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Arkady Volozh

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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Yurievich and the family name is Volozh.
Arkady Volozh
Аркадий Волож
Volozh in 2018
Born (1964-02-11) 11 February 1964 (age 60)
Guryev, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union (now Atyrau, Kazakhstan)
CitizenshipRussian, Maltese, Israeli
Alma materGubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forPrincipal founder and former CEO of Yandex
SpouseMarried
Children6

Arkady Yuryevich Volozh (Russian: Аркадий Юрьевич Волож; born 11 February 1964) is a Russian billionaire oligarch[1][2][3][4] and businessman,[5] technology entrepreneur, computer scientist, investor and philanthropist. He pioneered the development of search and navigation technology as well as intelligent products and services powered by machine learning. Volozh co-founded several IT enterprises, including CompTek, Arkadia, InfiNet and Yandex.

In June 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sanctions were imposed against Volozh and he then resigned from all his positions at Yandex.[5] In March 2024, Volozh was removed from the EU sanctions list.[6][7] In July 2024, the holding company that he leads, Nebius Group, sold its interest in Yandex.[8]

Volozh has lived in Tel Aviv with his family since 2014.

As of December 2024, he has a net worth of $1.5 billion, according to Forbes.[9]

Early life

[edit]

Volozh was born in Guryev, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union (now Atyrau, Kazakhstan) into a Russian-Jewish family.[10] His father was a petroleum geologist, and his mother was a music teacher.[11] He attended Republican School of Physics and Mathematics in Almaty, Kazakhstan,[12] and then studied applied mathematics at Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow, graduating in 1986.[9]

Career

[edit]
Arkady Volozh demonstrates Yandex's driverless car prototype to Vladimir Putin at Yandex HQ in 2017

Volozh is a serial entrepreneur with a background in computer science. After working at a state pipeline research institute, he started a small business importing personal computers from Austria. He went on to co-found several IT enterprises besides Yandex, including a Russian provider of wireless networking technology InfiNet Wireless, and CompTek International, one of the largest distributors of network and telecommunications equipment in Russia.[13]

Volozh co-founded CompTek in 1989. He also started working on search in 1989, which led to him establishing Arkadia Company in 1990. The company was developing search software. In 1993, Arkady Volozh and Ilya Segalovich developed a search engine for "non-structured information with Russian morphology".[14]

Arkady co-founded Yandex in 1997, later leaving his position as CEO of CompTek International to become the CEO of Yandex in 2000.[15]

Yandex, a Nasdaq listed company, developed, and offered a variety of technologies and services under Volozh, in the fields of Ecommerce, navigation, mobility, autonomous vehicles, payments, music, emails and more.[16] The Yandex IPO in 2011 was the largest one until then, after the Google IPO in 2004.[17] In November 2021 the company was valued at 30 billion dollars.[18]

As part of a larger effort to spread machine learning, Volozh and the Yandex team established the Yandex School of Data Analysis in 2007, offering a free master's level program in data science. The program has grown to include six branches, online courses, and other learning programs through multiple partnerships. In 2018, the school opened a branch in Tel Aviv to launch a one-year career advancement program in machine learning.[19][20]

In June 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sanctions were imposed against Volozh and he then resigned from all his positions at Yandex.[5] In March 2024, Volozh was removed from the EU sanctions list.[6][7] In July 2024, the holding company that he leads, Nebius Group, sold its interest in Yandex.[8]

He then began using his expertise in managing infrastructure for a large technology company to expand the capabilities of Nebius Group to manage the computing demands for other large technology companies.[21]

Life in Israel

[edit]

In 2014, following the Russian annexation of Crimea, Volozh moved to Tel-Aviv, Israel, where he lives with his family.[22] His parents also moved to Israel the same year.[23] Volozh's connection to Israel began even long before that; from 2010 to 2012 he served as a board member of Face.com, an Israeli facial-recognition company which was sold to Facebook in 2012. Volozh was also an investor in the company.[24] From 2015 to 2020 he served as a board member of NeuroSteer, an Israeli company that specialized in brain signal processing and big data analysis.[25] He later moved on to launch a series of services in Israel as well as opening an office and an R&D center in the country. In an interview in 2019 Volozh stated that Israel is a very attractive country, first and foremost because of its human potential, but also because of its role in the global economy.[26] Volozh also frequently appears in professional technological conventions and forums in Israel.

According to Agentstvo, the website of Volozh described him as "a Kazakhstan-born, Israeli tech entrepreneur, computer scientist, investor, and philanthropist" and did not mention his Russian background. Yandex was described as "one of the largest internet companies in Europe" and its Russian origins were not mentioned.[27] Kyiv Post, citing Wikiganda, argues that Volozh deleted some elements related to his past life in Russia on his Wikipedia page using an IP address.[28]

Subsequently, on 10 August, Volozh made a statement against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, describing it as "barbaric".[29] He also stated that although he moved to Israel in 2014, he has to take his share of responsibility for the country's actions.[30][31]

Personal life

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He is married to Irina Volozh, whom he met while studying at the institute; they have 6 children.[9] His son Lev Volozh is a founder of MoscowFresh and a former manager of the Yandex Taxi service. His son Timofey Volozh is involved in music.[32] His daughter Anna-Ester runs the Dragonbee animation agency.[33]

In 2016, Volozh applied for and received Maltese citizenship through its investment program.[34]

As of 2022 Volozh lives in Tel Aviv with his family, and is an Israeli citizen.[11]

In June 2022, Volozh was sanctioned by European Union.[35] In February 2024, the European Union decided not to extend sanctions against Volozh.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Hogg, Ryan. "Russian tech billionaire wants sanctions lifted after he criticized Ukraine invasion, report says". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  2. ^ Goodyear, Sheena. "Judge says squatters can stay in Russian oligarch's Amsterdam mansion". www.cbc.ca.
  3. ^ Starobin, Paul. "Is Russia's Largest Tech Company Too Big to Fail?". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 22 July 2024. In short, he's the opposite of the stereotypically boastful, political knife-fighting Russian oligarch.
  4. ^ Jankowicz, Mia. "Squatters who took over a sanctioned Russian oligarch's mansion are told by judge they can stay". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b c "The Internet Pioneer Brought Low as Kremlin Ally by EU Sanctions". Bloomberg.com. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  6. ^ a b Meaker, Morgan (12 March 2024). "Europe Lifts Sanctions on Yandex Cofounder Arkady Volozh". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028.
  7. ^ a b c Baczynska, Gabriela; Payne, Julia (22 February 2024). "EU to lift sanctions slapped on two Russians, one Slovak over Ukraine war, diplomats say". Reuters.
  8. ^ a b "Yandex NV renamed Nebius Group after Russia split". Reuters. 16 August 2024.
  9. ^ a b c "Arkady Volozh". Forbes.
  10. ^ Kartintseva, Varvara (20 June 2018). "Кем были предки Тинькова, Касперского, Дурова, Воложа и Овчинникова — Офтоп на vc.ru". vc.ru. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  11. ^ a b Starobin, Paul (22 March 2022). "Is Russia's Largest Tech Company Too Big to Fail?". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  12. ^ "Миллиарды "Яндекса". В процессе поиска". forbes.ru. 18 March 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  13. ^ "Arkady Volozh". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  14. ^ Andy Atkins-Krüger, Search Engine Land. Yandex: Not Copying But Searching For Google's Underbelly. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
  15. ^ Management team Archived 5 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Yandex corporate site. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
  16. ^ Gershkovich, Evan (19 August 2020). "The uneasy coexistence of Yandex and the Kremlin". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  17. ^ "ענקית החיפוש יאנדקס זינקה ב-56% ביום הראשון למסחר: "אנחנו יותר טובים מגוגל" - בעולם".
  18. ^ "הסנקציות נגד מנכ"ל יאנדקס מקרבות את הלהבות לישראל | כלכליסט". 17 March 2022.
  19. ^ Zyrianova, Anastasia (14 September 2018). "The IT behemoth that you might have never heard of". BBC News. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  20. ^ Wenkert, Amarelle (23 January 2018). "Yandex Partners With Tel Aviv University to Launch AI Study Program, Scholarships". calcalistech.com. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  21. ^ Sawers, Paul (21 July 2024). "From Yandex's ashes comes Nebius, a 'startup' with plans to be a European AI compute leader". TechCrunch.
  22. ^ Mandelbaum, Yiftach (27 April 2023). "What's the founder of "the Russian Google" doing in Israel?". Globes.
  23. ^ "Arkady Volozh, Co-Founder and CEO, Yandexwith Hila Korach, Senior Journalist & Summit's MC". YouTube. 19 November 2021.
  24. ^ "Facebook set to buy Face.com for $80-100m - Globes". en.globes.co.il. 30 May 2012.
  25. ^ "Arkady Volozh - Co-founder and CEO - Nebius Group | LinkedIn".
  26. ^ ""לא באנו לפה בגלל המוניות. באנו בשביל המוחות"". 12 July 2019.
  27. ^ "Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh updates his entrepreneurial bio. Russia shrinks to marginal mention". meduza.io. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  28. ^ "Russian Billionaires Try to Hide Ties with Kremlin by Editing Wikipedia Pages". Kyiv Post. 15 April 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  29. ^ Sauer, Pjotr (10 August 2023). "Co-founder of Russian tech giant Yandex condemns 'barbaric' war". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  30. ^ "'I have to take my share of responsibility': billionaire tech executive and Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh clarifies his political position". Meduza. 10 August 2023.
  31. ^ "Yandex Co-Founder Arkady Volozh Condemns 'Barbaric' War in Ukraine". The Moscow Times. 10 August 2023.
  32. ^ "Upcoming Releases". Tinnitist. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  33. ^ "Exclusive Interview With 'Johanne' Director Anna-Ester Volozh". Ros Gilman. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  34. ^ "Основатель "Яндекса" Аркадий Волож купил гражданство Мальты". Meduza. 10 January 2018.
  35. ^ Eur-lex-europa: Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/883 of 3 June 2022 amending Decision 2014/145/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, June 2022
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