Yandex Labs CEO Vish Makhijani, a former Yahoo executive, will be leaving his operational role at the company, we’ve learned, and will be taking a new “senior operating role” at fast growing Zynga. He’ll start at Zynga in June and will join the Yandex board of directors.
Makhijani joined Yandex, the largest Russian search engine, in June 2008, less than a year ago, to create Yandex Labs. The labs group is a Silicon Valley based tech and business development project with ten or so employees. Arkady Borkovsky, currently CTO of Yandex Labs, will be taking over the group.
It’s a little unusual that Makhijani would leave Yandex so soon after joining, given how well the company is doing. They filed to go public late last year on 2008 revenues of more than $300 million, but later pulled the registration statement. The company has 1,700 employees.
But Makhijani says he’ll continue to work with Yandex at the board level, and has accomplished much of what he set out to do with Yandex Labs. And he’s exciting about working with Zynga, which is clearly on IPO or big buyout track itself with annual revenue in the $100 million range.
Prior to Yandex Makhijani was SVP and General Manager of the Yahoo Search Group. He left amid the general chaos at Yahoo last year.
that was fast
first
not first
failed!!!!
Yandex Founded: September 1, 1978 ??
yeah, he had enough time to sign an office lease, hire a few employees, buy some office supplies and…that’s about it. Mission accomplished Vish!
Once he’s finished there will he be starting at the A’s again? Apple? Then Bebo or something?
That’s really funny how you caught that.
Craigslist often tells me that it’s spelled “Zynga!”
Italics are left as an exercise for the reader.
yaawn
George, If you don’t have anything to write, writing something stupid like YAWN just makes you look like a retard. And it is not a good idea especially when you are promoting your company using your Twitter link.
i don’t think i offended anyone by expressing my sentiment that this article almost made me fall asleep. input about an article is very useful. i was amused by your name calling though. you should really lighten up.
Zynga’s revenue growth is very impressive
“And he’s exciting about working with Zynga”
I don’t find him particularly exciting.
what’s with the goat and the polished head? Is he in the Oakland A’s farm system?
It’s not surprise me a lot since I’m living in Russia Yandex had a strong wish to do IPO not for money (cashflow Yandex made annually is enough for it’s shareholders) but to obtain an independence from government authorities and importunate representatives Every internet enterprise (and not internet obviously) here, when it became big enough, starts feeling such pressure from various extortioners until go under control of those guys So companies are trying to go outer or insure to prevent this attention (mail.ru is now controlling by south african investment company, yandex trying to go IPO, Begun go for Google’s covering)
as you remember had been called to support IPO on Yandex side Now, in view of recent developments, his services are not to demanded
But such behavior is not suitable for government and it makes its own moves For example Russian counterpart of FTC banned the acquisition deal between Google and Begun, then president Medvedev made a claim that some companies of Internet industry are… strategic and he is not to happy when they comes under global corporations who can potentially control this new media in future… then Yandex denied their plans to go IPO (additionally financial markets crisis enacted surely) and offered the “golden share” to a biggest government bank
Comrad Makhijani
Yandex recently has proven to be a KGB branch. FSB ( KGB) is authorized to read all mail sent through yandex, intercept all payments. There are Russian sites that suffered from Yandex- KGB terror and a great number of people whose private information was sold by yandex