Digital Sky Technologies Limited
Posted Wed, 01/09/2010 - 23:33
Russia's Digital Sky Technologies (DST) has taken complete ownership of Odnoklassniki.ru, acquiring the remaining 20% in the social networking site it did not already own. The stake was acquired from Albert Popkov, the site's founder.
Posted Fri, 23/07/2010 - 22:15
South Africa's Naspers Limited has announced an agreement to acquire a 28.7% stake in Digital Sky Technologies (DST) through a combination of two strategic investments. Through subsidiary Myriad International Holdings, Naspers will give DST its current 39.9% stake in Mail.ru as well as invest USD $388 million in cash. Other Mail.ru minority investors will also convert their shares to DST.
Posted Fri, 30/04/2010 - 11:07
After almost four months of negotiations with AOL, Digital Sky Technologies announced on 28 April they have reached a deal with the online to giant acquire ICQ for USD 187.5 million. As the leader in instant messaging in Russia, ICQ represents an opportunity for DST to strengthen its market position by providing a large new customer base for companies already in the DST portfolio.
Posted Fri, 23/04/2010 - 00:00
Recent speculation of Digital Sky Technologies' (DST) interest in an investment with Groupon have been realized as the company announced it has led the fourth round of funding for the U.S.-based collective shopping operation. The total amount raised in the round was USD 135 million, with DST contributing the lion's share. The remainder was provided by Battery Ventures, a private equity firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. Both new equity capital and share buyouts from previous investors and employees are included as part of the financing package.
Posted Sun, 18/04/2010 - 23:09
Russia's leading internet investor, Digital Sky Technologies (DST), finds itself on the receiving end of investment capital after China's Tencent spent significantly to purchase a minority share. Valuing DST at USD 3 billion, Tencent has invested USD 300 million for a 10.26% stake and voting power equal to .51%. The two companies are not strangers, having partnered in the past in a mutually beneficial project to help each one gain from the experience of the other in their respective markets. They also share a common investor in Naspers/MIH Group.
Posted Sun, 18/04/2010 - 00:00 by Invest-IQ Team
American "deal-of-the-day" retailer, Groupon, may be on the verge of a new round of funding based on a valuation estimated to be near USD 1.35 billion. Late last year the company raised USD 30 million, on a valuation of USD 250 million, from New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners. A lead investor for the new round has not been disclosed but speculation abounds that Digital Sky Technologies (DST) is a likely candidate. Last year DST invested in Facebook and Zynga, both of which are funded by Accel Partners.
Posted Wed, 14/04/2010 - 21:47 by Invest-IQ Team
Looking to complete the sale of ICQ and put it behind them, AOL has accepted the bids of a limited number potential buyers for the pioneer internet chat service. Though at least seven legitimate offers came in, AOL has narrowed the list of buyers to Russia's Digital Sky Technologies and ProfMedia, China's Tencent, and possibly one more which remains unnamed.
Posted Thu, 25/03/2010 - 13:56
Nival Network, the Russian online social gaming company, has scored a big round of financing which raises the company's post-money valuation to USD 32 million. As part of the deal previous investor 1C will contribute another USD 1 million, raising its stake to 26.56%; Digital Sky Technologies (DST) will invest USD 4 million for a 12.5% stake; and another USD 2 million will be added by Nival Group CEO Sergey Orlovskiy. Mr. Orlovskiy's share of the company will increase to 60.94%. With the online gaming market in Russia estimated to be worth more than USD 230 million last year, Nival Network could prove to be an exceptional investment for DST and 1C.
Posted Tue, 16/03/2010 - 15:14 by Invest-IQ Team
Looking for the next big internet wave to ride, Digital Sky Technologies (DST) is apparently looking at the website of a 17 year-old student from Moscow. Andrey Ternovskiy's Chatroulette.com is a video chat site whose daily usage is nearly 1.5 million users, an audience that has captured the attention of DST and other potential investors including Google, Skype, and Union Square Ventures. Mr. Ternovskiy has declined the offer for now, even as he prepares to travel to the U.S. to entertain offers from American investors. Industry estimates suggest the value of Chatroulette could be anywhere from USD 13.5 million to 40.5 million.
Posted Fri, 19/02/2010 - 21:45
Mail.ru co-owners Digital Sky Technologies (DST) and Naspers appear to be engaged in talks that could result in a merger of the two companies' social networking holdings in Poland. Russian-based DST owns a 75% stake in Nasza-Klasa.pl while the South African-based Naspers owns the Gadu Gadu instant messaging service.
Posted Thu, 07/01/2010 - 14:58
Nival Network, the Russian online gaming company owned by Nival Group, has secured significant venture capital financing which is expected to be dedicated to their newest project, Prime World. The USD 5 million deal was reached with unknown investors who see good potential in the Russian online gaming market, an industry that has received hundreds of millions of dollars in investment funding in recent years.
Posted Wed, 16/12/2009 - 23:24 by Invest-IQ Team
Fresh from a spin-off from Time Warner, AOL's Tim Armstrong is looking to sell the ICQ instant-messaging service for a possible USD 200 million to USD 300 million. Digital Sky Technologies, the global internet holding company, is currently engaged in negotiations with AOL though they are still in the early stages.
Posted Thu, 03/12/2009 - 17:43
Russia's leading internet portal, Mail.ru, has announced plans to acquire online gaming giant Astrum Online and merge the two companies. Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) recently gave Naspers, which owns a 43% stake in Mail.ru, the go-ahead to acquire between 38% and 100% of Astrum from majority shareholder Digital Sky Technologies.
Posted Wed, 18/11/2009 - 11:56
Russian internet investor Digital Sky Technologies (DST) has agreed to a deal enabling it to completely divest itself from Russia's Kinopoisk.ru web portal. DST has agreed to sell its 40% share the popular movie information site to French internet concern, AlloCiné. The remaining 60% will remain with Kinopoisk's founders, Vitaly Tatsiy and Dimitri Sukhanov. Though the price of the acquisition has not been disclosed, industry experts estimate it could be as much as ca. $2 million.
Posted Mon, 14/09/2009 - 12:20
Digital Sky Technologies acquired Russian internet portal Mail.ru in early 2009 and is now poised to merge it with another web giant, Astrum Online Entertainment. Astrum, best known for its Legend and Allods online role-playing games, has been working with DST since the spring to promote the new Legacy of the Dragons game. Financial details of the merger have not been disclosed.
Posted Fri, 12/06/2009 - 10:38
Yuri Milner, founding partner and CEO of Digital Sky Technologies (DST), has recently put forth the possibility of his company offering an IPO within the next three years. Specific dates have not been mentioned since market conditions will play a big role in the decision when the time comes. The company was recently valued at roughly $1 billion when Russia's Alisher Usmanov purchased a 2% share of DST from Renaissance Partners.
Posted Fri, 29/05/2009 - 10:05
Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has increased his stake in Digital Sky Technologies (DST), through a purchase of half of Renaissance Partners' 4% stake. Renaissance Partners, part of the international investment firm Renaissance Group, has been a shareholder in DST since 2007. Details of the purchase have not been released. The purchase increases Usmanov's stake from 30% to 32%.
Posted Wed, 27/05/2009 - 15:09
Facebook, the internationally known social-networking web site, has announced a deal bringing Digital Sky Technologies into the fold as a Facebook investor. The deal is structured as a purchase of USD 200 million in preferred stock, giving DST nearly a 2% stake in the company. Future plans, if realized, will see DST investing an additional USD 100 million for Facebook common stock. The investment deal is similar to the one Facebook struck with Microsoft in 2007. That deal was a USD 240 million purchase giving the Redmond based software giant a stake in Facebook equal to about 1.6%.
Posted Thu, 12/03/2009 - 01:00
A recent Quintura blog has turned up a story from Russian business daily Vedomosti, which reports an investment by Digital Sky Technologies in Sape.ru. The investment, of which the value and details have not been made public, was completed in early 2008 and gives Digital Sky a 25.1% stake in the Russian link exchange service.
Posted Mon, 02/02/2009 - 01:00
Digital Sky Technologies, the leading Russian Internet investor has acquired a minority stake in WinNER.
