Gref explains all the acquisitions made by Sberbank in recent years exclusively by the needs of the business and the course to create a customer -oriented ecosystem. However, there is nothing from business here. Everything that happens is dictated exclusively by political tasks – the main bank of all Rus’ is transformed under them. And the Rambler Group holding will play a special role in performing the task.
The introduction of Sberbank in Rambler became known a little over a year ago. By this moment, the holder of the holding, billionaire Alexander Mamut, mired in large debts, was forced to sell 46.5 percent of the holding shares to Sber. And on October 29 this year, it became known that Sber is buying from Alexander Mamut the remaining 45% of Rumbler and is becoming the only and full owner of the holding.
In addition to the same portal, the holding includes online publications Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru, as well as the Rambler News Service news agency. In fact, this is the largest Internet audience in the country (the number of users reaches 120 million people a month). Such coverage was not dreamed of a single federal television company. Add the OKKO online cinema here.
This is the shortest way to that part of the audience that does not watch TV at all and is not interested in official news – first of all, to young people.
And all this wealth belonged to Mamut – a native of the “family”, from the encirclement of Boris Yeltsin. Mamut was close to Boris Berezovsky, Roman Abramovich, Vladimir Potanin and other entrepreneurs of the Semibankershchina of the then. He never became Putin’s man.
And in conditions when trust in the official federal media fell daily, leaving such a resource as Rambler in the hands of an unreliable billionaire was too risky.
It is also unprofitable to transfer the holding to other hands, even if repeatedly verified. Of course, now, under direct or indirect control of the Kremlin, are most significant etheric and print media. He controls three large media groups: the State Media itself (VGTRK, RIA Novosti, Rossiyskaya Gazeta and TASS), Gazprom-Media group with a good dozen television channel, radio stations and film companies, and the national media group with dozens of etheric and paid television studios.
Despite the fact that all these resources officially own loyal and controlled structures, each of the owners, nevertheless, has both their own interests and their own views. Seducing any of them, strengthening the largest Internet resources, is dangerous. Folding all eggs in one basket is not in Putin’s habit. Therefore, a new media holding began to form in the country- this time under the roof of a reliable and reliable score.
Today, Rambler and the media included in it is a strategic reserve, or, if you want, the Kremlin’s ambush regiment, which is ready at the decisive moment to provide Putin with information superiority. Presumably, it will not be necessary to wait a long time for evidence-the next year the elections are scheduled in Russia, and pretty soon we have to see the usual Internet media in an unusual role.
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