Veon is considering an acquisition of the OTT video service Megogo, reports Rbc.ru citing four undisclosed sources.
According to one of the sources, the OTT service has been valued at RUB 9 billion under the deal. According to another source, this is the price of the Russian business of Megogo only. If an agreement is reached, the acquisition contract could be signed within six months.
The founder and the CEO of Megogo Vladimir Borovik and a representative of Veon declined to comment.
Ukrainian businessman Borovik founded Megogo in 2011. Headquarters of the company are in Ukraine and it has branches in Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Azerbaijan. The company claims a monthly audience of 58 million users.
The Russian branch of Megogo is owned by the Cyprus company Magavin Enterprises. Revenues of Megogo totaled RUB 2 billion in 2019, and its net profit was RUB 74.6 million.
According to a study from Telecom Daily, revenues of legal Russian video services amounted to RUB 18.6 billion in the first half of this year, up by 56 percent year-on-year. Major market players by revenues were Ivi (23 percent), Okko (17 percent), YouTube (9 percent), Megogo (7 percent), Rostelecom (6 percent) and Amediateka 4 percent).
