Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has given permission for Rostelecom to acquire local online video streaming service RuTube.
The Russian telco has been cleared to purchase a 74.7% stake from Gazprom Media, the media arm of state-owned…
Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has given permission for Rostelecom to acquire local online video streaming service RuTube.
The Russian telco has been cleared to purchase a 74.7% stake from Gazprom Media, the media arm of state-owned energy giant Gazprom, and can now pursue the transaction in line with local takeover practice, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to TelecomFinance.
Gazprom will continue to hold the remaining 25.3% of RuTube. Local reports have valued the transaction at around Rbs4bn (US$86m) and the whole company at Rbs5.5bn (US$118m).
RuTube was founded in 2006 and snapped up by Gazprom in 2008. Every month, the website receives 7.5 million unique visitors, 100 million page views and 75 million video views, according to Gazprom.
Rostelecom started life as a fixed-line operator specialising in long-distance telephony, but has subsequently branched out into mobile and providing internet services.
