Microsoft Rus Microsoft Rus

Representative Office of the Corporation Microsoft in. Russia Since July 2004 - Microsoft Rus LLC. He is engaged in the promotion, software development of the partner network, implementation of products, localization of solutions.

First persons

• Until 2004 - President of Microsoft Rus Dergunova Olga
• From 2004 to December 31, 2008 - General director Birger Steen.
• From January 1, 2009 to July 2014 - President Nikolai Pryanishnikov.
• From July 2014 to June 2017 - President Pavel Betsis.
• From July 2017 to March 2019 - President Tomasz Bochenek.
• Since March 15, 2019 - President Kristina Tikhonova.
• From September 2022 - Benjamin Owen Orndorff.

Performance indicators

2024: Public procurement of Microsoft software in Russia remained isolated

By mid-May 2024, public procurement of Microsoft software in Russia remained isolated: since the beginning of the year, only two tenders in the amount of 30.4 thousand have taken place. rubles This is evidenced by the data of the search and analytical system for tender management. "Tenderplan

As Izvestia writes with reference to the materials of this service, in January-May 2023, 11 state purchases of Microsoft software were carried out in the Russian Federation for a total of 721.5 thousand rubles, and for the same period in 2022 - 149 guest buyers for 615.8 million rubles, actual state purchases during this period exceeded 100 million rubles.

Microsoft Laptop

We have long seen a rapid decline in the share of Microsoft public procurement in favor of Russian software, - comments the general director of Tenderplan Maxim Kuznetsov in mid-May 2024. - In the middle of last year, the Russian president announced an order that by the beginning of 2025, Russian state-owned companies should switch to domestic operating systems and office packages. This could probably be an important signal for Microsoft about the possibility of a complete loss of the Russian market, which in the future will no longer be able to be restored. Despite Microsoft's actions, in the long term, it is important for Russia to focus on creating and supporting its own software products.

According to CNews, by mid-May 2024, Microsoft is still operating in Russia, despite all the threats, and even makes a profit. At the same time, Russian government agencies are actively leaving Microsoft products. In 2023, 50 transactions for the purchase of Astra Linux for 57 million rubles were carried out, and for Red OS - 3 transactions for 11.9 million rubles Astra Linux and Red OS, like most domestic OS, were built on the basis of the Linux kernel, as well as other open source system and application software.^[1]

2023

Revenue decrease by 31 times, to 217 million rubles

The total revenue of all four legal entities Microsoft Russia in 2023 amounted to 217 million, rubles which is 31 times less than a year earlier (6.87 billion rubles). The total profit of these companies also decreased, but not so much - from 178.3 million to 141 million rubles. This became known on April 10, 2024.

According to TASS, citing documents from Microsoft legal entities in Russia, by the end of 2023, only two people worked in these companies, one of whom was the head Benjamin Owen Orndorff. At the same time, by the end of 2021, the number of employees of Russian subsidiaries of the IT corporation exceeded 370 employees.

Microsoft revenue in Russia for the year decreased by 31 times

The revenue of Microsoft Rus, one of the Russian legal entities of Microsoft, in 2023 amounted to 211.6 million rubles against 6.4 billion rubles in 2022. The company's net loss reached 125.3 million rubles. Microsoft Development Center Rus LLC in 2023 raised 2 million rubles, which is 99% less than a year earlier. The company's net profit amounted to 7.3 million rubles.

It is also reported about the performance of Microsoft Pages Rus LLC: in 2023, the revenue of this company rose by more than 100% and reached 3.4 million rubles, and net profit amounted to 6.8 million rubles. Finally, Microsoft Mobile Rus, which is also among the Russian subsidiaries of Microsoft, in 2023 showed a net profit of 1.5 million rubles. The revenue of this LLC was not disclosed.

According to CNews, Microsoft Mobile Rus is the only Microsoft company in Russia whose continued existence is in question. Its reporting by April 2024 does not contain information about its future fate, while the documents of other Microsoft legal entities in the Russian Federation state that the liquidation of companies is not planned. So, according to TASS, Microsoft is not going to suspend the work of products for individuals in Russia.

Microsoft in Russia "hung" dividends for 1.2 billion rubles

As TAdviser discovered, Microsoft Rus has a dividend debt of 1.2 billion rubles to the parent American corporation Microsoft. This follows from the explanations for the financial accounting of Microsoft Rus, published in early April 2024 in the database of the Federal Tax Service.

Back in 2022, Microsoft decided to pay dividends in the amount of 1.2 billion rubles from the retained earnings of Microsoft Rus, but did not do so either then or in 2023, as indicated in the explanations to the financial reporting.

In 2022, Microsoft, we recall, announced the suspension of new sales of its products and services and the reduction of many aspects of the business in Russia. During 2022, Microsoft Rus staff, with the exception of two employees, were dismissed, and long-term leases were terminated. In March 2024, Microsoft also blocked Russian corporate customers from accessing its cloud services.

Microsoft "wrote out" dividends for itself from the Russian "daughter," but has not yet received them

The explanations to the financial account say that in 2023 Microsoft Rus fulfilled its current obligations to creditors, provided services to the Irish legal entity Microsoft on the current activities of Microsoft in Russia, made payments for staff settlements and payments to the budget for taxes and fees.

At the same time, the decision to liquidate Microsoft Rus on the date of approval of financial accounting, i.e. on March 20, 2024, is not considered. The company's long-term plans remain uncertain. Microsoft "will continue to monitor changes in existing restrictions and make decisions on activities in the Russian Federation, based on the further development of the situation."

Unlike Microsoft, some large global IT companies by March 2024 had already initiated procedures for the liquidation of all or part of their Russian legal entities. Among them are Oracle, Dell, etc.

Microsoft Software Growth

In 2023 Russia , sales software Microsoft through online sites increased sharply. Users are actively purchasing licenses for the operating system Windows and office suite, Office 365 as stated in the study, the results of which were published on February 19, 2024.

According to the Vedomosti newspaper, in 2023, Windows accounted for more than half of software sales on the Wildberries platform. In addition, consumers have actively purchased Microsoft Office packages, Carbit (car diagnostics software that allows displaying electronic block data), Canva graphics editor and VPN tools that are used to bypass locks. In general, software sales on Wildberries increased by an order of magnitude on an annualized basis: in 2023, marketplace customers purchased approximately 170 thousand box products (on physical media, on a flash drive or disk), which is 10 times more compared to 2022. Sales of electronic keys for activating programs amounted to about 5500, which is 16 times more than a year earlier.

Sales of Microsoft software increased sharply in Russia

At Yandex Market in 2023, Microsoft products were also in the lead, with the highest demand for electronic keys for Office 365. At M.Video-Eldorado, sales of computer software in digital format rose by 25% on an annualized basis, at Avito - by 53%. It is noted that in M.Video - Eldorado, office applications and antivirus solutions were the most popular in 2023.

One of the reasons for the sharp increase in sales of Microsoft products on the Russian market is the inaccessibility of foreign sites for software updates, which have ceased to serve users in the Russian Federation due to the current geopolitical situation. In addition, as noted by M.Video-Eldorado, the increase in software sales is facilitated by the restoration of the assortment and the emergence of new players, such as Russian Uncom OS and P7-office^[2]

2022: Reduction of the combined revenue in Russia by 5.7% to RUR 6,868 million

At the end of 2022, the combined revenue of the American corporation Microsoft in Russia decreased by 5.7% - to 6,868 million rubles. The indicator includes the proceeds of Microsoft Rus LLC and Microsoft Development Center Rus LLC from the financial statements for 2021-2022. Excluding VAT. In the ranking "TAdviser100: The largest IT companies in Russia 2023," such an indicator allowed the company to take 74th place.

Partners in Russia

Main article: Microsoft Partner Network

History

2024

A fine of 3.5 million rubles due to refusal to delete information prohibited in Russia

In October 2024, the Tagansky Court of Moscow fined Microsoft 3.5 million rubles for refusing to remove information prohibited for distribution to Russia. The company was found guilty of committing an administrative offense under Part 2 of Art. 13.41 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (failure by the owner of the site to remove information if the obligation to remove such information is provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation). It is not specified what kind of information served as the reason for the fine.

Microsoft notified Russian companies about blocking cloud subscriptions from September 2

Microsoft notified Russian companies about the upcoming restriction of access to a number of cloud subscriptions from September 2, 2024. These measures, which became known on August 21, 2024, will affect all legal entities registered in Russia, with the exception of multinational companies (MNC), which are under the control of legal entities outside Russia.

The restrictions will affect all licensing channels, including Enterprise and CSP corporate subscriptions. In a letter sent to IT company Softline, Microsoft indicated that the new rules apply to cloud products used by Russian companies and recommended that users save their data in advance to avoid losing them after the restrictions take effect.

Microsoft notified Russian companies about the upcoming restriction of access to a number of cloud subscriptions

Previously, Microsoft has already warned its Russian customers to close access to a number of cloud services, including management and design programs. The measure was part of broader sanctions imposed by the European Union as part of the 12th sanctions package, which bans shipments of business intelligence software and other IT products to Russia. Amazon also imposed similar restrictions during the same period.

Mikhail Barablin, partner of the Digital Economy League and director of cloud solutions, noted that Russian companies have already begun to actively switch to domestic cloud services, and that Microsoft products have not occupied key positions in the Russian market for a long time, especially among large customers.^[3]

In our experience, over the past five to ten years, there have been no significant implementations of Microsoft cloud services for large customers, especially for government organizations. In our opinion, such products are not significant for industries... All tasks that were carried out using Microsoft services can be solved by Microsoft analogues. There are fewer advanced functions in domestic developments, but there are already a lot of Russian "clouds," Barablin said in a conversation with RIA Novosti.

Microsoft has disconnected more than 50% of Russian organizations from its cloud products

In early June 2024, it became known that Microsoft had disconnected more than half of Russian organizations from its cloud services. This took the Redmond corporation approximately two weeks.

About the situation with cloud products Microsoft told a group of companies Softline in the Telegram channel to support customers. Due to the current geopolitical situation, Microsoft is transferring the status of subscriptions of Russian customers to Suspended mode. After that, the services become unavailable for use.

Microsoft has disconnected more than half of Russian organizations from its cloud services

The restriction of Microsoft's access to Visio Online, Project Online, Power BI subscriptions on the CSP channel, which began on May 15 [2024], continues. To date, [June 4, 2024] more than half of the organizations registered in the Russian Federation have encountered a restriction from the vendor, the Softline Group of Companies said in a notification.

Softline Vice President Andrei Prudozumov told RBC that, despite the disconnection of Russian clients from cloud services, all agreements remain active. Subscriptions that are not subject to restrictions, according to him, continue to be available for use by Russian customers without restricting functionality. This "gives the Russian IT market opportunities to sell domestic products."

In this difficult situation, we are in constant contact with our customers and provide technical support and assistance in choosing and switching to domestic software, adds Softline.

Microsoft itself notes that due to sanctions from the European Union, the corporation cannot supply "certain management or design software (including cloud solutions) to organizations registered in Russia."^[4]

Microsoft began to disconnect Russian companies from its cloud services

Since May 16, 2024, Microsoft began disconnecting Russian companies from its cloud services. This is reported in the Softline group.

Microsoft, apparently, approved the list of products for shutdown. Since yesterday evening [May 16, 2024 - approx. TAdviser], fan stops of subscriptions to CSP [a licensing program that allows you to purchase Microsoft subscription services] have begun, 5-10 customers are disconnected in batches. Power BI, Visio, Project subscriptions fell under the stop, - reported in the Softline chat for customers (quoted by TASS).

Microsoft began to disconnect Russian companies from its cloud services

It is noted that the Russian company Softline has maintained communication with Microsoft since the announcement of the suspension of services to corporate customers in the Russian Federation in mid-March 2024. Then it was reported that Microsoft would close Russia access to its cloud services on March 20, 2024, but nothing happened with the onset of this date. One of the TASS sources called it absolutely expected, because, according to him, Microsoft hardly wants to lose the Russian market and the local customer base.

According to the agency, the official list of Microsoft programs for blocking includes many popular business applications and software for development. The US corporation can block access to business process management, corporate accounting, automation, business analysis, project and IT management, collaboration, service monitoring, employee applications, and enterprise resource planning.

On May 17, 2024, TASS adds that Microsoft does not plan to turn off its products, which are used by individuals, since they do not fall under sanctions. Adopted in December 2023, the package of sanctions EU limited the supply Russia software of business analytics and other products.^[5]

Unlocking Windows and Office updates for Russian users

Microsoft has unlocked Windows and Office updates for Russian users. This became known on May 13, 2024

As Izvestia writes with reference to the Russoft association, the last global update of Windows 11 23H2 by May 13, 2024 is again downloaded to computers in Russia without a VPN, a similar situation with Office - you can download the product image without resorting to additional software. Previously, these updates could not be installed on computers with Russian IP addresses.

Microsoft unlocked Windows and Office updates for Russian users

According to the president of Russoft, Valentina Makarova according to official comments from the company, updates are still unavailable to Russians, but in a private conversation, Microsoft representatives guarantee full support for their software in Russia. The American company will allow the dominance of Russian solutions in the domestic market, since the company's products serve as an instrument of political dominance in the USA field of software, he said.

The newspaper says that Russian IT companies have retained access to Microsoft software, although the corporation promised to limit it after March 20, 2024, several industry sources told the newspaper. As the interlocutor explained in one of the large IT distributors, Microsoft does not interfere with the purchase and activation of new licenses purchased through parallel imports.

Microsoft is investigating the issue of suspending access to cloud products in order to minimize unnecessary outages, "said Andrey Prudozumov, vice president of Softline Group of Companies.

According to one of the sources of the publication, commercial enterprises continue to use the same Office and do not plan to switch from it until its use is officially prohibited.

Associate Professor of the Department of Strategic and Innovative Development of the Financial University Mikhail Khachaturian believes that Microsoft does not want to block products in Russia, because it fears reputational loss in the world, especially in China.^[6]

Renewal of licenses of corporate users in Russia

On April 24, 2024, it became known that Microsoft Corporation, despite statements about blocking its cloud services in the Russian Federation due to the current geopolitical situation, is renewing licenses to Russian corporate clients. Market participants believe that in the future, the Redmod company expects to return to Russia.

According to TASS, referring to information received from several knowledgeable sources, Microsoft licenses are being renewed "in separate sales channels." At the same time, the decision to block cloud products "remains in force." Industry participants believe that the renewal of licenses is associated with the corporation's unwillingness to lose the Russian market and customer base, which Microsoft has been developing for years.

Microsoft renews licenses to Russian corporate clients

It was assumed that Microsoft's cloud resources would become unavailable to Russian users from March 20, 2024. However, the Softline group of companies, which is negotiating with Microsoft over the shutdown of services, reported that as of early April 2024, the blocking was not introduced.

Earlier it was said that Microsoft intends to block access to programs in the Russian Federation for business process management, corporate accounting, automation, business analysis, project and IT management, collaboration and monitoring of services, as well as applications for employees and for enterprise resource planning. However, in practice, Microsoft is in no hurry to restrict access, since such a policy will result in significant loss of income for the corporation. Participants in the Russian market note that the volume of sales and renewal of Microsoft licenses in the current situation has decreased, but in general they remain. Moreover, according to CNews, as of April 2024, Microsoft has no plans to liquidate its legal entity in Russia.^[7]

Shutdown of cloud services in Russia

On March 15, 2024, it became known that Microsoft and Amazon were closing access to cloud services for organizations in Russia. Restrictions are introduced within the framework of the 12th package of sanctions against Russia, which prohibits the supply of software for business analytics, customer relationship management (CRM) to the Russian Federation, etc.

According to Softline Group of Companies, Microsoft and Amazon cloud services will become unavailable to Russian users from March 20, 2024. In particular, we are talking about products such as Power BI, Dynamics CRM, etc. After the specified date, you will not be able to use these systems or access the data contained in them. Moreover, the ban may affect all cloud products of Microsoft, Amazon and Google, which copyright holders will define as prohibited for delivery to the Russian Federation in accordance with the requirements of EU Regulation 833/2014.

Microsoft and Amazon close access to cloud services for organizations in Russia

According to letters from copyright holders, from the specified date, access to cloud products such as (including, but not limited to): Power BI, Dynamics CRM and others will be discontinued. We expect that the suspension will also affect cloud solutions containing these products, Softline Group of Companies said in a statement.

To avoid full or partial loss of information, all companies that use cloud services from Microsoft, Amazon and Google are advised to back up data as soon as possible. Otherwise, Russian users risk facing a violation of business processes, which can result in serious financial losses. In addition, Russian corporate customers are advised to transfer their services to alternative domestic cloud platforms. This will eliminate the negative impact of sanctions in the future.^[8]

Microsoft has thought about shifting the deadline for disconnecting Russian customers from cloud services. Which software will be blocked access to

Through its own channels, Softline received information from Microsoft representatives that thanks to the proactive position of Softline customers, the vendor began discussing the issue of postponing the suspension of services and access to data from March 20 to the end of the month. TAdviser was informed about this by Softline on March 18.

This does not abolish the restrictions imposed, but gives the necessary time to make backups and configure the operation of an alternative infrastructure. This is especially important for socially significant objects, - says Andrey Prudozumov, vice president of Softline Group of Companies.

Disconnecting from Microsoft cloud services will affect only corporate customers

Also earlier Softline became known that subscriptions, Teams,, One drive, Azure Office 365 all web services (including free ones),, SQL On-prem Server System center server (security updates will stop being delivered), all versions will definitely fall under the lock. Keys on and will excel also be blocked MS Visio , Office Security updates (WSUS) will not be delivered.

Another important point for many: the planned shutdown will also affect free versions of Power BI Pro and Azure Devops and Microsoft online protection. The shutdown will affect only companies registered in the Russian Federation. MNCs of the company (multinational corporation, multinational companies) should not be blocked, according to Softline. This will also apply to educational products.

As for the products of individuals, they are not planning to turn them off.

Earlier, Microsoft in its newsletter warned Russian companies that cloud services for them will be closed from March 20. The American corporation explained that due to sanctions, the EU will not be able to supply "certain management or design software (including cloud solutions) to organizations registered in Russia." The decision is related to the 12th package of EU sanctions against Russia: it contains restrictions on the supply of software for business analytics.

2023

VTB sued 68 million rubles from Microsoft due to "unjust enrichment"

On September 6, 2023, the Moscow Arbitration Court fully satisfied VTB's claim against Microsoft's Russian subsidiary about the "unjust enrichment" of the IT company. As a result, the latter will have to pay 68.6 million rubles.

According to the file cabinet of the Moscow Arbitration Court, VTB filed a lawsuit against Microsoft Rus LLC on July 24, 2023. This complaint referred to the "recovery from Microsoft Rus LLC of unjust enrichment in connection with the early termination of the provision of services under the support agreement."

In April 2023, Microsoft proposed extending software licenses to some Russian offices of international companies, but in August of the same year, the company warned business customers that it would stop updating agreements after September 30, 2023.

At the same time, back in March 2023, Microsoft suspended sales of products and services in Russia due to sanctions from the United States, the EU and the United Kingdom. But distributors renewed licenses for already sold programs, as a result of which more and more claims began to arise around the supply of software. This also affected VT.

In June 2023, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal of Moscow decided to recover from VTB Bank more than 148 million rubles at the suit of Envision Group JSC (part of Sitronics Group, is in the process of reorganization), including more than 141 million rubles of debt for the right to use software from Microsoft.

At the end of February 2023, the Moscow Arbitration Court denied the claim of Envizhn Group JSC. It follows from the materials of the case that NVision Group, under an agreement with VTB from 2020 to 2022, provided under a sublicense agreement the right to use software from Microsoft. The remuneration for the use of software for each licensed year amounted to 706.8 million rubles.^[9]

Microsoft stops renewing software licenses to Russian companies

Microsoft has notified Russian customers that the corporation will no longer renew its software licenses from September 30, 2023. This became known on August 10, 2023 from a letter sent by Microsoft.

Microsoft can no longer accept payments by bank transfer to a local bank account as a payment method for Microsoft services in Russia. In this regard, by sending you a 60-day notice, Microsoft hereby notifies you that after September 30, 2023 (effective date) you will no longer be able to renew your existing subscriptions, the document says.

It also says that all subscriptions active on the specified date will be valid for their remaining period, but they cannot be extended.

It is noteworthy that at the end of April 2023, Microsoft sent out proposals to extend software licenses to Russian structures of international companies and private companies that did not fall under sanctions. Then more than 1,000 Russian clients received letters from the corporation. According to experts, this is how the company tried to maintain its presence in the market and reduce the level of piracy.

Earlier in August 2023, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said that Microsoft had tarnished itself with concrete steps to the detriment of Russia, as well as providing support to Ukraine. According to him, the corporation regularly accuses Russia of organizing cyberattacks on Ukrainian resources, without citing any evidence, while the corporation silences the "facts of systemic cyberdiversions" against Russia's critical infrastructure.

All this once again testifies to the fact that Gates' brainchild obediently builds its activities in line with the political attitudes of the United States, the diplomat said.[10]

Russian companies filed lawsuits against Microsoft for 55 million rubles

At the end of July 2023, it became known that a number of Russian companies filed lawsuits against Microsoft in connection with the refusal of the Redmond corporation to fulfill obligations under already paid contracts for technical support of products. The total amount of claims is approximately 55 million rubles.

In particular, PJSC Bank Financial Corporation Opening"" requires from Microsoft 17 545 755.07, and ruble the operator "" MegaFon- 17 484 650.84 rubles. The claims against the American corporation, which stopped serving Russian customers in connection with the current geopolitical situation, also presented "" Surgutneftegas- for 13,495,433,24 rubles. JSC "Center for Interaction of Computer Networks" MSK-IX "" demands compensation for 6,348,563,52 rubles.

The claim of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in the amount of 1,658,766,93 rubles, filed on July 13, 2023, is pending in the arbitration court. In addition, no decision was made on the claim of BM-Bank JSC dated April 10, 2023 in the amount of 4,302,398,14 rubles. At the same time, at the suit of Alfastrakhovanie JSC, the arbitration court sided with the plaintiff and ruled on full satisfaction of his claims: 1,271,299,92 rubles will be collected from Microsoft plus the cost of paying the state duty.

Earlier, several other Russian organizations filed lawsuits against Microsoft for refusing to fulfill contractual obligations. These include BM-Bank JSC, which estimated cash losses at 4,302,398,14 rubles. JSC Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment Insurance demanded 5,793,376,05 rubles from Microsoft: on June 16, 2023, the court decided to fully satisfy this claim. In addition, the Informzaschita Scientific and Engineering Enterprise filed a lawsuit demanding payment of 1,501,920 rubles from Microsoft, but on May 10, 2023, the proceedings were terminated due to the plaintiff's refusal of the stated claims.^[11]

Microsoft will pay Aeroflot over 20 million rubles for refusing technical support for software

Aeroflot sued the Russian legal entity Microsoft (Microsoft Rus LLC) 21.8 million rubles. as compensation for a prematurely terminated service contract. Information about this can be found in the file cabinet of arbitration courts. In full, the decision of the servants of Themis was made on May 11, 2023. More details here.

Microsoft invites Russian companies to continue cooperation

At the end of April 2023, it became known that Microsoft Corporation offers Russian representative offices of international companies and legal entities that have not been sanctioned to renew licenses for its software.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, about 1,000 organizations received letters with relevant requests or oral proposals from Microsoft. According to market participants, despite the current geopolitical situation, the Redmond corporation does not want to lose Russian customers. Therefore, the Microsoft does not close the legal entity in the Russian Federation and is trying to find opportunities to continue supporting the software and updating it. The demand for Microsoft products among the Russian business still remains, and the software itself is supplied in boxed versions through parallel imports.

Vitaly Mankevich, chairman of the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RASPP), believes that the corporation is trying to establish a direct dialogue with Russian business. Leaving Russia, according to his estimates, cost Microsoft approximately $125 million.

"As we can see, the Western authorities have not yet put pressure on Microsoft to work in Russia. Microsoft assesses the possibilities for returning to the country, "Kommersant quoted Mankevich as saying.

Microsoft's desire to maintain a presence in Russia may be explained by other reasons. In particular, in this way, the corporation may try to resist piracy. The letters sent out are in a sense "the guarantor that access to legal products remains open." In addition, there are reputational risks in the markets of other countries.

"Seeing the sharp refusal of the company to work with local Russian business for political reasons, companies in other countries will be more wary of Microsoft," Kommersant quotes Lyudmila Bogatyreva, head of the digital solutions department at Polilog agency[12]

Microsoft decided not to close the office in Russia and observe what will happen next

As TAdviser found out, as of March 2023, the decision to liquidate Microsoft's Russian office - Microsoft Rus - is not being considered. This follows from the explanations to the balance sheet and financial accounting of the company, published in April in the database of the Federal Tax Service. Microsoft Corporation "will continue to monitor changes in existing restrictions and make decisions on activities in the Russian Federation, based on the further development of the situation," the document says.

In 2022, we recall that Microsoft Corporation, which is the only member of Microsoft Rus, against the background of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, announced the suspension of new sales of products and services, as well as the reduction of many aspects of business in Russia "in accordance with legislative restrictions."

During 2022, the staff of the Russian office, with the exception of two people, were fired. As of the end of December 2021, the company employed 376 people, as indicated in the explanations to the financial reporting.

I must say that the annual average number of Microsoft Rus employees has been steadily declining over the past few years. So, according to the Federal Tax Service, in 2018 this figure was about 500 people, in 2019 - 438 people, in 2020 - 392 people, in 2021 - 382 people. This was also typical for the offices of some other large foreign IT companies. For example, IBM.

The revenue of the Russian office of Microsoft in 2022 decreased by 6.6%, to 6.4 billion rubles. At the same time, unlike many offices of foreign companies that curtailed their activities in Russia, Microsoft Rus ended the year with a net profit of about 159.8 million rubles.

Microsoft Rus did not directly sell Microsoft products in Russia. One of its activities was the provision of "marketing services" for Microsoft, which include advertising, exploring the markets for computer equipment and software, organizing events, consulting activities, distributing samples of new Microsoft software products, testing new versions of software and localizing them by order of the corporation.

These works were mainly carried out under contracts with one of Microsoft's legal entities based in Ireland, Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited. Services for it brought 93% of the turnover of the Russian office in 2022.

Microsoft Rus also provided Premier Support Services for enterprises using Microsoft software. This type of service accounted for 7% of its revenue in 2022.

Among its largest Russian buyers of prime support in explanations to financial reporting, the company names IK Sibintek, Rostelecom, Softline Trade, VimpelCom (Beeline brand), Thunder (Magnit brand), Kaspersky Lab.

Until 2019, inclusive, Microsoft Rus also provided consulting services (Microsoft Consulting Services), including the services of the company's consultants for analyzing and examining software and developing recommendations for optimizing its use, follows from the explanations for its financial reporting for that year. In similar published documents for subsequent years, this type of service is no longer available.

It is noteworthy that in 2022, the Russian development center Microsoft - Microsoft Development Center Rus increased its revenue by 9 %. It amounted to 424.8 million rubles, net profit - 20.8 million rubles.

In the explanations to the Microsoft Development Center Rus financial accounting, it says that it provides software development services for ERP systems (Microsoft Dynamics ERP: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central), as well as services for their adaptation and modification.

During 2022, 100% of Microsoft Development Center Rus's revenue was received from the sole buyer, Irish-based Microsoft Ireland Research.

At the end of 2021, 72 people worked in the center. Within a year, as in Microsoft Rus, they were all fired, with the exception of one person. At the same time, the decision to liquidate Microsoft Development Center Rus as of March 2022 was also not considered.

2022

Bashkir power engineers sued the Russian office of Microsoft, which left them without technical support

At the end of November, Bashkir Distribution Electric Networks (Bashkirenergo) won a lawsuit against Microsoft Rus on paid but not provided technical support. Read more here.

The president changed in the Russian office of Microsoft, but Kristina Tikhonova was not fired

As TAdviser found out, the president changed in the Russian office of Microsoft in September 2022. Instead of Christina Tikhonova, who headed the company since 2019 , Benjamin Owen Orndorff was appointed president. He headed all four operating Russian legal entities of the American corporation in Russia: Microsoft Rus, Microsoft Mobile Rus, Microsoft Development Center Rus and Microsoft Pages Rus.

According to the British Unified State Register of Legal Entities (Companies House), Benjamin Owen Orndorff is an American lawyer who serves as a director in many Microsoft legal entities. In Britain alone, as of September, he is registered in such a role in 17^[13] legal entities^[14].

The Russian office of Microsoft confirmed to TAdviser the change of chapter.

Kristina Tikhonova is moving to a new leadership position at Microsoft, and we have appointed a new head of our Microsoft division in Russia, the company said.

A source from Microsoft, who worked there until the end of July, told TAdviser that for the new manager there are remaining questions with customers, partners, etc., which he has to solve.

Microsoft, we recall, against the background of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in March announced the termination of the sale of its products in Russia, and in June announced that it intends to continue to reduce business in the country "until nothing remains." Sources told TAdviser that the company expects to maintain support under existing contracts.

Microsoft did not renew the contract with Yandex.Cloud, clients of the Russian provider will lose access to SQL Server and Windows Server

Yandex.Cloud warned customers that Microsoft did not renew its SPLA contract (Services Provider License Agreement), which gives the right to offer end users access to the corporation's software by subscription. And therefore, the Russian cloud provider will suspend the provision of services based on Microsoft products from August 31, 2022. A message about this was posted on July 29 on the Yandex.Cloud blog^[15].

At the same time, Yandex.Cloud reports that it continues to look for options to extend the SPLA contract with Microsoft. Read more here

Ministry of Industry and Trade: Microsoft's departure from Russia is "an absolutely positive step" for domestic developers

On July 4, 2022, the deputy head Ministry of Industry and Trade Vasily Shpak announced the positive impact of the care Microsoft on Russian manufacturers. software

From the point of view of developers and manufacturers of domestic software, this step [Microsoft withdrawal from the Russian market] is certainly positive. In the medium and long term, it will have a very positive effect on their capabilities and on the market niches that they can occupy. I am sure that the issue of a significant increase in the competitiveness of solutions is only a matter of time. With increased demand and access to the consumer, with their feedback, our developers will be able to make a breakthrough to improve the quality of their products, "he told reporters (quoted by TASS).

Vasily Shpak noted that by July 2022, a number of domestic operating systems already exist in Russia, for example, Astra Linux, Alt, Red OS.

The deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade also commented on the growth of requests from Russians to activate "pirated" copies of Windows. It occurred almost immediately after Microsoft announced the suspension of its activities in the Russian Federation. According to him, the departure of the company will practically not affect ordinary Russians.

Those who are used to using "pirated" versions, they will probably continue to use them. In this sense, whether Microsoft is on the market or not Microsoft is on the market will not have much impact, "said the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia.

In June 2022, Microsoft announced that it would continue to curtail its work in Russia until it reduces its presence to a minimum or eliminates it completely. At the same time, the company announced the need to help Microsoft employees in Russia and provide them with the support "they need and deserve." [Ministry of Industry ^[16]

Microsoft may transfer technical support of Russian customers to Poland

The Russian office of Microsoft held a big meeting about the upcoming cuts, a source in one of the client companies of the American developer told TAdviser. According to him, about 20 people will remain in the Russian office of the American vendor out of 417 employees.

He also told TAdviser that Microsoft was moving support for Russian customers to Poland. Regarding technical support, the source knows the following: for the company in which he works, it will remain under the current contracts and will continue to be provided from Poland in Russian. At the same time, there is still an opportunity to extend the current contract.

And the new technical support contracts are on pause until special orders from Microsoft headquarters. And new software licenses cannot be purchased on the territory of the Russian Federation until at least 31.12.2022. The company announced the suspension of their sales in early March.

A second source close to Microsoft confirmed that the company had a large meeting for full-time employees, held by managers of the Microsoft division of Central and Eastern Europe. At the same time, according to the interlocutor of TAdviser, from 15 to 30 people may remain in the Russian office of Microsoft.

The second source says that the date of parting with those who will have to quit is June 30. At the same time, the company did not make announcements about how much salaries people will receive when leaving. There are rumors, including about 6-10 salaries.

This interlocutor of TAdviser, unlike the first source, did not hear that Microsoft is transferring support for Russian customers to Poland, but says that in Poland the company has Russian-speaking employees and experience in transferring some processes there: for example, a couple of years ago, for example, sales were transferred there by phone.

I must say that in recent years Microsoft Rus has annually reduced the number of personnel in the company: in 2017, the average headcount was 588 employees, and in 2021 - 382, according to the database of legal entities Kontur. Focus. "

Microsoft began to significantly reduce business in Russia

On June 8, 2022, Microsoft announced a significant business reduction in Russia. The company noted that the steps taken will affect 400 employees, but they will be supported "at such a difficult time." At the same time, what this help lies in is not specified. It's also unclear whether the layoffs are at issue.

As a result of changes in economic prospects and their impact on our business in Russia, we decided to significantly reduce our activities in the Russian Federation. We will continue to fulfill our existing contractual obligations with Russian customers while the suspension of new sales remains in force, Microsoft said in a statement quoted by Bloomberg.

The message does not specify which areas the reduction in activities will affect, and what exactly it will be.

Earlier in June 2022, Business Insider, citing Microsoft's internal newsletter and a source familiar with the situation, reported that the company had slowed the pace of hiring new employees, which, in particular, affected the new cybersecurity division, which is headed by former Amazon CEO Charlie Bell.

The division, run by Charlie Bell, will have an open headcount of 200 in the coming fiscal year (starting in July), according to the email. At the same time, a Business Insider source pointed out, Bell planned that 4 thousand people would work in his division in fiscal year 2023. Nevertheless, according to the interlocutor, it is planned to recruit more than 1 thousand new employees.

Business Insider notes that information about the reduction in hiring appeared against the background of the fact that Microsoft plans to increase the salary of employees, increasing their annual remuneration based on the results of work by at least 20-25%. The company decided to take such a step in order to reduce the level of dissatisfaction of workers and prevent their outflow to competitors, such as Amazon.^[17]

Microsoft clarified what business it curtailed in Russia

At the end of March 2022, Microsoft clarified which business it had curtailed in Russia. According to company president Brad Smith, Microsoft will continue to work on the Russian market with clients who have not been affected by Western sanctions, including schools and hospitals.

Depriving these institutions of software updates and services means a possible threat to the health and safety of innocent civilians, including children and the elderly, says a letter that Smith sent to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (an excerpt from this message is quoted by Reuters).

According to Brad Smith, Microsoft has a "moral responsibility" to protect people, but at the same time discusses with Britain, the United States and the EU the possible termination of any services and support in Russia, as well as the company's work "in accordance with sanctions and other economic goals."

According to Reuters, the reluctance of Microsoft and a number of other large Western IT companies to completely curtail operations in Russia angered their employees in some countries. Workers began to express this dissatisfaction on internal forums - they ask the leadership to break any transactions in the Russian Federation.

The publication says that Microsoft, IBM and SAP do not exclude the introduction of new measures to reduce activities in the Russian Federation, but by the end of March 2022, Russian employees of these companies receive salaries and retain access to working tools. In addition, the telephone numbers of Russian offices of companies remain active.

By the end of March 2022, Microsoft does not make statements regarding what will happen to licensed versions of Windows, purchased games and other products of the company, which are already used in the Russian Federation. R-Style SoftlabLev Frenkel, CEO, believes that the likelihood of disconnecting these products is small.^[18]

Stopping software certificates in Russia

As it became known at the end of March 2022, the Federal Service for Technical and Export Control (FSTEC) suspended certificates for, software IBM,, and Microsoft Oracle SAP VMware a number of other foreign manufacturers. In total, 56 certificates were frozen by March 25. More. here

Suspension of sales of products in Russia

On March 4, 2022, Microsoft announced the suspension of sales of its software in the Russian Federation amid a Russian special operation in Ukraine.

Today we announce that we are suspending all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia, the company said in a statement quoted by TASS.[19]

Microsoft did not provide additional information. At the end of February 2022, Microsoft announced its humanitarian support for Ukraine. To do this, the company's specialized teams work with the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN agencies.

The company talked about supporting employees and their families in Ukraine, including those who had to flee the country for safety, as well as supporting employees in Russia because they, Microsoft said, should not be discriminated against inside or outside their country because of government decisions.

We always strive to protect employees in every country, even if they live on different sides of the conflict-marked border, Microsoft added.

According to Bloomberg, citing a statement by Microsoft, the American corporation works closely with the governments of the United States, the European Union and Britain and stops many parts of its business in the Russian Federation in accordance with the requirements of sanctions.

We will take additional steps as this situation continues to develop, "said Microsoft President Brad Smith.

The company added that "the single most important area of ​ ​ its work is definitely ensuring the cybersecurity of Ukraine." Microsoft promises to continue to help Ukraine defend itself against hacker attacks. In its statement, the corporation mentioned a cyber attack on a major Ukrainian television company, but did not specify its name.

2021

Microsoft managed to increase the revenue of the Russian office in 2021 to 6.9 billion

According to the Kontur. Focus service, in 2021 the revenue of the main Russian legal entity Microsoft - Microsoft Rus - increased by 5.3%: from 6.55 to 6.9 billion rubles. The company's net profit for 2021 increased by almost 17.7% to 638 million rubles.

The Russian division of Skype Technologies (Microsoft Development Center Rus), a subsidiary of Microsoft, at the end of 2021 showed a decrease in revenue by 1.4% to 389.3 million rubles.

For five years, Microsoft Rus revenue decreased by 25.4%: in 2017, it was 9.25 billion rubles. And net profit for the same period decreased by 45.2%: in 2017, the company showed a profit of 1.16 billion rubles. Over the past 10 years, Microsoft Rus's revenue first began to decline in 2014, and this trend has continued for eight years.

With the deterioration of financial indicators, the company began to reduce personnel in the Russian office: if in 2017 there were 588 employees in Russia, then by the beginning of 2021 only 392 remained in the staff.

It is important to note that some large contracts are concluded not for the Russian legal entity Microsoft, but at the global level. Accordingly, such transactions are not reflected in the company's local reporting. Also, a significant part of Microsoft employees working for the corporation are legally registered in outstaffing companies.

But even taking into account the contracts concluded with foreign legal entities of Microsoft, Russia's share in the vendor's global business is small. Amy Hood, vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft, said at Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and ^[20] on March 8, 2022 that the Russian market brings in less than 1% of the corporation's revenue and has little or no impact on its financial performance.

According to the public procurement website, despite the ongoing import substitution policy in Russia, in 2021, state-owned enterprises continued to purchase Microsoft software and services, albeit in a smaller volume than before. For example, Rostelecom, through its subsidiary Data Storage Center , signed a licensing agreement (Services Provider License Agreement) with the vendor in February for more than 250 million rubles. In September, a similar contract for 170 million rubles was signed by DataLine, another subsidiary of Rostelecom. In November, Novikombank signed an agreement for the supply of a wide range of Microsoft server and office software for 201 million rubles. In the same month, Sberbank-Service announced ^[21] for the purchase of Microsoft products for a total amount of 480 million rubles. In total, according to the public procurement website, the state structures initiated several dozen tenders for the purchase of software from an American developer.

In 2021, Microsoft twice announced an increase in the price of software in Russia. In July, the company announced an average 15.2% increase in prices for its corporate solutions from October 1, 2021. In December, the company warned its partners that Office Professional Plus, Office Standard, Windows Server Standard and Datacenter, RDS SAL (Remote Desktop Service) will rise in price by 10% from January 1, 2022. As well as a 5% increase in the cost of CIS Standard license kits, and CIS Datacenter - by 7%.

Inclusion in the TAdviser rating "VKS system vendors leading in the Russian market"

Microsoft Rus is included in the rating "Vendors of VKS systems leading in the Russian market in terms of the number of projects implemented," prepared by TAdviser in November 2021. Read more here.

Price increase for Office and Windows Server in Russia

December 13, 2021 it became known about the upcoming increase in prices for software Microsoft c. From Russia January 1, 2022, a number of products will rise in price by 1%, write "" Sheets with reference to the company's partners and director of the Microsoft public relations department in Russia Anna Lobanova.

According to the latter, Office Professional Plus, Office Standard, Windows Server Standard and Datacenter, RDS SAL (Remote Desktop Service) will rise in price by 10%. In addition, the cost of CIS Standard license kits will rise by 5%, CIS Datacenter - by 7%.

The company explained that the rise in license prices is associated with the release of new products. So, in September 2021, Microsoft announced the release of Windows Server 2022.

The increase in license prices will be felt by Microsoft's Russian partners in the SPLA (Services Provider License Agreement) program. This is a separate form of licensing in which a partner of Microsoft or another company buys licenses for a product, then expands them in his data center and already offers them to his clients as a cloud service.

Microsoft sells such licenses to a reseller, who supplies them to hosters. Hoster can include licenses in its service, which provides customers - mainly small and medium-sized businesses, the representative of the corporation added.

Customers of these services are mainly small and medium-sized businesses, says Lobanova. Individuals will not be affected by this increase, she clarified. Representatives of 1C and Softline confirmed to the newspaper that they had received notifications of price increases. CEO of Inoventica Services Vitaly Slizen told Vedomosti that prices for Microsoft products will be increased by the company by 5%, half of the price increase will be compensated by profit.

Prices for commercial Microsoft products in the Russian Federation are set in rubles. Russia is one of the few countries where the company has switched to setting prices and settlements in local currency.^[22]

Microsoft opened certification centers in Russian universities

On November 29, 2021, Microsoft announced the opening of certification centers in Russian universities. Passing the certification exam in cloud technologies Microsoft (Microsoft Certified Fundamentals) is available at the Russian University of Economics named after Plekhanov, Moscow City Pedagogical University, Kazan Federal University, etc. Read more here.

Microsoft raises prices for business software in Russia by 15.2%

On July 9, 2021, Microsoft announced an increase in prices for its corporate solutions in order to equate them with European ones. From October 1, 2021, products will rise in price by an average of 15.2%.

Despite the fact that Microsoft's pricing is global and tied to US dollars, since October 2018 we have managed to maintain stable prices in Russian rubles despite changes in the economic situation in the country. After several years of stability for our partners and customers, we are adjusting the price list so that prices for software and online services for commercial customers correspond to prices operating in the Central and Eastern Europe region, where they are fixed in US dollars, the corporation said in a statement.

Prices will rise only for software and services used by companies. At the same time, within the framework of existing corporate agreements, prices will not change.

According to information from the official Microsoft website, a subscription to the Office 2019 package for business costs from 515 rubles per month per user. Microsoft 365 subscriptions start at 312 rubles per month per client. The company will publish the new price list on September 1, 2021.

Microsoft noted that the prices for the company's commercial products have been set in rubles since 2011. Microsoft calls itself the first international software manufacturer to start making settlements with Russian partners in rubles throughout the Russian Federation. Russia is one of the few countries where the company has switched to setting prices and settlements in local currency.

Licensing of Microsoft products in Russia is carried out by Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited (MIOL). The amount of price increase is specified in relation to prices set by MIOL. With an indirect sales scheme, the final price is determined by resellers, Microsoft added.^[23]

For 7 years, Microsoft's staff in Russia has tripled

On June 11, 2021, it became known about the threefold reduction in the number of Microsoft personnel in Russia in 7 years - from 1 thousand people in 2014 to 300 employees. According to RBC, citing an informed source, the company's Russian business was "seriously transformed," which was accompanied by several waves of layoffs.

According to the interlocutor of the publication, certain functions of the Russian division of Microsoft were transferred to European offices. In particular, support for products for small and medium-sized businesses is now engaged in Ireland. In addition, the IT giant began to use cloud solutions more often, which affected sales channels and service. During these years, 10-15% of employees fell under the reduction.

In addition, 15% of sales, marketing and service personnel were cut due to falling sales and import substitution policies. Several regional offices were closed. In the near future, the staff may be reduced by another 10-15%, writes RBC on June 11, 2021 with reference to its informants. Within a few years, the company closed branches in Ufa, Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo, Volgograd, Kaliningrad and Saratov regions.

One of the reasons for the reduction in staff in Russia may be the course taken by the government for import substitution in the field of information technology. Thus, government agencies must purchase programs from the register of domestic software. In addition, the procurement procedure has changed for state-owned companies - 90% of electronics and 50% of purchased computers should be of Russian origin in 2021. It is also planned to transfer critical information infrastructure systems to domestic IT solutions by 2024.

Microsoft itself claims that the company has not had large-scale cuts recently.

Microsoft and its Russian offices continue to operate in the same volume, a company representative told the publication.[24]

2020

Microsoft's share in the domestic market for business automation software - 7.4%

Revenue decreased by 5.7% to RUB 6,943 million.

At the end of 2020, Microsoft Rus's revenue amounted to 6,943 million rubles, down 5.7% compared to 2019, which allowed it to take 61st place in the ranking of TAdviser100: The largest IT companies in Russia 2021. The total revenue of Microsoft Rus LLC and Microsoft Development Center Rus LLC is taken from the accounting statements for 2019-2020 contained in the Kontur. Focus database.

Agreement with MTS and SAP CIS on the development of cloud technologies in Russia

Microsoft in Russia, the Russian company for the provision of digital, media and telecommunications services MTS and the supplier of corporate SAP applications in the CIS have agreed on tripartite cooperation on the development of the cloud market in Russia. The corresponding agreement of intent on June 3, 2021 was signed by SAP CIS CEO Andrei Filatov, Microsoft President in Russia Kristina Tikhonova and MTS President Vyacheslav Nikolaev. Read more here.

Agreement with MTS on the development of the Russian Internet of Things market

On December 17, 2020, Microsoft Corporation announced that it had signed an agreement with the Russian company MTS, a supplier of digital, media and telecommunications services, on the development of the Russian Internet of Things market. This was announced by Dmitry Khalin, Vice President for Cloud and Digital Solutions at MTS, and Kristina Tikhonova, President of Microsoft in Russia. Read more here.

Accusations of Russian interference in US elections

On September 10, 2020, Microsoft accused hackers from Russia, China and Iran of cyber attacks against employees of the campaign headquarters of incumbent President Donald Trump and his election rival Joe Biden.

According to Microsoft, cyber attacks were organized against more than 200 organizations, most of which are directly or indirectly related to the American elections, as well as European organizations related to politics. At the same time, both Democrats and Republicans became targets of hackers.

The corporation claims that a group under the conditional name Strontius operated from Russia. From the PRC, the Zirconium group allegedly operated, which attacked famous people associated with the headquarters of Mr. Biden. "Phosphorus" from Iran allegedly attacked personal accounts associated with Trump's headquarters. At the same time, Microsoft did not provide any evidence.

Press Secretary President Dmitry Peskov commented on the report of Microsoft on the interference of cybercriminals from Russia in the American elections. According to Peskov, this data is not credible until detailed evidence of the involvement of Russians is provided.

We report such crimes because we believe that the world should be aware of the threats to democracy, the Microsoft said, adding that US federal and local authorities should make more efforts to protect election campaigns from cybercriminals from other countries.

The Strontium group was mentioned in the report of special prosecutor Robert Muller, who investigated Russia's "interference" in the 2016 US presidential election. The group was called most responsible for the attacks on the Democratic campaign. Then the servers of the Democratic Party were hacked, as a result of which the correspondence of several party members was published, including Trump's rival Hillary Clinton. Strontium is also known as APT28 and Fancy Bear.^[25]

Signing a memorandum of cooperation with Waves Enterprise on the development of corporate blockchain in Russia

On July 16, 2020, it became known that Microsoft in Russia and the technology company Waves Enterprise agreed on strategic cooperation in the field of development and digital transformation in the corporate segment using blockchain solutions and cloud technologies. The corresponding agreement was signed by Kristina Tikhonova, President of Microsoft in Russia, and Alexander Ivanov, CEO of Web3 Technologies (developer of the Waves Enterprise platform). Read more here.

Microsoft selected 20 Russian startups to enter the international market

Microsoft, EY and Startupbootcamp, with the support of investment holding Altergate, have identified 20 finalists for the selection program for Russian startups abroad Global Pilots. In total, more than 200 applications were received for participation in the selection. This was announced by Microsoft on March 11, 2020.

Microsoft launched the acceptance of applications for participation in the selection on January 28, 2020. The company carried out the selection of projects according to a number of criteria. Among them, including, were the following:

• Uniqueness of the trading offer (USP);
• analysis of the competitive environment;
• current operating indicators;
• readiness to scale in the global market;
• team potential.

The finalists of the selection were the following 20 companies and projects:

• Navigine. Platform for tracking the movement of visitors, personnel and vehicles at Navigine enterprises;
• O.vision. "Smart" contactless bandwidth system with O.vision face recognition technology;
• Roistat. End-to-end analytics service for marketing - collecting data from CRM systems, corporate email, advertising platforms and creating Roistat ad performance reports;
• GetFaster. Service for ordering and delivering consumer goods from GetFaster stores;
• Transbaza. The online service for searching, renting, selling or buying commercial vehicles, Transbaza;
• GridPoint Dynamics. Geoplat software complex with a set of algorithms based on artificial intelligence for the search, exploration and development of oil and gas fields;
• Sizolution. Service for choosing clothes of the right size when ordering online Sizolution;
• Addreality. A platform for delivering personalized audio and video messages to target audiences through screens, video walls, kiosks and audio advertising using Addreality's computer vision and machine intelligence tools;
• Simformer. Platform for training using Simformer business simulations;
• CraftTalk. CraftTalk platform for automating client communications, including, in particular, chatbots, chat platform, knowledge base and analytics system;
• Verme. The Verme Workforce Time Planning Platform, which allows companies with a large number of line employees, in particular, to plan their number and automatically create work schedules;
• BrainSoft. An ecosystem of personal marketing communications in BrainSoft shopping centers using artificial intelligence and machine learning, using online and offline tracking data;
• Skyeermap. Skyeer cloud platform for monitoring and managing industrial, infrastructure, road construction and mining facilities based on geospatial and design data;
• Fabrique.ai. A system for streaming Fabrique.ai data - information in applications that require real-time decision making, such as quality control, failure prediction, anomaly detection, scoring, personalization, etc.;
• Sputnik Business. Online copyright registration service for companies and individual users IREG;
• Beorg. A platform for document recognition and image digitization using neural networks and algorithms and a crowdsourcing platform with distributed Beorg operators;
• NVI solutions LLC. The CYCLOPS software package, which analyzes the video stream on which the employee's working day is displayed, and monitors the implementation of safety rules and compliance with production technology operations;
• VCV. An artificial intelligence-based VCV HR service that allows pre-selection of resumes, making automated calls to a candidate and recording video interviews with face and voice recognition.
• Dasha.AI. Dasha.AI voice chatbot for communicating with customers;
• Odus. Odus platform for creating a chatbot for automating calls and messages in instant messengers.

Training for the finalist teams, which began on March 10, will take place over 12 weeks. As part of the training, more than 50 mentors with global market experience will hold training sessions on a variety of topics, including:

• Features of working with corporate customers
• Build a scalable cloud IT infrastructure
• formation of a partner ecosystem;
• working with investors;
• compliance with international legal standards (e.g. GDPR).

Another key element of the program will be to assist companies in organizing and implementing a pilot project with an international customer. The most promising startups will also be able to claim other types of further cooperation with the organizers and partners of the program. This is, in particular, about participating in the Microsoft for Startups program, which provides young companies with access to Microsoft Azure technologies and development tools, the Microsoft Co-Sell joint sales program, and direct investments from Altergate.

Microsoft launches program to bring Russian startups to foreign markets

Microsoft, Ernst & Young and Startupbootcamp, with the support of investment holding Altergate, launched the Global Pilots program aimed at supporting Russian startups in entering the international market. The organizing companies intend to support the initiative on a long-term basis, including financing the program and investing resources in the organization. This was reported by Microsoft on January 28, 2020.

One of the main advantages of the program, as explained in Microsoft, is assistance in organizing and implementing pilot projects with international customers. To enter the global market, the creators of the program will provide innovative Russian startups with individual support on technological, legal and business aspects - from consultations on attracting funding and narrow technological issues to assistance in solving legal problems and developing a strategy.

The organizers' goal is to comprehensively help startups overcome the main stages and solve problems when scaling the project, Microsoft noted.

For program participants, as specified in the company, individual and group training sessions will be organized. Among their topics in particular will be the following:

• features of working with corporate customers;
• Build a scalable cloud IT infrastructure
• formation of a partner ecosystem;
• marketing and PR;
• international sales;
• attracting investments and working with investors;
• compliance with international legal standards, for example - GDPR;
• registration of intellectual property rights.

The most promising startups will be able to claim access to large corporate clients in the international market with the help of the Microsoft, EY and Startupbootcamp ecosystem, potential participation in the Microsoft joint sales program, direct investment and mentoring from Altergate, as well as other types of further cooperation from the organizers and partners of the program, Microsoft said.

Mature B2B startups are invited to participate in the program, creating solutions using innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual and augmented reality, etc., which have a finished product and revenue. However, as explained by TAdviser in Microsoft, any Russian technology company that has not yet reached the world level, regardless of the time of work on the Russian market, can become a participant in the program.

Acceptance of applications for participation in the program will end on March 3, 2020. According to the results of the selection, the program will include a maximum of 15 projects. Work with the winners of the program will begin in March 2020, all events and training sessions for them will be held in Moscow. The duration of the program is 3 months, informed Microsoft.

Commenting on the launched program, the general director of Startupbootcamp in the Middle East and Russia region, Lars Buk, noted that there are a lot of teams in Russia with an international perspective. According to Microsoft President in Russia Kristina Tikhonova, helping Russian innovative startups enter the international market is one of the key priorities for the company.

We decided to launch a joint initiative with the largest international players, as we are convinced that the unification of our expertise will provide participants with the most comprehensive and effective support for scaling into new markets, "explained Kristina Tikhonova." At the same time, we are also interested in further cooperation with promising startups: In particular, through our joint sales program, we help our partners access more than 75,000 customers worldwide.

According to the managing partner of EY in the CIS countries, Alexander Ivlev, the organizers of the program, as leaders in their fields, should invest in the development of the business environment and community, and their creation of an ecosystem for startups is another significant step in this direction.

It is important that we set ourselves long-term goals and see in such entrepreneurs future partners and, possibly, participants in the EY international competition "Entrepreneur of the Year," and we expect to develop our cooperation both within the framework of the Global Pilots program and beyond, - Alexander Ivlev drew attention.

The creation of the Global Pilots program, in the opinion of the founder of the investment holding Altergate Evgeny Galiakhmetov, is an excellent opportunity, firstly, to consider a large number of projects, and secondly, to check the teams in the workflow.

In November 2019, the subordinate institution of the Ministry of Communications, the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Coordination Center of the Intergovernmental Commission for Cooperation in the Field of Computing," and SAP CIS initiated an initiative similar to the Global Pilots program - a joint accelerator aimed at the development and support of digital solutions of participants in the Russian ecosystem, technical assistance in the development of their software, certification of their products, joint promotion and positioning of their software, as well as the inclusion of jointly developed solutions in the global SAP product portfolio. Read more here.

According to Dmitry Krasyukov, Executive Director of SAP CIS, both startups and mature companies can take part in this accelerator.

In monetary terms, the costs of supporting each accelerator participant, as stated by TAdviser Dmitry Krasyukov, will range from 1.5 to 3 million rubles. However, a distinctive feature of the accelerator, in his opinion, is the presence of a specific goal - the withdrawal of companies to international markets.

Initially, its creators planned to accept applications for participation in the accelerator until January 2020 inclusive, but SAP CIS TAdviser reported that it was extended until February 5, 2020.

2019

Revenue of the Russian office of Microsoft decreased by 30% in three years

In 2019, the revenue of the Russian office of Microsoft, Microsoft Rus, decreased by 13%, from 7.97 billion rubles to 6.93 billion rubles. This follows from the financial statements of the company, published in the database of legal entities Kontur.Focus. " Of the indicated amount, 6.91 billion rubles fell on the sale of products, goods, works and services, indicated in the reports. The net profit of the legal entity increased by almost 4% over the same period, to 588 million rubles.

The Russian division of Skype Technologies, Microsoft Development Center Rus, owned by Microsoft, earned about 430 million rubles in 2019, which is about 14% more than a year earlier. Net profit of the division amounted to 39 million rubles, which is almost 110% more than in 2018.

The total revenue of legal entities Microsoft Rus LLC and Microsoft Development Center Rus LLC in 2019 (7,359,227 thousand rubles) allowed Microsoft to take the top 50 Russian representative offices of foreign IT companies with the largest turnover in the ranking "TAdviser" 27th place. In 2018, this indicator was recorded at the level of 8,347,351 thousand rubles (11.8% higher).

And the Microsoft Mobile Rus division did not bring revenue in 2019, as well as in 2018 and 2017, it follows from the Kontur.Focus database.

The turnover of Microsoft Rus has been declining for the third year in a row. Compared to 2016, it decreased by almost 30%. But it is necessary to make a reservation that the revenue of the company's Russian legal entities does not reflect the volume of Microsoft's entire business in Russia. It is carried out through a partner channel: partners, in order to offer customers products and services of the company, conclude an agreement directly with Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited (MIOL). The company traditionally does not disclose data on total turnover in Russia.

We cannot disclose figures for individual countries, but we can say that the business structure in Russia as a whole coincides with the global one, - said TAdviser in the Russian Microsoft.

The revenue of the entire corporation at the end of the 2020 fiscal year, which ended at the end of June 2020 calendar, reached $143.02 billion, which is 14% more compared to 2019. This figure was achieved largely due to the growth of the cloud business, noted in the Russian Microsoft. In fiscal 2020, Microsoft Intelligent Cloud revenue was $48.37 billion, 24% higher than in 2019.

In Russia, the development of Microsoft's business generally corresponds to the dynamics of the IT market. At the same time, some segments showed high growth rates - these are primarily solutions for business continuity and remote work, as well as the entire range of cloud solutions, say Microsoft Russia.

According to estimates by the TMT Consulting analytical agency, the volume of the Russian public cloud services market in 2019 amounted to 73 billion rubles, which is 30% more than a year ago.

According to the database "Kontur. Focus," Microsoft Rus did not conclude direct state contracts in 2019, as well as for the nine months of 2020. In 2016, the company entered into 16 government contracts, in 2017 - 15, in 2018 - 3.

However, the trend towards a decrease in the number of direct contracts with state customers over the past few years has been observed at the local offices of other vendors from USA and. Europe So, for example, the Russian office, IBM "IBM Eastern Europe/Asia" last year for the first time since 2012 did not conclude a single direct government contract with customers. And in 2020, they are not yet. A similar situation is observed in the case of the Russian office of the German developer. In ON SAP 2015, she had 31 direct state contracts, and in 2019 - only 2, and in the first nine months of 2020 - also not a single one.

Renaissance Capital analyst Alexander Vengranovich, in a conversation with TAdviser, previously suggested that one of the reasons for the reduction in direct contracts with state customers may be that it has become more difficult for a foreign vendor's daughter to work at tenders against the backdrop of an import substitution policy in Russia, so it places more emphasis on partners.

In 2019, a number of large import substitution projects for Microsoft software were launched. For almost 500 million rubles and 242 million rubles, domestic office software to replace Microsoft Office for government agencies purchased, for example, Ministry of Digital Development for 352 million rubles - Russian Post.

The transformation of the partner ecosystem has become one of the priorities of Microsoft's new strategy in Russia, which the company talked about in 2019^[26]. Along with traditional partners - distributors and integrators - Microsoft in Russia began to develop strategic partnerships of a new type, primarily with telecom operators. One of the most striking examples is the deployment of Microsoft Azure Stack in MTS data centers and a program of joint research with Sberbank in the field of AI and robotics.

Among the partners of the new type are also consulting agencies such as Accenture, PwC, Ernst & Young.

Memorandum of cooperation with ICOM of Russia for the innovative development of the museum industry

On October 21, 2019, Microsoft announced that it had signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Russian Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM of Russia). Read more here.

Agreement with Bekmambetov's studio on cooperation on the digitalization of film production and the creation of an R&D laboratory

On September 17, 2019, it became known that Bazelevs and Microsoft agreed on strategic cooperation in the field of digitalization of film production. The companies intend to create a joint R&D laboratory, within which they will exchange ideas and expertise to create unique content and further develop products and services based on cloud technologies, artificial intelligence and analysis of Microsoft data in film production, as well as to promote and rent films and TV series. Read more here.

Kristina Tikhonova's appointment as Microsoft president in Russia

On February 27, 2019, Microsoft announced to TAdviser the appointment of Christina Tikhonova as Microsoft President in Russia. She will begin her duties in this capacity on March 15, 2019. In this post, Christina will replace Tomas Bochenek, who will continue to work with her to ensure smooth transfer of business and business continuity for customers and partners with the support of the leadership of the Russian office. Read more here.

2018

Microsoft will include VAT in digital services bills

At the end of December 2018, it became known about the inclusion of VAT in the bills for Microsoft digital services. As a result of the innovations, the vendor's products may rise in price, although lawyers say that only a person who pays tax to the budget will change.

As one of Microsoft's partners told Kommersant, the company has licensed products, for example, Office 365, which are not subject to VAT under the law, as well as service products, on which VAT is paid in the amount of 18%. Now, some products will be sold "not as licenses, but as digital services, which should also be subject to VAT." As a result, the cost of some software may increase by VAT, which will be 20% from January 1, 2019.

According to the interlocutor of the publication, Microsoft will have to renegotiate contracts with its partners, otherwise there may be difficulties with shipments. The company itself confirmed to the newspaper that from January 1, 2019, the corporation "will include VAT in invoices," which is associated with the introduction of VAT for digital services provided by foreign providers to commercial customers in Russia. At the same time, Microsoft did not say anything about the possible transfer of licensed products to a service model.

In 2017, the so-called "Google tax" was introduced, which involves a duty for IT companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft to be tax agents. This means that they are obliged to calculate and withhold VAT. From January 1, 2019, the scope of the "Google tax" is expanding and also covers B2B transactions, that is, operations with organizations and individual entrepreneurs present in the Russian Federation, said Arseniy Seidov, partner at Baker McKenzi. According to him, the pricing model will remain the same, and only the obligation to pay VAT to the Russian budget will be transferred from Russian B2B buyers to foreign suppliers.^[27]

Microsoft accused Russia of interfering in the upcoming US elections

On August 20, 2018, Microsoft accused Russia of interfering in the US congressional elections to be held in November. According to the company, hackers associated with the Russian authorities created false sites that are potentially interesting to American politicians. Read more here.

Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation: "We will most likely ask Microsoft to leave us"

Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation on Internet German Klimenko issues does not exclude Microsoft the possibility of banning products in Russia. As reported in May 2018, "" RBC Klimenko was one of the speakers of the round table "From to Roskomsvoboda Roskomnadzor ": Internet stakeholders on borders and fragmentation. " The round table meeting was held on May 28 as part of To Moscow the Internet After Globality conference.

According to the presidential adviser, Russia has no shortage of highly qualified programmers, and for the first time he is not ashamed of the industry. Still, when it comes to hardware, "it's all bad." For two and a half years, Klimenko tried to achieve the development of products suitable for export to other countries. The adviser expressed the hope that Russian specialists will be able to be proud of the projects in which they have reached heights (artificial intelligence, neural networks, etc.). According to him, "in the modern fragmentation world [...] this will be interesting to watch."

As Klimenko noted, "we will most likely ask Microsoft to leave us," because "everyone has someone to expel."

Limited sales of Microsoft software due to sanctions

In January 2018, it became known that Russian Microsoft distributors imposed restrictions on the sale of software due to US sanctions. Read more here.

2017

Revenue cut by 6.5%, profit growth by 116%

The revenue of the Russian office of Microsoft - Microsoft Rus - in 2017 decreased by 6.5% to 9.2 billion rubles, follows from the financial statements of the company, published in July 2018 in the database "Kontur. Focus." At the same time, Microsoft Rus's net profit for the year increased by 116%, from 537 million rubles to 1.16 billion rubles.

In 2017, Microsoft Rus paid dividends of 1.14 billion rubles to its parent company. This is almost twice as much as in 2015, when the company paid 570 million rubles. In 2016, Microsoft Rus did not pay dividends.

The Russian division of Skype Technologies, Microsoft Development Center Rus, owned by Microsoft, earned 381 million rubles in 2017, 20% more than a year earlier. The net profit of the division doubled to 36.9 million rubles.

Microsoft Rus did not comment on the financial results of its activities in Russia. They preferred to refrain from commenting on the same topic and almost all Russian distributors of the corporation, which were contacted by TAdviser.

In October 2017, during a conference call following the quarter with top Microsoft managers and analysts at the CEO of the software corporation Satya Nadella, he noted that stabilization was observed in markets such as Russia and Brazil. During the same conversation, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood identified the same two markets as among the key for the company.

In August 2017, a representative of the analytical center of the National Procurement Transparency Rating cited data that against the background of the import substitution policy, state-owned companies and government agencies began to buy less Microsoft products ^[28] In particular, state-owned companies spent 668 million rubles on state corporation products in the second quarter, which is 6 times less than in the same period of 2016 and 3 times less than in the first quarter of 2017. Government agencies, in turn, spent 4 million rubles less on Microsoft in the first two quarters of 2017 than in the second quarter of 2016, and 91 million rubles less than in the first two quarters of 2015.

In 2017, Microsoft Rus continued to enter into direct large contracts with customers. Of the contracts concluded as a result of trading on the official public procurement portal, the largest for it were contracts with Sberbank for the services of prime support for Microsoft software in the amount of 134 million rubles and two contracts with Rostelecom for similar services in the amount of 107 and 71 million rubles.

Most of the contracts concluded by Microsoft Rus directly with customers following bidding on the public procurement portal in 2017 were related to support services.

A large distributor explained the growth of profits and the fall in revenue of Microsoft's office in Russia

The representative of one of the largest Microsoft distributors in Russia, who wished to remain anonymous, noted that the corporation not only promotes the digitalization of companies, but also digitalizes itself: the company changes many manual processes to automatic ones, which, on the one hand, leads to increased efficiency working with partners and customers, on the other, to a reduction in staff. In his opinion, a decrease in operating costs and, as a result, an increase in net profit can be associated with the fact that over the past year "the number of Microsoft's Russian representative office has noticeably decreased."

From the point of view of products, Azure is growing well, although these rates are lower than the average in the world, says the source TAdviser. The demand for Office remains at about the same level as a year earlier, only its consumption model is changing. Previously, Office was bought using the Open model (one-time payment), now using the CSP model (monthly payments), he says.

Another representative of the same Microsoft distributor notes that the corporation, including its Russian representative office, has been heading for the sale of its cloud solutions for several years. In his opinion, this is also reflected in financial indicators: the total turnover due to a smaller amount of transactions falls, while profits grow.

Moreover, the interlocutor of TAdviser added, the main focus of the company both in terms of support and development of partners, and in relation to customers is now being done on monthly licensing schemes, which allows conducting a more predictable and future profitable business, despite the initial visible drop in the company's turnover.

A distributor spokesman added that their company showed a fivefold increase in the turnover of Microsoft cloud solutions in fiscal 2017.

Russian companies bought Microsoft software bypassing sanctions

On October 11, 2017, it became known about the purchase software Microsoft by Russian state companies bypassing US sanctions imposed after the annexation of Crimea to. Russia

According to Reuters, citing data from the public procurement website and its own sources, Russian state organizations and Crimean enterprises that have come under sanctions have purchased at least 5,000 Microsoft software products worth about 60 million rubles.

Such purchases, in particular, were made by the manufacturer of Buk anti-aircraft systems Almaz-Antey, the federal autonomous institution Main Directorate of State Expertise  ("Glavgosexpertiza of Russia"; agreed on the project for the construction of the Kerch bridge) and the Crimea sanatorium of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

The publication did not find evidence of a direct sale of Microsoft software bypassing sanctions. It is noted that in all cases, the products of the American company were purchased through third parties.

Acquisitions through tenders registered in the public procurement system indicate gaps in ensuring that foreign governments and companies comply with US sanctions, Reuters observers say.

According to them, companies for the purchase of Microsoft products indicated false data about themselves. For example, Crimean enterprises used addresses in the Krasnodar Territory. In addition, restrictions were circumvented by registering a Microsoft product with an end-user subsidiary or parent company.

Microsoft itself told the agency that they are studying the issue of selling software to sanctioned enterprises.

We have a strict procedure for compliance with trade rules around the world, designed to ensure that our partners comply with all conditions and providing for the immediate suspension of alleged improper sales by partners, as well as strict measures aimed at preventing access and use of our products and services by customers subject to bans, the American corporation said.[29]

FAS revealed additional facts against Microsoft in the case of discrimination against third-party antivirus manufacturers

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia during the consideration of the case against Microsoft Corporation on the grounds of violation of antimonopoly legislation revealed additional circumstances indicating the creation of discriminatory conditions, the Russian Information Agency reports TASS with reference to the press service of the Russian department.^[30]

In particular, it was found that the company introduced restrictions on the form and timing of notification anti-virus software of third-party users, included a ON section in the requirements for antivirus (Antimalware Platform Requirements), the inconsistency of which will be the basis for blocking and refusing to migrate to updated versions operating system of antivirus software.

The company also blocked third-party antivirus software and activated Windows Defender antivirus software without properly notifying users and obtaining their explicit consent.

As noted, Microsoft intends to consider information from the FAS and act in accordance with competition laws, while continuing to work with Kaspersky Lab and antivirus software suppliers.

"If Microsoft reviews its actions in accordance with the warning, users will be able to consciously make a choice of a protective solution without unfair influence from the outside. This will also have a positive effect on the market for protective solutions, since all players will have equal conditions and there will be healthy competition between them, "said Nadezhda Kashchenko, head of the intellectual property department at Kaspersky Lab

.

As specified in the FAS, the consideration of the case against the American company will continue.

The case was initiated by the FAS in November 2016 on the complaint of Kaspersky Lab. On June 6, 2017, the company filed a similar complaint with the European Commission and the Federal Cartel Office. Germany

Tomas Bochenek is the new head of Microsoft in Russia

On June 27, 2017, Microsoft announced the appointment of Tomas Bochenek as the new president of the company in Russia. In this post, he replaces Pavel Betsis, who has held this position since 2014. Betsis's plans to leave the company became known earlier in June.

2016

Roskomnadzor announced the absence of claims against Microsoft on the processing of personal data in Russia

On November 15, Roskomnadzor announced a meeting of its leader Alexander Zharov with Microsoft Corporation Vice President Stephen Crown. During the meeting, the parties discussed the results of checking compliance with Russian legislation on personal data of Microsoft Rus LLC.

A scheduled check against Microsoft Rus was carried out from March 1 to April 26, 2016. During the audit, Roskomnadzor specialists conducted a comprehensive audit of the company's personal data processing activities within the framework of labor relations, interaction with customers with technical support of Microsoft services and software products, as well as interaction with third parties under assignment agreements and the provision of joint services.

Based on the results of the company's audit, orders were issued to eliminate the identified violations with a due date of October 26, 2016. On time, the company provided a report on the work done, Roskomnadzor reported.

The provided report is exhaustive from the point of view of the implementation of the instructions of the supervisory authority, - said the head of Roskomnadzor. - No additional unscheduled inspections for compliance of the company's activities with the requirements of Russian legislation in the field of personal data are required. The issue of localizing Microsoft Rus LLC personal data of Russians on Russian servers is closed

Recall that on September 1, 2015, a provision came into force in Russia obliging personal data operators to process and store personal data of Russians using databases located on the territory of the Russian Federation (more).

The head of Roskomnadzor also invited Microsoft and Stephen Crown personally to participate in the Digital Home project. The initiative involves the development of a unique system of partnership between the state, society and business in order to create a safe and comfortable digital environment for users.

Revenue growth of 11%

The revenue of the Russian office of Microsoft (Microsoft Rus) in 2016 increased by 11% compared to 2015 and reached 9.9 billion rubles.

The company's net profit amounted to 537.6 million rubles against 836.5 million rubles a year earlier.

In 2016, the cost of sales increased by 17% to 6.8 billion rubles, and commercial expenses increased by 8% to 2 billion rubles.

The Russian office of Microsoft does not comment on the financial results. There were no domestic distributors of the American corporation who also wanted to assess the results of the year.

The company "Korus Consulting," engaged in the implementation of Microsoft products, spoke about the high interest of Russian customers in solutions based on them.

Dynamics AX's excellent platform and industry solutions have enabled Microsoft's business solutions to be systematically developed through new implementations and ongoing customer development. We also see great interest in the Azure cloud platform and advanced services in terms of analytics, forecasting and machine learning: pilots, launched last fiscal year, gave a reliable platform for the further development of our cloud direction, "Ivan Fedorov, director of the ERP department of Korus Consulting Group, told TAdviser

In addition, Fedorov is pleased with the new Dynamics 365 solution available both in the cloud and on-premieses, which includes native integration with Power BI, Machine Learning, Office 365 and other flagship Microsoft products.

At the same time, the revenue of Microsoft Mobile Rus (ex-Nokia), which sells smartphones, fell in 2016 compared to 2015 by 71% - from 13 billion rubles to 3.7 billion rubles. Net profit decreased from 1 billion to 389 million rubles.

The revenue of the Microsoft Development Center - Microsoft Development Center Rus - amounted to 317.7 million rubles in 2016 (in 2015 the company did not disclose the revenue, in 2014 it reached 524 million rubles). Profit decreased from 45 million in 2014 to 18 million in 2016.

Price increases

Since 2017, the cost of Windows 10 Home Windows 10 and Pro, as well as another software Microsoft for private and corporate users, will increase by 9-10%. Russia It is already becoming a tradition for the company to update prices from January 1.^[31]

2015

Growth in profit for the year by 31% to 836 million rubles

According to the results of 2015, the net profit of the Russian representative office of Microsoft - Microsoft Rus - increased by 31%, to about 836.5 million rubles. This follows from the company's financial results report published in the Contour-Focus database. Microsoft Rus revenue in 2015 decreased by 0.1% and amounted to about 8.872 billion rubles.

According to the report, the representative office of the corporation received almost all cash receipts from the sale of products, goods, works and services - about 8.7 billion rubles. As a year earlier, Microsoft Rus continued to reduce its business costs: in 2015, they decreased by 18%.

The Russian representative office of Microsoft does not comment on the financial results. Earlier in the discussion of global financial results, Microsoft top managers have repeatedly pointed out the difficult state of affairs in the Russian market. For example, in the discussion of the results of the 2nd quarter of fiscal year 2016 (fiscal year ends for global Microsoft on June 30), the financial director of the corporation Amy Hood (Amy Hood) noted that markets such as,, and Russia China Brazil Japan continue to be difficult.

Opening of the online store Microsoft Online Store in Russia

On November 24, 2015, Microsoft announced the launch of its online store Microsoft Online Store in Russia. Both the company's software products and devices will be sold there, including the new Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL smartphones.

Microsoft announced the opening of the online platform by sending a message to the media. It follows from it that more than 7 thousand items of goods are available in the store, including all-in-ones, laptops, tablets, Lumia smartphones, Xbox game consoles, accessories and software such as Windows and Office. Microsoft will also sell partner products there. Read more here.

Plans to reduce the number of distributors in Russia

In November 2015, the media reported that Microsoft was preparing for a drop in sales in Russia, in connection with which the corporation intends to reduce the number of distributors on the market.

As Vedomosti writes in the November 19, 2015 issue, Microsoft management in Russia and Europe has been discussing the issue of reducing the number of software distributors in Russia for several months. The newspaper refers to people close to the leadership of Russian IT companies. Read more here.

Price increases

November 3, 2015 it became known about the next increase in prices for Microsoft products in Russia. The reason is the devaluation of the ruble.

According to Kommersant, citing one of Microsoft's partners and a representative of the software corporation Kristina Davydova, from January 1, 2016, software and services for private and corporate users will rise in price by 19-25%.

Microsoft Russia President Pavel Betsis confirmed this information and added that the increase in the cost of software for private customers will be "minimal" - 19%, while for companies the adjustment depending on the product licensing scheme will range from 19% for software to 25% for cloud solutions.

All Microsoft products will rise in price, except for boxed versions of Windows, Xbox game consoles, licensing solutions for unlicensed copies of Windows and Dynamics/CRM products. Thus, from the beginning of 2016, prices for office products Microsoft Office and Office 365, all server tools (for example, SQL Server), cloud services based on Microsoft Azure, a line of software for developers of Microsoft Visual Studio software, etc. will rise.

"We regularly review our pricing policies to match market dynamics. In light of the changes taking place in the Russian market, Microsoft will adjust prices for software and cloud products, "said Pavel Betsis

.

The previous increase in prices by 15-30% for Microsoft products occurred in February 2015 and was associated with the depreciation of the ruble. Most likely, for the same reason, Microsoft software and services will rise in price from January 1, 2016, said Softline Viktor Algazin, director of the company's regional business.

The increase in prices by Microsoft will not affect the cost of PCs of world vendors with pre-installed Microsoft software, but it will certainly affect the prices of desktops and laptops from Russian manufacturers such as Kraftway, Aquarius and Depo Computers, the newspaper notes.^[32].

2014

Revenue and profit reduction

In 2014, the revenue of the Russian representative office of Microsoft - Microsoft Rus LLC - decreased by 10.4%, to about 8.9 billion rubles, and profit fell by 31%, to 636.8 million rubles. This follows from the report on the financial results of the company, published in the Spark database.

Almost all cash receipts were received by the representative office of the corporation from the sale of products, goods, works and services. Against the background of falling sales, Microsoft Rus reduced its commercial expenses by about 24%, follows from the report.

The Russian representative office of Microsoft declined to comment on TAdviser's financial results. Earlier, in conference calls with shareholders and analysts on global financial results, Microsoft representatives repeatedly voiced negative expectations regarding the Russian market. For example, in the discussion of the results of the 2nd quarter of 2015, which ended for Microsoft on December 31, 2014, the financial director of the corporation Amy Hood mentioned that in the next quarter in Russia, revenue is expected to decrease year-on-year.

In July 2015, Amy Hood noted that macroeconomic conditions remain a challenge for Microsoft in several countries, including Russia. At the same time, according to her, the effect on sales from currency fluctuations turned out to be slightly lower than expected in the corporation.

The largest distributor of Microsoft solutions in Russia , Mont, told TAdviser that in 2014 there was a decline in sales of this vendor's products. According to Dmitry Yelin, head of the Microsoft department at Mont, the largest decline was in products for computer assemblers (OEMs). In this case, we are talking about Microsoft Windows and Windows Server software preinstalled on devices .

The best sales were in the direction of electronic distribution (Mont eDistribution) and cloud products, says Dmitry Yelin. According to him , Windows 8.1, Office 2013 Home & Student, Office 365 Personal, Office 365 Home, Office for Mac are selling well. From July 29, Mont will launch sales of Windows 10 (so far only in electronic keys), and in the fall it will start selling Office 2016 for Windows and Mac.

Representatives of another major Microsoft partner , Softline, also note an increase in sales of the vendor's cloud products in 2014. According to Leonid Anikin, head of Softline's cloud infrastructure department, first of all, we are talking about Office 365, whose sales in his company have more than doubled.

One of the reasons for the growth in sales of Office 365, Anikin sees the capabilities of the product itself: "customers really get a full-fledged infrastructure for most basic everyday tasks as a service, without the need to buy their own hardware and support server software."

It is worth noting that sales in Russia in 2014 fell among other large software developers. For example, the revenue of the Russian division of SAP for the year# 2014 decreased by about 16.5%.

Betsis replaced Pryanishnikov as president in Russia

In 2014, Microsoft announced the appointment of Pavel Betsis from July 1 as president of the Russian representative office. Prior to that, he held the position of head of business strategies in Central and Eastern Europe.

Betsis's transfer to a new position is due to the fact that Microsoft has expanded the powers of Nikolai Pryanishnikov, who has led the local office since 2009, appointing him to the position of vice president for business development in Central and Eastern Europe.

2013

Microsoft profit in Russia increased by 45%

According to the financial statements of Microsoft Rus for 2013, the company's revenue in Russia for this period amounted to 9.916 billion rubles, an increase of 11.2% compared to 2012. At the same time, the company's net profit increased by 44.6%% - from 638.732 million rubles. up to 923.932 million rubles.

Microsoft did not comment on the results of its activities over the past year. Former Microsoft President in Russia Nikolai Pryanishnikov previously predicted that in 2013 the company will grow "a little faster than the market," and the main points of growth, as in 2012, for it will remain automation projects, transition to a new platform.

In one of the largest local partners of the corporation - Softline - whose implementation of Microsoft solutions brings the bulk of the revenue, they told TAdviser that in 2013 the bulk of their company's turnover in the products of this vendor fell on software to increase the productivity of users and organizations. One example is Microsoft Office.

According to Elena Lebedeva, head of marketing at Softline Corporate Customer Management, sales of solutions based on products such as MS SQL, Lync, Exchange, Windows Server and SharePoint are also growing from year to year. The highest growth rates in 2013 were shown by Microsoft cloud solutions : Office 365, Azure, Microsoft Dynamics, adds Lebedeva.

Anna Zhirova, Marketing Director of Softline's electronic distribution department, calls Office 365 a Microsoft product that showed the highest growth rates in 2013: for example, the sales growth of this solution in the Store.softline.ru online store was twice as much as a year earlier. According to her, demand for the latest Windows 8.1 has also grown, starting in the fall of 2013, when the OS entered the market.

Investigation into bribes for the purchase of Microsoft software reached Russia

The investigation of the American authorities, concerning relations Microsoft with partners who allegedly paid bribes to foreign officials in exchange for concluding contracts, extended to, The Russia Wall Street Journal reported in August 2013, citing informed sources.

According to the publication from one of the sources, an anonymous informant notified Microsoft that resellers of his software in Russia paid kickbacks to top managers of the state-owned company in order to win the contract. The newspaper did not specify the name of this company.

In this regard, Microsoft has launched an internal investigation, writes The Wall Street Journal, noting that companies often spend millions of dollars on their own investigations into possible violations of anti-corruption law and then provide their results to the authorities in the hope of receiving a milder punishment or avoiding it altogether.

Russian representatives of Microsoft did not comment on the situation, referring to the official statement of their global vice president and deputy general adviser on legal issues of the corporation John Frank.

"

We take all allegations against us seriously and are cooperating fully in response to any government requests. Like other large companies that operate in many countries around the world, we are sometimes accused of possibly inappropriate behavior by our employees or business partners. We are investigating such allegations in full regardless of their source, "John Frank said

.

He also added that Microsoft is investing heavily in training, monitoring and auditing to ensure that its commercial activities in the global market meet the highest legal and ethical standards.

In March 2013, The Wall Street Journal wrote that the US Department of Justice and the SEC are conducting a preliminary investigation into information about possible violations of the US anti-corruption law by Microsoft partners in a number of countries. According to the publication, in addition to Russia, the investigation affects China, Romania, Italy and Pakistan.

Alcazar was chosen by the seller of advertising on Microsoft Internet services in Russia

On July 8, 2013, it became known that Alcazar would sell advertising opportunities for a group of Internet services and the corporation's platforms. Microsoft in Russia An agreement was reached on the implementation of advertising in the voice video conference Skype and Skype Mobile service, the Xbox Live game service and the information site. MSN

Negotiations between Microsoft and Alcazar began in late 2012. According to the agreement concluded between Microsoft Online Inc. and Intra LLC, which is part of the Alcazar group, on May 1, 2013, Seller began on an exclusive basis the implementation of banner formats and special projects on four resources of the corporation.

The sale of video ads on Microsoft resources is still carried out by Gazprom-Media Digital. Alcazar has already begun federal regional sales in the 30 largest cities in Russia, in which the group's branches operate.

Advertisers are offered effective banner formats. In Skype, banners are available on the home page and in the audio recording window. Skype Mobile and Xbox Live offer a line of banner formats that allow you to fully use the audience potential of both services. In addition to banners, MSN Alcazar will offer opportunities for branding pages and posting special projects.

Advertising Skype is distinguished by the absence of a clutter or advertising noise, which customers traditionally encounter on many large Internet resources, where a lot of advertising messages often compete for user attention. By placing banners in the Skype and Skype Mobile audio window, the advertiser actually contacts its consumer one-on-one.

"Compared to

other major players in the television advertising market, 'Alcazar' relatively recently went online and is actively developing this direction, setting ambitious goals. Our partner has achieved impressive success in the implementation of advertising in the regional traffic pool of Gazprom-Media Digital, as well as the resources of Media-Today and the KinoPoisk portal, and we decided to rely on Alcazar, "says Alexander Yakovlev, Commercial Director of the Internet Advertising Division (Microsoft Advertising) of Microsoft Corporation in Russia. "We are confident that it is Alcazar that will help us better understand the Russian market, its trade and regional ties, since it has the largest regional network in Russia."

2012

Profit reduction by 20% with revenue of 9.9 billion rubles

According to the profit and loss report of Microsoft Rus for 2012, the company's revenue in Russia for this period amounted to 8.915 billion rubles, an increase of 14.4% compared to 2011. At the same time, the corporation's net profit decreased by almost 20% - from 793.151 million rubles. up to 638.732 million rubles.

The reduction in Microsoft Rus "profit is associated with a significant increase in its expenses in 2012: thus, according to the report, the company's commercial expenses increased by 55.3%, to 2.594 billion rubles.

"2012 was a year of key launches of new Microsoft products, when almost the entire company's product portfolio was updated, which was accompanied by serious marketing support. That is why the costs have increased significantly, "explained TAdviser in the Russian representative office of Microsoft.

In January 2013, Microsoft President in Russia Nikolai Pryanishnikov told TAdviser that the past year has been successful "on various kinds of automation, bringing new products to the market ," and the Windows 8 OS that went on sale, in particular, according to him, "made a splash."

ERP systems market share - 6.8%

According to IDC, in 2012 Microsoft's share in the Russian enterprise management systems market amounted to 6.8%.

The shares of the largest players in the Russian ERP systems market, 2003-2012^[33]

Opening of the Company Solutions Center in Yaroslavl

In October 2012, the Microsoft Solutions Center was opened in Yaroslavl. About 20 invited guests, representatives of the largest enterprises and organizations of the Yaroslavl region, employees of the Russian representative office of Microsoft Corporation, as well as officials of the regional and city administrations gathered in the office of ALAN, a partner of Microsoft Corporation, who initiated the creation of the Solutions Center.

The Microsoft Solutions Center created in Yaroslavl is actually the first specialized partner center in the Central Federal District. It is intended to become a resource that ensures the productive development of the use of information technologies of companies, institutions and organizations of the Yaroslavl, Kostroma and Ivanovo regions and the entire economy of the region as a whole. The Microsoft Solutions Center is a tangible contribution to the implementation of the state strategy for the country's transition to an innovative economy.

Using the technological features of the Microsoft Solutions Center, ALAN specialists held the first practical seminar for the participants of the event, which examined in more detail the issues of Microsoft cloud services, as well as new products in the line of united communications: Microsoft Lync Server 2013, Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and new technologies in Microsoft Windows Server 2012.

The meeting continued in an informal setting, where the guests and management of ALAN were able to discuss the opportunities for cooperation and development of the Microsoft Solutions Center and further prospects for the state program on informatization.

Signing of new cooperation agreements with Skolkovo

Main article: Microsoft in Skolkovo

• In November 2010, Victor Vekselberg, President of the Skolkovo Foundation and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer signed an agreement of intent.

• On March 24, 2011, Oleg Alekseev, Vice President of the Skolkovo Foundation, aka Oleg Alekseev, Chief Manager of the Foundation for Education and Research, signed an agreement with Microsoft Russia President Nikolai Pryanishnikov on strategic cooperation in the development of education in the future. One of the areas of this cooperation is the creation of the Skolkovo school, an innovative educational institution.

• On November 6, 2012, two years after the signing of a memorandum of understanding by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Skolkovo President Viktor Vekselberg, Microsoft expanded its previous agreements. This time, in the presence of Ballmer, the document was signed by Senior Vice President of Skolkovo Igor Drozdov and President of the Vendor in Russia Nikolai Pryanishnikov.

2011

"Great Results"

According to data published on January 12, 2012 by the Russian division of Microsoft, in calendar year 2011, the company's business in the country grew along with the Russian software market, slightly ahead of it.

"The Russian IT market showed strong growth in 2011," said Timur Farukshin, director of consulting at IDC. - According to our preliminary estimates, the overall market grew by 19.7%, and the software market by more than 22%. According to our data, the growth rate of Microsoft's business was in line with the growth of the software market as a whole. "

In this regard, Nikolai Pryanishnikov, President of Microsoft in Russia, noted that the local division in 2011 managed to achieve "excellent results" in all strategic business areas.

In particular, the official statement of Microsoft calls the continuation of expansion in the region and the growing popularity of cloud services in the Russian province as positive achievements. Last year, the first contracts for the supply of cloud Office 365 were concluded, including with government organizations. The company's business in the regions is growing more dynamically than in Moscow.

Most of the most popular Microsoft cloud services became available in Russia in 2011. In 2011, according to the company's own data, the popularity of business process management solutions, business solutions, as well as solutions for joint communications and collaboration grew. There was an increase in demand for infrastructure and application management tools, as well as technologies for building a private cloud based on Microsoft Hyper-V.

Microsoft also notes the growth of the IT services segment: in 2011, more than 200 service projects were implemented, the number of large Russian companies that used the Premier Support service, including Premier Mission Critical services, which have become available in Russia since 2011, increased by 41%.

2011 for Microsoft in Russia was also noted by the fact that the company, as well as at the global level, made a strategic consumer market for itself, so that it had to actively work with retail partners (more than 3 thousand stores in 120 cities). For this segment, a significant event was the release of Windows Phone 7.

80 programmers at the software development center in Russia

The Microsoft Development Center in Russia operates under the legal entity Microsoft Development Center Rus.

As of July 2011, two teams of programmers with a total number of about 80 people work for Microsoft Corporation in Russia, told CNews^[34] Microsoft Director for Work with Skolkovo Aleksei Palladin, and their number is constantly increasing.

The first group is developing modules for ERP family-class systems, Microsoft Dynamics the second is writing libraries for the supercomputer OS, Windows HPC Server aimed at improving its performance and optimizing it for work in the cloud.

The Dynamics team includes about 50 people. Some of them are registered in the state, others work under the contract. The formation of this group, according to Palladin, began in 2008-2009, and it continues to grow.

"The team is expanding because it is developing a high-quality product that is highly rated by our management in Redmond," adds a Microsoft spokesperson.

The HPC Server group is "pilot." According to Aleksei Palladin, it was recruited in the 2011 financial year and now consists of 30 people: 10 are based in Moscow, the rest in the regions.

All programmers working on the HPC project are contractors, their main places of work are Russian companies. Which ones - Microsoft chose not to specify.

"Over time, we also expect to increase the number of this team," says Palladin. In addition, according to him, it is possible that some of these employees will be admitted to the corporation.

In the future, Microsoft intends to relocate two Russian development groups to a single center, which should open at Skolkovo. Recall that Microsoft signed a memorandum of understanding implying the launch of such a center with the Skolkovo Foundation in the fall of 2010.

The fact that Microsoft began to show noticeable activity in attracting Russian developers relatively recently, the company explains the appearance of strong "lobbyists" at headquarters.

"If

you look at the experience of how basic centers were created in China and India, then the diaspora played a significant role in their appearance - a large number of immigrants from Chinese and Indian schools of computer science work in Redmond," says Palladin. "After a few years at HQ, they decided to go back to their origins and entrust certain projects to small local laboratories that subsequently grew into large teams."

Russia, according to Palladin, to some extent repeats the experience of India and China: "If you look, for example, at the Dynamics team, then the head of the business solutions department is Kirill Tatarinov, a native of Russia. The global manager of the HPC division is another employee with Russian roots - Kirill Faenov. "

Around the world, hundreds of immigrants from Russia work for the corporation, says Palladin, most of them concentrated at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond: "There are very outstanding, very noticeable people. For example, Evgeny Veselov, who at one time developed the Lexicon word processor, and is now one of the leading developers of Internet Explorer. Thanks to him and Alex Mogilevsky, the IE9 has become more productive and improved than IE8. "

There are people from Russia and in the Windows development team for personal computers. In particular, they are involved in working on the Windows 8 kernel. In fact, each Microsoft division presents immigrants from Russia and the CIS at different levels - from the base developer to the team leader, concludes Aleksei Palladin.

Cooperation with Russian universities within the framework of the Microsoft Research program

Since 1991, the research division of Microsoft Research has been operating in Russia. As of March 2011, within the framework of the External Research program, the research center worked in Russia to interact with a number of leading universities in the country. In particular, according to the SDS (Scientific Data Set) project, the Microsoft Research Laboratory of Computational Mathematics in Cambridge (UK) and the Laboratory of Tools for Mathematical Modeling, Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov creates a class library for working with multidimensional arrays, which are the main type of scientific data. The SDS library as source code is in the public domain.

2010

Year-end: Up 20%

Fiscal Year 2010 - July 1, 2009 - June 31, 2010 According to Pryanishnikov, against the background of the general fall in the Russian software market by 6% over the specified period, Microsoft's business grew. The main growth drivers were sales of Windows 7, strengthening positions in retail, on the Internet, in the public sector and in the regions.

Microsoft does not name exact growth indicators in percentage or monetary terms. Moreover, the company says that they will not continue to disclose any figures on business growth Russia in - this is financial policy. According to analysts, Finam"" in fiscal 2010, the revenue of the Russian division of Microsoft amounted to $1.2-1.3 billion. Nikolai Pryanishnikov says that the revenue of the Russian office of Microsoft is more than a similar indicator of the Chinese division of the corporation.

According to the results of 2010, the company's revenue in Russia increased by 20%.

By September 2010, 4.83 million copies of Windows 7 were sold in Russia, and 175 million in total worldwide, says Pryanishnikov. Thus, Russia accounted for 2.76% of sales of the new OS. 10% of Microsoft sales in Russia are in the public sector.

In 2010, Microsoft significantly increased the number of regional offices in Russia - from 58 to 70 in the period from January 1, 2010 to July 1, 2010. With the support of the company, more than 100 retraining and computer literacy centers were opened as part of the Your Course initiative. The President of the Russian Office also noted that the Russian portal MSN has become the fastest growing among European portals MSN: its audience has grown more than 2 times and now amounts to 6.5 million unique users per month.

Head of the Russian office of Microsoft Nikolai Pryanishnikov announces the results of 2010 (amateur recording)

Microsoft's business growth in Russia was against the background of a general decline in the Russian IT market: according to Microsoft, based on IDC data, the volume of the Russian IT market excluding the distribution channel amounted to $13.5 billion in fiscal year 2010. The company believes that of these, $1.8 billion fell on software. For 2011, Microsoft predicts the IT market at $15.3 billion, software sales at $2 billion.

Free software for opposition media and NGOs

Senior Vice President Microsoft Brad Smith promised in the corporation's official blog on the Techcrunch website a program of "licenses for the opposition," according to which some categories of users will be licensed for free previously installed (that is, pirated). ON

Free use of pirated software will be allowed only to "small and independent newspapers" and non-governmental organizations. According to Brad Smith, licenses of the new type will be issued automatically, will not require a request to Microsoft, and will be valid until 2012 with the possibility of renewal. The new licensing program is being created to save non-governmental organizations and the "small and independent press" in Russia from the threat of accusations of unlicensed use of software.

Employees of the Russian office of Microsoft refused to confirm that Vice President Smith's blogopost came as a complete surprise to the Russian representative office of the corporation, but this is indicated by indirect signs.

Marina Levina, a member of the board of directors and director of PR at Microsoft Rus, could not specify the timing of when the declared "default licensing" program will begin to operate in Russia, and by what criteria the organizations and media to which it will be distributed will be selected, assuring that such information will be available in the "near future."

"What

Brad Smith's blog says is a new program. His blog says that by default it will cover all companies of this kind with licenses (non-profit non-governmental organizations, small newspapers and small independent media - approx. CNews), "she told CNews. According to her, Microsoft has been working with non-profit organizations since 2009 - "for example, there is an Infodonor program, but not everyone knows about it, and not all organizations have taken advantage of its capabilities."

To understand the principles of work and the criteria for the new licensing program in the Russian representative office of the corporation, it was proposed to use Infodonor "for a reference point." Not all non-profit organizations really know about this licensing initiative, according to which a Windows license can be purchased for 250 rubles. According to information on the Microsoft website, if in 2009 it was used by 72 organizations, in 2010 - 29.

According to Marina Levina, the impetus for the initiative announced on Brad Smith's blog was the publication of Clifford J. Levy in the News York Times.

They talked about abuses of law enforcement agencies, which, when checking opposition media and organizations, got a good opportunity to seize computers under the pretext of searching for unlicensed software. The article describes the case of the Baikal Ecological Wave, from whose computers Microsoft license stickers were removed during the examination.

The author of the publication refers to the "numerous" appeals of citizens who come to the human rights organization "Memorial" and Transparency International. The CNews Memorial explained that Clifford Levy from the News York Times did not contact them and suggested that information came to him from Anastasia Denisova, who participated in a joint project with Memorial.

Anastasia Denisova herself named four cases known to her when licensing violations when using software became a reason for sanctions against human rights defenders or opposition publications. These are two cases in Samara, when the publications Novaya Gazeta in Samara and Golos were sanctioned, the arrest of the computers of the Irkutsk organization Baikal Ecological Wave mentioned in the New York Times and, finally, the case of Anastasia herself and her company Ethnika in Krasnodar.

Thus, four cases of computer seizure allowed Russian non-governmental organizations to claim free Microsoft software. In domestic practice, the term "non-governmental organization," which Brad Smith promised to distribute free licenses, is considered synonymous with the phrase "public organization." The Federal Law "On Public Associations" interprets this concept as "A public association created on the basis of joint activities to protect common interests and achieve the statutory goals of united citizens."

CNews asked Stanislav Belkovsky, president of the Institute for National Strategy, to assess the number of such organizations in Russia. Based on the data of the registration chambers, he suggested that their number ranges from 200 to 250 thousand.

11 regional innovation centers in 8 cities

As of October 2010, there are 11 Microsoft Innovation Centers in 8 cities of Russia in the Russian Federation. The purpose of their work is "to unite the efforts of leading universities and the IT industry in order to develop the IT sector of the Russian economy." Microsoft Innovation Centers organize additional training for students with the support of partners of the Centers (IT companies), create the conditions for students to work on their own projects, and look for new ways to more effectively train specialists for the IT industry. In addition, the Centers are aimed at developing software technologies and solutions, including specific research and development. The key partners of the Microsoft Innovation Centers are academic centers, industrial companies and government agencies.

2009

Lower sales and fewer employees

Microsoft Russia has optimized the structure, the beginning of which was announced to the office staff by its president Nikolai Pryanishnikov.

"The termination of labor relations in this case occurs by agreement of the parties," Marina Levina, head of the company's press service, told CNews. "Some of the employees who fell under the optimization program are likely to work for our partners, we are helping with this from Microsoft, others may return to the company again in the future."

The total number of such cases, according to Levina, is measured by several percent and does not exceed the mark of the average "turnover" of the company's personnel over the past 12 months equal to 9%. The absolute number of dismissed Marina Levina does not name. In total, about 1000 employees work for the Russian office of Microsoft - 700 people are registered in the staff, 300 - in the company ManpowerGroup (ManpowerGroup), which provides outstaffing services.

The terms of the agreement are not disclosed by Microsoft, however, they claim that they treat all employees "with attention and gratitude, so the conditions for them are as comfortable as possible." According to some reports, as compensation, Microsoft pays employees from 4 to 6 monthly salaries, retains corporate health insurance and pays for the services of a recruiting agency.

The sale of the OS is only 3% of Microsoft's revenue in Russia (about $1 billion in 2009, IDC estimates), says Nikolai Pryanishnikov, president of the Russian office of Microsoft, the public sector accounts for up to 10% of revenue.

In Russia, in the 1 half of 2009, Microsoft noted a decrease in sales - for the first time since 1998. The figure decreased by 10-20%. In the segment of large business, Microsoft sales in Russia in ruble terms showed an increase of 25% (in the structure of office revenues, this segment is about 50%). For small and medium-sized businesses, the decline was 10%. Its share in the revenue structure is about 30%. The worst part was the direction of sales of pre-installed software (OEM), the decline here was 60%. The company associates it with the fact that Russians bought computers significantly less. The share of OEMs in the sales structure is about 20%.

According to CNews, a number of Russian partners of the company noticed an even stronger drop in sales of Microsoft software. In particular, Verysell's shipments under Microsoft licenses fell by 60%, the fall in sales of Microsoft boxed software in Mont was 50%. PC assemblers, on the contrary, gave less depressing numbers - according to K-Systems estimates, OEM sales of Microsoft decreased by 50%.

In 2009, Microsoft announced its plans to double its turnover in Russia over the next three years.

Opening of the first technological center in Russia

Microsoft Technology Centers are IT platforms that combine the resources of the world's leading hardware and software manufacturers. These centers enable Microsoft partners and customers to significantly reduce the cost of developing and optimizing IT solutions. As of June 2011, 23 Microsoft technology centers operate in 12 countries around the world.

In Russia, the first center was opened in Moscow in November 2009. It also became the first center in Eastern Europe with the largest demonstration room for modeling solutions located outside the United States.

On June 2, 2011, the opening of the first regional Microsoft technology center in Novosibirsk took place. The center being opened in Novosibirsk becomes 24 in an account for the company. The opening ceremony of the center was attended by Anatoly Dyubanov, Head of the Department of Informatization and Development of Telecommunications Technologies of the Novosibirsk Region, Nikolai Pryanishnikov, President of Microsoft in Russia, Oleg Karacharov, Director of the Microsoft Technology Center in Moscow, as well as representatives of other Microsoft partner companies.

The Novosibirsk Technology Center will provide partners and customers of companies operating in Siberia and the Far East with access to the latest products and technologies. The center provides a demo room in which regional developers can test and demonstrate their solutions, which will allow them to eventually receive more advanced IT products. In addition, the latest versions of demonstration scenarios will be deployed in the MTS data center, covering a wide range of solutions based on Microsoft products and technologies and partners.

2008: Revenue in Russia over $1 billion

According to analysts, Finam"" in fiscal 2008, the revenue of the Russian division Microsoft amounted to $1-1.2 billion.

2006-2007

The last time the company reported data on the change in revenue in 2006 and 2007. Then the affairs of the Russian office were very successful - growth of 72% and 107%, respectively (the best indicator in the entire history of the representative office).

1990: Bill Gates' first visit

Presentation of the Russian version of MS-DOS 4.01 by Bill Gates

Notes