BCG Donates €300k to Ukraine Charities While Cian and Yandex Plummet as Invasion Affects Online Classifieds Companies

The Lithuania-based online classifieds operators Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) announced today that it would be donating €300k to charities working to alleviate the suffering in Ukraine amid an ongoing Russian invasion.

The group, which operates leading real estate portals across Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, has donated €100k to the Red Cross as well as €100k to Blue and Yellow, the Vilnius-based NGO which provides support for Ukrainian civilians as well as its armed forces. The group also plans to donate a further €100k to other charities working in the region.

Elsewhere, Russian online classifieds operators Yandex and CIAN have seen their share prices plummet as the war in Ukraine continues to have disastrous financial consequences for Russian businesses.

Leading real estate vertical operator CIAN made its debut on the NYSE back in November in a liquidity event that brought the company $290 million. Since its debut, the stock has struggled against market forces and since the beginning of the invasion, CIAN has seen its price drop as low as $3.25, more than 80% down from its float price.

In addition to facing pressure from the Russian government over its search results, search giant Yandex (which also operates several online classifieds titles) is facing similar value issues as investors jump ship. The stock closed at $18.94 dollars overnight as the company's value dropped to levels not seen since late 2017.

Credit: Google Finance 01/03/22