“Svyaznoy” changed management

The president of the Svyaznoy network was replaced – Alexei Vukolov, who had worked in this position for less than a year, was replaced by Andrey Taraburin, a former member of the board of directors of Svyaznoy Bank JSC. Dagmara Ivanova, who previously worked at Svyaznoy, has been appointed Executive Director of the network. The new management should change the retailer’s strategy: in February, the chain initiated its own bankruptcy due to debts of more than 15 billion rubles. But experts doubt that the change of leadership will help the company get out of the crisis: it has long been difficult for it to compete with other networks in terms of assortment, and in the current situation, device manufacturers are unlikely to want to work on exclusive terms.

Kommersant has read a letter to Svyaznoy employees dated March 10, which refers to the appointment of Andrei Taraburin as the company’s president. He replaced Alexei Vukolov, who headed Svyaznoy less than a year ago, in May 2022. In the new role, Andrey Taraburin’s priority tasks “will be the stabilization of the company’s business,” the letter says. Previously, Mr. Taraburin was a member of the board of directors of Svyaznoy Bank JSC, which closed in 2015.

The day before, on March 9, the retailer’s employees also received a letter of appointment to the position of executive director of Dagmara Ivanova, who was previously the managing director of M.Video-Eldorado, and before that, the senior vice president of Svyaznoy. Ms. Ivanova’s letter of welcome notes that Svyaznoy “is going through an extremely difficult period in its history, the situation is complicated by high turbulence in the market.” Dagmara Ivanova noted that “in order to return the company’s efficiency, it is necessary to abandon the existing business model.” What exactly is planned to change, is not specified. Two Kommersant sources close to Svyaznoy confirmed the change in leadership. Dagmar Ivanova declined to comment. In “Svyaznoy” they did not answer “Kommersant”.

Earlier, Svyaznoy initiated its own bankruptcy due to debts of more than 15 billion rubles, among the creditors are Alfa-Bank, Sovcombank, electronics distributor Merlion, VimpelCom, Citylink and others (see “Kommersant” dated February 14 ). In 2021, the company’s revenue amounted to 105 billion rubles, net profit – 15 million rubles.

A Kommersant source close to the company notes that before leaving Svyaznoy, Dagmar Ivanova was engaged in improving business efficiency, during her work, in particular, the retailer had a contract with Apple: “Besides, she is a person from the team of Oleg Malis, and now, most likely, returned at his request to try to save the company. According to the interlocutor, the management of Svyaznoy until 2018 was built “exclusively in manual mode.” “Oleg Malis tried to control all the processes himself, so the company often changed directors,” says the interlocutor of Kommersant. He believes that Svyaznoy worked best in 2015 under the management of Michael Tach, but then Evgeny Davydovich replaced him, and “profits began to fall.”

TelecomDaily CEO Denis Kuskov does not believe in the successful revival of the Svyaznoy network. According to him, the company’s problems began long before the initiation of bankruptcy: “In 2022, the company closed its mono-brand CStore stores specializing in the sale of Apple products, now it is difficult for it to compete in device lines and prices with other retailers.” In addition, the expert adds, due to the current financial problems, it is unlikely that any of the manufacturers will want to conclude exclusive sales contracts with the network.

Timofey Kornev, Yulia Silence