Yandex plans to sell taxi service Yango Israel – Kommersant

Yandex is negotiating the sale of its Yango Israel service, a local publication reports. Calcalist. It is clarified that the sale of the service is connected with the decision of the Russian government, which decided from September 1 to provide the FSB with round-the-clock remote access to the information databases of taxi aggregators.

Among the applicants for the purchase of Yango Israel, the publication names an Israeli businessman, the owner of the Jerusalem football club “Beitar” Barak Abramov. However, according to Calcalist sources, following the results of negotiations between Yandex and Mr. Abramov, the deal was never agreed upon. The interlocutors of the publication reported that Yandex is currently continuing to negotiate the sale of Yango Israel with other businessmen. At the same time, Yandex itself denies plans to sell Yango.

Calcalist notes that selling Yango to an Israeli company or local businessman would sever the company’s ties to Russia. This, in turn, will make the service more competitive. In Israel, under the Yango brand, taxis, the Yango Wind kickshare service, and the Yango Deli delivery service operate. In total, Yango Israel employs about 400 people – this number does not include couriers from the delivery service – and about 5.5 thousand taxi drivers with whom Yango cooperates.

July 7 Russian government decided to provide the FSB with round-the-clock remote access to the information databases of taxi aggregators from September 1, 2023. Previously, information about the geolocation and means of payment of passengers could be transmitted only upon request.

8 August Finnish Data Protection Commissioner Anu Talus banned transfer to Russia the data of users of the Yango taxi service. After that, in “Yandex Taxi” declaredthat Russian law enforcement agencies do not have access to the data of foreign users.

Milena Kostereva