Beeline Know-How

2013

VimpelCom agreed to purchase an Ion chain of stores, Vedomosti reported in September 2013, citing an employee of one of the competing chains and a source close to the operator. Upon completion of the transaction, the operator intends to transfer all salons under the Know-How brand.

Know-how is a project for the development of electronic retail, which VimpelCom launched in 2012 together with Ion. Partners intended to open stores in large cities with an area of ​ ​ more than 100 square meters. m, in which digital equipment would be sold and at the same time the Bilain service office would work.

Wu Iona has 90 own stores, they operate mainly in the shopping centers of Moscow and the Moscow region. According to data provided to Yandex Market, the brand belonged to Mobiland LLC, which according to the SPARK network belongs to a private person - Alexei Bachurin, who is listed as the general director of the company. From the statements provided by the company, it follows that its revenue in 2011 under RAS amounted to 746.869 million rubles, and net profit - 1.126 million rubles.

In December 2013, VimpelCom (Beeline trademark) and the ION network of communication salons announced joint cooperation. As part of the agreement concluded by the parties, all ION salons will be transferred to the Know-How from Beeline co-brand. And after a certain period, VimpelCom will receive the right to exercise the option to buy a controlling stake in this network, added Alexander Bolotov, commercial director of ION. The financial terms of the cooperation were not disclosed^[1]

As a result of the transaction, the ION brand will cease to exist. The services of any mobile operators other than Bilain will not be offered in these salons, although the ION previously actively collaborated with Megafon.

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