com/durov https://twitter.com/durov
pilsetnieks 10y ago
It was the Vkontakte founder, Pavel Durov, that was forced out. Yandex hasn't had any notable public conflicts with the Putin regime.
- maddiez 10y ago
  Putin himself verbally attacked in 2014 [1] [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-04-25/how-putin-crashed-a-russian-internet-stock https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-04-25/how-putin...
- ivan_gammel 10y ago
  Except that it had to sell it's "golden" share to state-owned Sberbank.

bobuk 10y ago

now it's split between Russia (for russian audience) and Netherland and Finland (for others). Also this https://sputniknews.com/world/20151024/1029057531/finland-heat-yandex-center.html https://sputniknews.com/world/20151024/1029057531/finland-he... may be interesting for you.

johansch 10y ago
My feeling is that data center services are much cheaper and more reliable in Europe, so they have probably moved most things that are not directly frontend-facing to CIS there. (Everything just works and there are no insane bribes to pay to various mafias.)
- bobuk 10y ago
  Oh no, at least not now. Electricity and land so cheap today in Russia, what Yandex starts to build and sell their datacenter to provide "cheap AWS alternative for Russian companies".
  - johansch 10y ago
    But how about the bribes (to get e.g. electricity)? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/business/global/12ikea.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/business/global/12ikea.htm...
    - fpoling 10y ago
      Bribes for infrastructure is not how modern days high level corruption works in Russia. What happens is that for various preferences that a company receives from the state like tax rebates, cheaper electricity etc. one pays back to the official who authorized the deal. The payment (otkat or "rollback" in Russian) is typically indirect, like using a supplier or outsourcing to a company where the official or their relatives have a stake. The direct bribes is really for low-level clerks like police officers or fire hazard inspector s.
    - bobuk 10y ago
      Yandex is a public company with stocks on NASDAQ. Can you ever imagine how it is hard to hide bribes inside of public company budget? :)
      - pbarnes_1 10y ago
        Not very. International listings don't need to abide by normal US listing regulations for financial reporting.
      - johansch 10y ago
        Two words: "consultancy services"
        bobuk 10y ago
        You can check it on sec.gov. Yandex spend nothing on consultancy for 2014 and 2015 years
        johansch 10y ago
        I can't be bothered to dig right now, but you're saying that a company with 5000+ employees did not use any consultants at all, zero, for 2014 and 2015? I really can't believe that. Edit: there are many ways to hide bribes, of course. Typically it involves overpaying for something. It would be hard for even a non-corrupt tax authority to tell the difference between having bad negotiation skills and bribes.
        bobuk 10y ago
        My point is "big non-government companies in Russia doesn't pay any bribes". But you're right, it's definitely possible do hide some amount of bribe money if you really want to.
      - avar 10y ago
        Just give someone a big performance bonus with the understanding that part of it is to be used on bribes? Seems rather easy.

oneloop 10y ago

The founder has been driven out by Putin? Aren't you confusing with Parov, the founder of VK?

johansch 10y ago
Yeah, I probably did mix them up. I was possibly confused by this article just before posting that comment: http://calvertjournal.com/news/show/3035/founder-of-yandex-resigns-amid-controversy-arkady-volozh http://calvertjournal.com/news/show/3035/founder-of-yandex-r... (It's hit #4 in Google for his name.)
elmigranto 10y ago
> Parov, the founder of VK It's Pavel Durov. https://twitter.com/durov https://twitter.com/durov

pilsetnieks 10y ago

It was the Vkontakte founder, Pavel Durov, that was forced out. Yandex hasn't had any notable public conflicts with the Putin regime.

maddiez 10y ago
Putin himself verbally attacked in 2014 [1] [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-04-25/how-putin-crashed-a-russian-internet-stock https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-04-25/how-putin...
ivan_gammel 10y ago
Except that it had to sell it's "golden" share to state-owned Sberbank.