Russian tech giant Yandex on Monday announced plans to create a Public Interest Foundation within its corporate governance structure granting it the company's priority share and thereby a say in decision making on certain matters, including user data protection and partnerships with foreign entities
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2019) Russian tech giant Yandex on Monday announced plans to create a Public Interest Foundation within its corporate governance structure granting it the company's priority share and thereby a say in decision making on certain matters, including user data protection and partnerships with foreign entities.
"The amendments include the creation of a Public Interest Foundation (PIF), with no economic rights, but with certain limited governance rights. The Company's Priority Share, currently held by Sberbank, will be transferred to the PIF and its terms will be amended," Yandex said in a statement.
The amended priority share will "give the PIF the right to block the accumulation by a single entity, or a group of related parties acting in concert, of shares representing 10% or more of economic or voting interests in Yandex (compared with the current threshold of 25%)," according to the tech giant.
The PIF will also be able to make binding nominations of two members of the Yandex NV twelve-person board.
The directors nominated by the foundation will also enter a newly-created Public Interest Committee of the Yandex NV Board, which will have oversight of such issues as the sale or transfer of Russian users' personal data to foreign entities, Yandex policies on protection of Russian users' personal data and entry into international agreements.
The foundation, however, will have no economic rights.
"The PIF will be governed by a board comprising 11 directors, including representatives from five leading Russian universities (Higher school of Economics, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow State University, St Petersburg State University and the St Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics) and three non-governmental institutions (the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), Moscow School of Management Skolkovo and the Endowment of Moscow School #57)," Yandex said.
The board will also include three representatives of the tech giant's management.
The proposed amendments are yet to be approved at a meeting of the Class A shareholders and an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders, slated for December 20.
