Yandex and 4 other Russian tech companies are removed from Nasdaq and NYSE

Five Russian-affiliated internet companies have been officially delisted from US stock exchanges a year after trading halted following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The most prominent of the quintet is Yandex, a 25-year-old technology company often referred to as the “Google of Russia” for its products in search, e-commerce, advertising, maps, transportation, and more.

Yandex first went public on Nasdaq in May 2011 through its parent company Yandex NV, registered in the Netherlands. A secondary listing on the Moscow Stock Exchange followed. Three years later. Yandex performed well as a public company, hitting an all-time high in November 2021 with a market cap of $31 billion. In the months that followed, Yandex’s stock plummeted as Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine, prompting Nasdaq to halt trading in February 2022.

divestment

Many Western companies suspended operations in Russia in early 2022 due to sanctions, while Yandex CEO and founder Arkady Volozh left the company last June after being placed on a European Union sanctions list.

To protect its remaining interests, Yandex sold part of its interests, including transferring its intelligence service to a close competitor. to the Russian state. And in November, Yandex announced plans for a reorganization of the company, which will see it abandon its Russian roots through further divestments while leveraging its existing international presence in areas such as self-driving cars and cloud computing.

Yandex also noted that it would likely change the name of its Dutch holding company, although it has not yet done so.

However, Yandex was not the only Russian company affected by the geopolitical turmoil. Nasdaq withdrew online recruiting platform HeadHunter last year; e-commerce player Ozone, nicknamed Amazon of Russia; and Russian fintech Qiwi, which claims to have official headquarters in Cyprus. Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stopped negotiations with Russian real estate database company Cian, which also has its official headquarters in Cyprus.

Yesterday, Nasdaq reported all four of its companies that they are in the process of going public, with Yandex, Headhunter, Ozone and Qiwiel going public on March 24. The NYSE also notified Cyan, although no date was provided.

Nasdaq’s rules on delisting procedures state that it may do so “…based on any event, condition or circumstance existing or arising which, in its opinion, constitutes an unwise or improper initial or continued listing of the securities, even if the Securities meet all the conditions. the criteria for first listing”. or continue trading on Nasdaq.”

However, there is also an official appeal procedure. Companies facing a delisting process may request a hearing from an advisory committee appointed by the Nasdaq Board of Directors, and companies that wish to do so have seven days from the date they receive their delisting notice.

At the time of writing, Yandex has said it will appeal the decision, while Ozon has confirmed it is considering an appeal. TechCrunch has reached out to the other three companies to see if they plan to appeal, and will update here if we hear back.