'Russian Facebook' Founder Quits, Sells Stake

Pavel Durov, the founder of VKontakte, said on Friday he had sold his stake in the immensely popular social-networking website that has often been dubbed “Russia’s Facebook.” Durov wrote on his VKontakte page that he had sold 12 percent of the company to Ivan Tavrin, a member of the Mail.Ru Group Board of Directors and general director of Russian telecoms giant Megafon. He said that the deal would not affect VKontakte management and he, as a founder, would continue to oversee its functioning. Russian business daily Vedomosti said earlier in the day, citing sources close to VKontakte partners and shareholders, that the deal was signed in December 2013. The contract value is unknown, but one of Vedomosti’s sources said it was probably based on the company’s value of $3-4 billion.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140124/186894645/Russian-Facebook-Founder-Quits-Sells-Stake.html