Russian Giant Yandex Revenues up 55% in Q2, Boosted by Strong Classifieds Performance

Yandex, "Russia's Google", released its Q2 numbers yesterday with significant revenue YoY revenue growth and strong classifieds performance.

Highlights include:

• Group Revenue of ₽182Bn ($2Bn), up 55% YoY
• Group Adjusted EBITDA down 4% YoY
• Net income ₽14Bn ($161M), up 82% YoY

For Classifieds:

• Revenues of ₽5.6Bn ($61M), up 117% YoY, driven by auto trading
• Adjusted EBITDA loss of ₽46M ($510,000)

Yandex is a vast and multi-faceted search engine offering classifieds, music streaming, video gaming and more—with an estimated 4.5Bn ads created every single day worldwide.

The Group's classifieds segment more than doubled its quarterly revenues YoY. However, Yandex's Autos business (auto.ru) drove the boost —not real estate (Yandex Realty and Yandex Rent)—as the autos market returned to normal after suffering depressed conditions in 2022.

As expected, geopolitical tensions driven by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine are muddying the water for Yandex. In June of this year, the company received good news that it will retain its status as a Nasdaq-listed company on the condition that it divest itself from Russian business interests by the end of the year. Yandex is now attracting interest from industrial investors Vladimir Potanin and Vagit Alekperov with the billionaire businessmen among the bidders for assets more than $14Bn. This divestment could net Yandex shareholders roughly $7Bn if and when the sales go through.

Meanwhile, a trading freeze implemented in February 2022 is still in place.