Key top managers Marina Krasnova and Alexander Tobol left VKontakte

The general and technical director of VKontakte Marina Krasnova and Alexander Tobol left the company. According to Kommersant’s information, Marketing and Development Director Alexander Volodin also left. As a result, the entire social network management system will change: the operational management will be transferred to a certain collegial body, which will include managers of VKontakte and VK groups. Kommersant’s sources explain the changes by a difference in views on the further development of VKontakte between its own management and the parent holding VK.

VK announced about the departure of VKontakte CEO Marina Krasnova and the creation of a “management team” – a collegial body that will be responsible for the operational activities and development of the social network. According to the group, it will include representatives of the management of VKontakte and the VK group. The latter refused to disclose to Kommersant the list of team members.

Also, Alexander Tobol, vice president for technology and development of VK, left his post, combining this position with the position of technical director of VKontakte. The departed top managers, according to VK, will take up some kind of “own project”. A Kommersant source familiar with the situation in VK specified that the director of marketing and development of VKontakte, Alexander Volodin, also left the company. VK refused to comment on this information, Mr. Volodin did not answer “Kommersant”.

VK (until October 2022 – Mail.ru Group) already has experience in creating collegial governing bodies. So, simultaneously with the appointment of Ms. Krasnova as the general director of VKontakte, the group announced the creation of a strategic council that was supposed to plan the development of this social network and Odnoklassniki. Since then, there has been no public information about the work of the council.

A Kommersant source close to the Ministry of Digital Development notes that the departure of Marina Krasnova and Alexander Tobol “came as a surprise.”

“In fact, they were responsible for the development of the holding’s video services, which are now a priority for VK,” adds the interlocutor of Kommersant. “The company planned a large-scale update in the near future.”

The interlocutor of Kommersant, close to VK, notes that VKontakte “always stood somewhat autonomously from the holding, the main office of the social network is located in St. Petersburg, and only about 2 thousand people work there.” The management of VKontakte, the source of Kommersant adds, “traditionally had weight in decision-making, since without an add-on in the form of a social network, it is impossible to promote other services that the holding develops: it provides the main traffic.”

Marina Krasnova led the social network even before the arrival of a new team led by Vladimir Kiriyenko at VK, Kommersant’s interlocutor emphasizes: “Their views on the further development of the social network and individual services of the holding could diverge. Most likely, the change of leadership has become the only option to fully integrate the social network into the complex corporate structure of the holding with a large number of interested parties.”

Kommersant’s source in the market doubts the effectiveness of collegial management: “Such a large structure requires a separate leader.”

However, Leonid Delitsyn, an analyst at FG Finam, calls VKontakte “a sufficiently mature structure to be managed by a collegial body.” “They successfully maintain their share of the audience, although Telegram has benefited to a greater extent from the change in the political situation,” the analyst added.

The first persons, according to Mr. Delitsyn, play a more significant role in the beginning of the company’s formation: “In the case of VKontakte, these were the visionaries Pavel and Nikolai Durov. Mail.ru Group has since mostly tried to keep the legacy.”

Yuri Litvinenko, Yulia Tishina, Vadim Krasnikov