Playrix Holding

History

2022

Curtailment of business in Russia

In October 2022, it became known about Playrix's decision to curtail its activities in Russia. The company closes all offices not only in the Russian Federation, but also in Belarus, and employees who agree to move will be taken to other countries, including Serbia.

{{quote 'We no longer conduct commercial activities in Russia and Belarus. We opened offices in other countries and began the relocation of employees. There is a difficult period ahead, but we are confident that we will cope with it. For our part, we will do everything possible for this, - said the Bukhman brothers. }}

Playrix to curtail activities in Russia

At the end of September 2022, the Vologda-Search portal told that the company's employees located in Vologda had already been sent to other countries.

According to the publication, after the announcement by the partial mobilization president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin , the billionaire brothers were able to purchase passenger seats on planes that followed the route "-" and MoscowAstana take Kazakhstan out all their male Russian workers:

{{quote 'Vologzhan Igor and Dmitry Bukhmany took out all male employees of Playrix from the territory of the Russian Federation. Since September 23, the Bukhmans have been buying up seats on planes for Moscow-Astana flights at their own expense. The address of the new office of Playrix in the capital of Kazakhstan was not reported, - clarifies the Telegram channel "Ahead of the steam locomotive." }} According to sources of the Kommersant newspaper in the video game development market, studios began to organize the removal of employees from the country against the background of the introduction of partial mobilization on September 21, 2022. The producer of a large Russian-language studio, which in March 2022 has already launched a business abroad, says that one of the video game companies has ordered a charter flight to export about 100 of its male employees from the Russian Federation, who can be mobilized,^[1]

AppQuantum game developer investment plan

Playrix, founded by immigrants from Vologda Igor and, Dmitry Bukhmanami has invested in a Russian publisher and game developer AppQuantum who is known for projects such as Dragon Champions, Gold & Goblins and Idle Evil Clicker. This became known in early February 2022. More. here

2021

Investing in Jiffy express delivery service

In September 2021, Jiffy announced a $28 million investment. The received funds of the service of express delivery of products intends to spend on the geographical expansion of its presence in London and other British cities, in which more than 100 thousand people live. Taking into account this transaction, the total amount of investments in the project with Russian roots reached $35 million. Read more here.

Purchase of the Ukrainian gaming studio Boolat Games

On March 22, 2021, Playrix, founded by Russian billionaires Igor and Dmitry Bukhman (started their business in Vologda), announced the purchase of Boolat Games. Its participants did not disclose the financial component of the transaction. Read more here.

2020

Playrix became the second largest game developer in the world

At the end of September 2020, Playrix, created by brothers from Vologda Dmitry and Igor Bukhman, became the second largest game developer in the world, second only to Tencent Holdings.

According to Bloomberg, citing data from research company AppAnnie, Playrix climbed to second place from seventh. Thanks to this, 38-year-old Igor and 35-year-old Dmitry Bukhman more than doubled their fortune - to $3.9 billion.

Founded by brothers from Vologda, the company became the second largest game developer in the world

Analysts associate such a rapid rise of Playrix with the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. At that time, competitors began to reduce advertising spending, the Bukhmans reacted to the situation and offered low advertising prices. Thus, the number of users of their product increased by 50% and amounted to 180 million people at its peak, and Playrix's revenue in January-August 2020 reached $1.75 billion, rising 60% compared to the same period in 2019.

Successful games have turned into long-term services like those that manage Netflix to keep users by constantly adding new content, "Igor Bukhman told Bloomberg in an interview Skype from London, where the developer lives with his brother. - We are constantly adding new stories, various game mechanics and levels to our games, and people have been playing them for years.

According to Buchman, investors used to consider games a risky business, since new projects had to be constantly created for successful work. Now everything is different: if you create a successful game and use it correctly, you can earn for years, he said.

At the same time, the Chinese company Tencent remains the world leader in the field of computer games, and the state of the chairman of the board of directors of the company Pony Ma (Pony Ma) is $51 billion (by the end of September 2020).^[2]

Payment of 50 thousand rubles to all employees due to COVID-19

On April 24, 2020, Playrix announced that the company would pay 50 thousand rubles ($650) to employees one time to support them during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. It is noted that all those working at Playrix will receive compensation - this is about 2,100 people.

We hope that this amount will help relieve part of the load and allow employees to take even better care of themselves and their loved ones, "a Playrix representative told Kommersant.

The developer of games of billionaires from Vologda will pay employees 50 thousand rubles each due to COVID-19

According to her, the support of employees is necessary, because more than 100 million people need their work, who by April 2020 spend more time in games than before quarantine.

The company believes that life in quarantine conditions forces everyone to adapt to new conditions, which means that the company's employees and their loved ones "may need moral and financial assistance as never before."

Playrix also intends to allocate 100 million rubles to combat coronavirus infection in the regions of Russia, where the company's offices are located (Petrozavodsk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Barnaul and Veliky Novgorod). The funds will go to the purchase of medical equipment, protective and disinfectants. In particular, three artificial lung ventilation devices were purchased.

The company will spend the first tranche of 25 million rubles on ventilators and X-ray machines for medical institutions in the Vologda region. For the remaining 75 million rubles, the company will purchase medical equipment, protective and disinfectants for other regions.

By April 2020, Playrix has 25 offices around the world. The Bukhman brothers from Vologda, who founded the company, deal with strategic issues and spend the bulk of their time in London. The most famous Playrix products are games for smartphones Gardenscapes, Homescapes and Township.^[3]

2019: Takeover of rival companies

In December 2019, it became known about the plans of Playrix Holding to buy a hundred American game developers. This was stated by the co-founders of Playrix, brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman, who were born in Vologda and made their fortune in the development of mobile games. Playrix intends to compete with major gaming publishers such as Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts, and as part of this plan, Playrix is starting to absorb competitors.

Previously, Playrix has already acquired about a dozen studios, which allowed to increase turnover to the level of American companies. In 2018, the Buchman brothers spent more than $100 million on acquisitions and plan to more than quadruple their portfolio of gaming projects, which by December 2019 has only four names.

Brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman

While the gaming industry is crowded with investors - from KKR & Co. to Zynga Inc. - the Buchman brothers are determined to single-handedly take over the market. In April 2019, they told Bloomberg News of their desire to expand the business despite an offer from Wall Street deal-makers like Goldman Sachs Group to give up control of Playrix for money.

None of the investors were able to convince the developers otherwise and so far they prefer to adhere to their own opinion regarding the development of the industry. One of the Buchman brothers even spoke about this:

Many firms are looking for what to acquire to boost their earnings and show growth to investors. We don't have that pressure. We take a longer-term approach - helping our own small companies grow and grow. We share our experience and help in the way they become.

The company of Russian brothers, according to the analytical company App Annie, is the ninth largest creator of gaming products. The fortune of each of the entrepreneurs, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is estimated at $1.4 billion. They managed to get into the rating by creating a new type of three-in-a-row games, which are the compilation of logical chains of the same elements.

Brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman from Vologda, who earned billions from mobile games, are buying up competitors

A December 5, 2019 publication said the developers' latest acquisitions have expanded gaming genres such as "hidden objects" and "simulators," as well as increasing their profits. According to Newzoo researchers, the global mobile games market will exceed $68 billion in 2019, so it is increasingly attracting the attention of investors. Revenue from sales of Playrix games, including Gardenscapes, is expected to reach $1.5 billion in 2019, up 30% from the previous year.

However, businessmen do not intend to stop there. They have given themselves a real challenge to compete with the big players and are ready to accept it. For example, in 2018, Zynga acquired the Finnish developer Small Giant Games for $560 million, and the Israeli Playtika Ltd bought the German Wooga and the Austrian Supertreat. KKR AppLovin invested in Belka Games and two other companies in 2019.

Despite this, the Buchman brothers are confident that the games they will release within two years will allow the company to increase sales to the level of competitors such as Activision, which received $7.5 billion in revenue in 2018.

Over the next five years, we aim to join the same league as Activision Blizzard or NetEase, but in the European region, - said Igor Bukhman, without specifying what target income is in question.

By December 2019, Playrix takeovers include studios on,,,,, and To Ukraine Serbia Russia. Croatia Due to Armenia acquisitions, the company's headcount increased by more than 50%. Playrix buys 30% to a majority stake, allowing the developers bought to continue operating autonomously. For example, the independent work was retained by the Cypriot company Nexters (one of the ten largest developers of mobile games in) To Europe and the Belarusian Vizor Games, which were absorbed by Playrix.^[4]

Notes