Kudryavtsev Demyan Borisovich

Biography

2006: General Director of Kommersant Publishing House

Demyan Kudryavtsev - a former journalist, in 2006 Boris Berezovsky, the then owner of Kommersant Publishing House, appointed him general director of the publishing house, where Kudryavtsev worked until 2012.

Kudryavtsev later founded the Clear Communication communication agency.

2015

As of 2015, Demyan Kudryavtsev advised media companies on transactions and strategy, heads of several large media companies told Vedomosti.

Purchase of 33.3% in Delovoi Standard - publisher of Vedomosti

In 2015, it became known that Demyan Kudryavtsev with two partners (presumably American Martin Pompadur and Vladimir Voronov) bought a 33% stake in Delovoi Standard, which publishes the Vedomosti newspaper, from Finnish Sanoma for $6.4 million.

Kudryavtsev, Pompadur and Voronov have known each other since 1996, when Rupert Murdoch's News Corp became interested in media assets in Russia, their acquaintance says. This corporation owns Dow Jones and, accordingly, for 2015, controls a third of the Vedomosti newspaper. Pompadour worked for News Corp in 1998-2010. first as vice president of the holding and president of the division in Eastern and Central Europe, and then as chairman of the board of directors of News Corp Europe.

Voronov was president of News Media, a division of News Corp, he and Pompadour were actively involved in the purchase and sale of media assets for Murdoch in Russia and the CIS countries.

In 1999, Berezovsky and Murdoch created a joint company "LogoVAZ - News Corp." Murdoch discussed with the Russian oligarch the purchase of TV-6, and later - the purchase of a package of Channel One. But these deals never worked out.

In 2007, Berezovsky sold his TV channels in Latvia to Murdoch.

Pompadour, after leaving News Corp, became a board member of many media companies. In Russia, he is the main investor in Montana Coffee, said its president and CEO Alexander Malchik. Montana Coffee is a major producer of premium roast coffee, says Ramaz Chanturia, director of the Rosschaikofe association; what market share this company holds, he does not specify.

Voronov has been working in private investment in recent years, his acquaintance says, but does not disclose any details.

Buying The Moscow Times and several magazines from Sanoma

In 2015, it became known that Demyan Kudryavtsev became the owner of the company publishing The Moscow Times. Later, the same legal entity bought from the Finnish Sanoma the rights to publish the following publications in Russia:

• Harvard Business Review
• Men's Health,
• Women's Health,
• National Geographic
• Agroinvestor

Re-registration of Moskoutimes LLC as a wife

The founder of Moskoutimes LLC since November 3, 2015 is Yana Mosel-Kudryavtseva, follows from the data of the Unified Register of Legal Entities (USRUL). Earlier, since February 28, 2015, the only founder of this company was Demyan Kudryavtsev.

Kudryavtsev confirmed to Vedomosti that such a re-registration took place and that Mosel-Kudryavtseva was his wife. He declined to make other comments.

Moskoutimes LLC operates The Moscow Times, as well as several United Press publications (Men's Health, National Geographic).

Kudryavtsev re-registered Moskoutimes LLC as his wife in order to fulfill the requirements of the new Russian legislation prohibiting foreigners from owning more than 20% of the Russian media, his acquaintance says. Kudryavtsev previously had Israeli citizenship, he refused it, but cannot prove this fact to the regulator - Roskomnadzor. The state of Israel, like many other countries, does not have a form of confirmation of renunciation of citizenship, explains the interlocutor of Vedomosti. And the department does not accept the application for refusal provided to Roskomnadzor.

This information was confirmed to Vedomosti by an employee of Roskomnadzor. According to him, the department does not consider the document an application for renunciation of citizenship, since it "is not certified by anyone and does not prove that a person is indeed no longer a citizen of another country." Re-registration of the media to his wife, if she is only a citizen of Russia, does not raise questions from Roskomnadzor, says an employee of the department.

Kudryavtsev's acquaintance says that in the future, the ownership of Moskoutimes may be re-registered to a family trust, in which he will have a smaller share, which will allow him to comply with the requirements of the law.

Kudryavtsev's family becomes 100% owner of Vedomosti for 10 million euros. At Sechin's request?

At the end of November 2015, it became known that Pearson and Dow Jones agreed to sell their shares in the business newspaper Sheets"" to a family, Demyana Kudryavtseva follows from a joint message from both companies. The parties did not disclose the terms of the transaction, they promise to close it by the end of the year.

Later in 2019, telegram channels wrote that Demyan Kudryavtsev did not buy Vedomosti with his own money. The deal was financed by the owner of the Sibanthracite group Dmitry Bosov, a good acquaintance of Igor Sechin. Allegedly, there was an opinion on the market that it was at the request of Sechin that Bosov financed the purchase of Vedomosti. Having bought out Vedomosti's debt of 27 million euros, Bosov-Kudryavtsev allegedly reissued it to one of Rosneft's structures.

"We are very proud that we managed to work with Vedomosti and contribute to the development of an independent press in Russia for 15 years," Pearson and Dow Jones quoted representatives as saying.

They are forced to sell their shares due to the law that has come into force, limiting the share of foreign investors in the Russian media to 20%.

Kudryavtsev will pay for the asset based on the "standard market value ratio," writes the Financial Times (FT), citing people familiar with the details of the agreement. The newspaper is valued at more than 10 million euros, taking into account the debt, a person close to the participants in the transaction told Vedomosti.

According to RBC, the transaction was executed mainly as a purchase of Business News Media debt obligations to outgoing shareholders. These obligations will be bought from them by a member of the board of directors of the company, a former top manager of News Corp. Martin Pompadour. And Business News Media will pay off its debts with it, RBC said. Kudryavtsev does not comment on this, it was not possible to contact Pompadur.

Now, according to Kudryavtsev, Vedomosti's cooperation with the FT and WSJ will continue in a different form:

a new agreement to use the materials of these publications with the appropriate use of their brands."

When selling shares, Pearson and Dow Jones put some restrictive conditions on the buyer, according to a person close to the negotiators. Kudryavtsev will not be able to sell Vedomosti to individuals or companies that fall under a number of criteria described by Pearson and Dow Jones. What these criteria are, the interlocutor of Vedomosti did not specify. Also, the new shareholder will not be able to amend the charter of the Vedomosti newspaper without the approval of the editorial board. In addition, Kudryavtsev will not be able to sell the newspaper within a certain time, the FT notes, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

2019: Discussion of the sale of the Vedomosti newspaper with the owner of Arbat Capital Alexei Golubovich

In April 2019, it became known that Demyan Kudryavtsev was discussing the sale of Vedomosti newspapers to Arbat Capital founder Alexei Golubovich. Four interlocutors, including two acquaintances of Mr. Kudryavtsev, told the Kommersant newspaper about this. One of them says that the parties have been consulting for several months, but have not yet agreed on a price. Another heard that a deal was practically agreed a month ago. Two interlocutors believe that Arbat Capital can act as a tool for attracting third-party investments or be an intermediary if another person acts as a real buyer.

Kommersant's interlocutors find it difficult to estimate the cost of Vedomosti, explaining that there have been no precedent transactions in this area for a long time. One of Kommersant's sources says that the seller will receive for Vedomosti as much as he paid in 2015 for the entire newspaper, taking into account its debt to shareholders, which was acquired at a discount, and part of Sanoma magazines, that is, €15 million, while maintaining the magazine business. Read more here.

2025: Foreign Agent Recognition

In September 2025, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation expanded the register of foreign agents. The list includes the media manager, ex-co-owner of Russia's first Internet provider Demyan Kudryavtsev. The Ministry of Justice said in a statement that he opposed the military operation in Ukraine, took part in the creation and distribution of materials from foreign agents or undesirable organizations recognized in Russia, and also disseminated "inaccurate information about decisions taken by the public authorities of the Russian Federation and their policies."^[1]

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