Direct Trade (Shopping Live)

History

2024: Shopping Live founder buys it from German holding

Ilya Kirik, the founder of the Russian Shopping Live television store, bought 100% of the company from the German holding HSE (Home Shopping Europe). The transaction was completed on June 25, 2024, as evidenced by the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (Unified State Register of Legal Entities).

According to Kommersant, Direct Trade LLC, which manages the Shopping Live business, now belongs to K2 Invest, where Ilya Kirik owns 99.9% of the shares and Dmitry Kuznetsov owns 0.1%.

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freepik.com

The parties do not disclose the terms of the transaction. However, according to the analytical agency Infoline, the cost of the Shopping Live business is at least 6 billion rubles. At the same time, experts do not exclude that the company could be sold at a 50 percent discount due to the requirements of the government commission for control over foreign investment.

According to the publication, Shopping Live was founded by Ilya Kirik in 2011. Initially, the project was invested by the venture capital company Fastlane Ventures, and in 2012 the business was sold to the German holding HSE. Kirik continued to lead the company through 2020.

According to Kirill Frolov, Deputy General Director of Home Shopping Russia, the Russian tele-shop market in 2023 reached a volume of about 75 billion rubles. and continues to grow by 15-20% annually. The expert predicts that by the end of 2024 the volume of this segment may approach 100 billion rubles.

Kommersant quotes Ilya Kirik as saying that the company will continue to offer its usual brands to the audience. According to experts, the change of ownership should not affect the positioning of Shopping Live and its range, since the service has long established cooperation with its suppliers.^[1]

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