Wikipedia

YooMoney

YooMoney branded as ЮMoney, (formerly Yandex.Money) is an e-commerce payment system. It is 100% owned by Sberbank and operates in Russia and nearby countries.

YooMoney
Native name
ЮMoney
FormerlyYandex.Money
FoundedJuly 24, 2002; 23 years ago (2002-07-24)
Key people
Ivan Glazachev, CEO
ServicesE-commerce payment system
OwnerSberbank
Websiteyoomoney.ru

The company's headquarters are in Moscow. It has branch offices in Saint Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod.

History

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The service was launched in 2002 as Yandex.Money (Russian: Яндекс.Деньги) by Yandex via a partnership with PayCash formed in 2000.[1][2] In March 2007, Yandex acquired full ownership of the service.[1][3] In March 2011, the service expanded to Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.[2]

Beginning in February 2012, users were able to transfer money to Visa or Mastercard accounts.[4] Also in February 2012, Yandex.Money became the preferred payment method in the Opera Mobile Store.[5] In April 2012, Yandex Money began issuing debit cards on the Mastercard network.[6][7][8] In October 2012, the company enabled making card payments via a miniature point of sale terminal attached to a user's smartphone.[9]

In July 2013, Sberbank acquired a 75% interest in Yandex.Money for $60 million, while Yandex retained a 25% interest.[10] In 2013, the Yandex.Checkout service was launched (later rebranded as YooKassa).[11][12] In May 2014, Yandex.Money was integrated as a payment option for merchants using Skrill.[13] In October 2014, Nintendo began selling games via digital distribution through the service.[14]

In April 2016, the service began allowing near-field communication payments via its mobile app.[15] In July 2016, the service launched payments via Apple Watch.[16][17] In October 2016, the service began allowing payments via iMessage.[18][19] In November 2016, the service began working with Apple Pay.[20]

In March 2017, Ivan Glazachev became CEO of the service.[21][22] In November 2017, the service launched Yandex.Gas, allowing users to pay for gas remotely, without leaving their cars.[23]

In March 2019, the service began allowing for accounts holding 10 major currencies; the service automatically determines the best currency in which to make a payment.[24][25][26] In July 2019, the service launched "Ya.Streamer", allowing users to collect donations via streaming platforms, such as YouTube, Twitch, Smashcast, CyberHero, WASD.TV, Odnoklassniki, VK, Facebook, OBS Studio, and XSplit.[27]

In 2020, Sberbank acquired 100% of the service and it was rebranded to YooMoney.[28][29][30]

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In 2011, the Federal Security Service required the company to disclose details of people who contributed to organizations run by Alexei Navalny, a leader of the opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia.[31][32] As required by law, the company disclosed information for 100 contributors who used the service.[33]

In 2016, the government of Russia allegedly put pressure on the company to close accounts used to raise money for Alexei Navalny.[34] The Russian Central Bank denied the allegations.[35]

In April 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury initiated sanctions on the service as part of international sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[36]

References

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  1. 1 2 "Yandex Becomes the Sole-Owner of Yandex.Money" (Press release). Yandex. 30 March 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  2. 1 2 O'Hear, Steve (15 March 2011). "Russian search engine Yandex expands its PayPal-competitor to CIS countries". TechCrunch. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  3. ↑ Shipilova, Elena (24 December 2012). "Government embraces Yandex". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  4. ↑ "Yandex.Money Enables Funds Transfers to Visa or MasterCard Accounts". Yandex (Press release). 9 February 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  5. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (28 February 2012). "Opera Takes Over Payments In Its App Store; Inks Deal With Yandex In Russia". TechCrunch. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  6. ↑ "Yandex.Money Launches Debit Card" (Press release). GlobeNewswire. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  7. ↑ Nielsen, Rachel (17 April 2012). "Yandex Electronic Payments System Adds MasterCard Plastic". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  8. ↑ Bryant, Martin SFP (17 April 2012). "Russian Internet giant Yandex takes its online wallet offline with the launch of debit cards". The Next Web. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  9. ↑ Golitsyna, Anastasia (31 October 2012). "Yandex.Money to turn smartphones into POS terminals". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  10. ↑ "Sberbank: Yandex and Sberbank of Russia Finalise Yandex.Money Joint Venture". EQS News. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
    Henni, Adrien (9 August 2017). "Yandex and Sberbank announce $500 million joint venture to create 'leading ecommerce ecosystem' in Russia". VentureBeat. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
    Degeler, Andrii (19 December 2012). "Yandex sells 75% of its online payment service to Russia's largest bank Sberbank for $60 million". The Next Web. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  11. ↑ "Scan and pay: Yandex wants QR codes everywhere". Industry Dive. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
    Patel, Manisha (11 November 2016). "Yandex.Checkout to strengthen collaboration with Chinese online retailers". The Fintech Times. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
    O’Carroll, Lisa (3 June 2026). "link hi88". Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  12. ↑ "Yandex.Checkout launches QR-code payment feature". Electronic Payments International. 1 August 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  13. ↑ "Skrill To Launch In Russia". Pymnts. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  14. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (3 October 2014). "Nintendo starts selling digital games in Russia through Yandex". VentureBeat. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  15. ↑ "Yandex.Money adds NFC payments to mobile app". Finextra. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  16. ↑ "Yandex.Money to Launch Payments via Apple Watch". PaymentsJournal. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  17. ↑ "Russia's Yandex Money adds Apple Watch support". Industry Dive. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  18. ↑ "Yandex.Money joins mobile messaging revolution". FinExtra. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  19. ↑ "Yandex.Money introduces money transfers via iMessage". East-West Digital News. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  20. ↑ Patel, Manisha (7 November 2016). "Yandex.Money Brings Apple Pay to Customers in Russia". The Fintech Times. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  21. ↑ "Executive Spotlight Series with Ivan Glazachev, CEO of Yandex.Money". Payments Journal. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  22. ↑ "Yandex Money brings bankers onboard". Finextra. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  23. ↑ "Yandex.Money to Enable Online Payment for Gas With an App". PaymentsJournal. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  24. ↑ "Yandex.Money goes multicurrency". Finextra. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  25. ↑ Blakey, Douglas (28 March 2019). "Yandex Money multi-currency service launches". Electronic Payments International. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  26. ↑ "Yandex.Money Targets Freelancers With Multi-Currency Solution". Pymnts. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  27. ↑ "Yandex.Money enters streaming donations market via Ya.Stream — a good sign for the market". 12 July 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2026 – via Medium.
  28. ↑ "Now fully owned by Sber, Yandex.Checkout rebrands to 'YooMoney'". bne IntelliNews. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  29. ↑ Henni, Adrien (2 July 2020). "Yandex and Sberbank Finalize Divorce". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  30. ↑ "Yandex and Sberbank agree to reorganize Yandex.Market and Yandex.Money" (Press release). GlobeNewswire. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  31. ↑ Starobin, Paul (22 March 2022). "Is Russia's Largest Tech Company Too Big to Fail?". Wired. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  32. ↑ Antoniuk, Daryna (9 August 2023). "Regulators fear Russia could access Yandex taxi data from Europe, Central Asia". Recorded Future. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  33. ↑ Mauldin, Ira Iosebashvili And William (3 May 2011). "Russian Search Firm Yandex Feels Pressure From Security Service". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  34. ↑ Stanovaya, Tatiana (27 November 2019). "Yandex Is Safe for Now, but Kremlin Compromise Is Fragile". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  35. ↑ "Russian Central Bank Denies Interfering With Alexey Navalny's Election Fundraising". The Moscow Times. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  36. ↑ "U.S. Treasury Escalates Sanctions on Russia for Its Atrocities in Ukraine" (Press release). United States Department of the Treasury. 6 April 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
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