OLX Group leaves Russia, but Avito remains as a separate company

OLX Group has decided to stop any operations in Russia and separate the company Avito, as announced on the company’s website.

• Now the process of separation is underway, after which two independent entities will emerge. Avito will operate as a Russian company run by a local team with its own directors.
• Prosus, a Dutch multinational conglomerate company that owns OLX Group, has announced that it would have no day-to-day involvement in the operations of Avito and would neither invest. Also, Prosus said it would not seek to benefit economically from the interest in the company.
• Avito became part of OLX Group in 2013 — Naspers merged it with the Russian platforms OLX and Slando. Avito existed only in the single market, in the Russian Federation.
• OLX Ukraine states that it does not support the work of Avito and urges the parent company to leave the Russian Federation.

OLX Group and Prosus have decided to divest their company because Avito does not just continue to operate in the Russian Federation, ignoring the fact of war, but also helps to support it. On Avito, you can find ads hiring people for the war. Thus, Avito is a company that is a direct partner of the war in Ukraine.

By simply divesting Avito, but without having any effect on the platform’s internal policy that contributes to the deaths of Ukrainians, OLX Group and Prosus companies did not do enough. In general, it can be considered as transferring responsibility.