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NEWS > BUSINESS > RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS QUICKLY BUYING UP THE INTERNET
RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS QUICKLY BUYING UP THE INTERNET
January 8 2011
Moscow, Russia – Just twenty years ago no one could have imagined what would become of Russia. Like many cultural transitions, the change in the nature of the country has been dramatic rapid, transforming the nation from a politically and 
economically unstable mess to a major world player once again. Even more remarkable is the transition from the bastion of socialism to one of the hubs of capitalism, a transition that surely has people like Stalin and Brezhnev whirling in their graves.
Central to that transition from Communist bear to capitalist shark has been the rise of the oligarchs, the small number of business giants that have radically altered the economy and influence of the country. While names such as Roman Abramovich, Oleg Deripaska and Mikhail Prokhorov may not be commonplace in the west, their status as some of the richest men in the world prove that the rise of the Russian economy is in no threat of diminishing anytime soon. Because of that affluence it makes sense that those oligarchs would seek to explore new avenues for revenue, and no area of business in the modern world seems to have more potential 
than the internet, into which many oligarchs are investing massive sums of money in an effort to not only generate revenue but also gain full control of the medium for the future.
“It is clear that many of these Russian billionaires see a lot of potential in the web and the related businesses. Just last week, Yuri Milner negotiated a deal to plug $500 million into Facebook, an investment opportunity which has already made him a fortune, and this is still just the beginning,” said one internet insider who preferred not to be named. “The internet is still relatively young and many of these Oligarchs still invest hard products, things like oil and minerals, rather than advertising initiatives but I think once these businesses start to really prove themselves, they will swoop in and buy huge swaths of the internet.”
Milner’s Digital Sky Technologies has also invested heavily in other in web power players such as Zynga and Groupon.
“The internet is certainly a burgeoning business opportunity and many companies are rightly seeing the possibilities, though there are
pitfalls. The truth is websites rise and fall very rapidly, popularity can evaporate in an instant and that is a story that has been played out over and over again which makes it risky, particularly without any strong physical assets,” said Scrape TV Business analyst Ken Green. “That said, the internet community is much bigger and therefore much more stable than it was ten years ago when the last bubble burst which means there is much wider audience for retention, and that audience is growing every day. That makes this the prime time for investors to strike, at least with low amounts, and try to make purchases that could pay off big time in the future.”
Russia has just recently acquired widespread access to the internet.
“I would imagine that in the near future we will start to see more and more of these investments and even acquisitions from many places, but I would imagine we will see the vast majority of them from Russia. The best path to eventually gaining world domination, and a level of revenge, would be to purchase huge chunks of the internet,” continued Green. “Keep in mind that most of these oligarchs operate with the full support of the Kremlin. Abramovich, as an example, is almost considered a Putin family member and so this is obviously not just about business, but about world domination of a sort. I think eventually you will see a wholesale purchase of the internet and eventually much of it will be centered in Mother Russia.”
Reportedly, the popular website ‘English Russia’ is currently being courted by a Finnish investor.
William Ashford, Business Correspondent
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