Pavel Durov, the founder of Vkontakte, Russia’s equivalent of Facebook, has sold his 12% stake in the company to Ivan Tavrin for an unknown fee.
Local and agency reports say that Tavrin is a partner of Alisher Usmanov, the company’s second largest shareholder.
As a result of the sale, Usmanov and his partner now control 52% of Vkontakte, while United Capital Partners (UCP) remain the largest shareholder, with a 48% stake.
Vkontakte has 100 million users, compared to Facebook’s 13 million in Russia, and has been values at anything between $2.5 billion and $3 billion to $4 billion by various sources.