Longtime CEO Vladimir Pravdivy to Leave Russian Horizontal Avito to Prioritize Family and Health

The Russian generalist classifieds player Avito has announced that long-serving CEO Vladimir Pravdivy (below) is to leave the company to focus on his family and personal health.

According to a company blog post, Pravdivy will step down on the 29th of April and hand over operations to the company board with Ivan Guz overseeing business development and Sergey Piven taking charge of business support.

Pravdivy, who has been with Avito for over nine years, expressed his pride in the company's achievements during his tenure, including a 30-fold increase in revenue and becoming the world's number one.

“I have been managing Avito for more than 9 years - a lifetime of emotions, challenges and achievements - 30 times growth in revenue and reaching the No. 1 position in the world. It was a marathon at a sprint pace, and the last 3 years have been the most difficult, but also the most successful. I am very proud of these results, especially the team that I managed to grow and what we have achieved together.

I am a player-coach, not an artifact. A CEO who has been working for more than 10 years in one company is a rare case. I know that I am leaving Avito in the safe hands of a large and close-knit team of 6,000 people. I am sure that she has the support of the shareholder in the most ambitious and breakthrough plans.

Now I have to focus on my family and my own health. Once I took over the company from the founders Philip and Jonas, and treated Avito like a child. A child who is now grown and strong, while my own children are still growing. Then I'll think about what's next. And what should be the new story that will inspire me just like Avito.”

Avito's founder and shareholder, Ivan Tavrin, praised Pravdivy's leadership and said that the company was in its best shape today, thanks to him and the team. He added that the decision to leave when the company was on solid ground was a testament to Pravdivy's character.

Avito is Russia's leading classifieds player and competes with vertical portal Cian in real estate. The company's real estate operations tend to be strongest outside the richer urban centres that Cian tends to dominate.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine Avito was sold by former owner Prosus for $2.5 billion to Kismet Capital Group, a company founded by Ivan Tavrin former CEO of the MegaFon telecoms company and close ally of the Kremlin-linked oligarch Alisher Usmanov.

Avito has been moving away from a centralized management model to a more vertical decision-making approach. The company stated that the Management Board will continue to develop the overall strategy and budget, while the Avito Board will make key decisions in their respective business units.

Pravdivy's departure marks the end of an era at Avito, but the company's leadership is confident in its ability to continue to thrive and maintain its unique culture.