Gazprom-Media (Russian:ОАО Газпром-Медиа) is a Russian mediaholding company established in January 1998 as a subsidiary of Gazprom Media Holdings.[2] It and its parent company are subsidiaries ofGazprom, a large Russian oil and gas company founded in 1989 that is majority owned by theFederal Government of Russia which owns a 50.23% controlling stake in Gazprom.[3][4] The group owns more than 38 television channels and 10 radio stations.
After taking over Media Most in 2000, Gazprom-Media received assets and personnel fromFilipp Bobkov's dissolved Fifth Chief Directorate of theKGB,[a] including its thousands of employees, its database, and the security service founded by Bobkov that had been accused of attempting to assassinateBoris Berezovsky in 1994.[8][9] The directorate's entire archive had been taken to Media Most.[10] In 2000, Bobkov created the Institute of Strategic Studies and Analysis (ISSA), a joint stock company. It was led byVaqif Hüseynov [ru], the former head of the KGB in Azerbaijan, and operated as athink tank and successor to Media Most's security department.Vladimir Zhizhin [ru] chaired the ISSA's board of directors from 2001 to 2002.[11][12][b]
In 2005, Gazprom-Media purchasedIzvestia, a national daily newspaper.[4] In May 2008, theNational Media Group bought a 50.19% stake inIzvestia from Gazprom-Media.[14][c]
In August 2005, Gazprom-Media Holdings was sold toGazprombank for 37.22 billion rubles. In 2012, Gazprombank's ownership was split betweenGazprom with a 41.73% stake and NPFGazfond with a 46.92% stake.[4][2][16] Most of Gazfond's stake was managed by the financial companyLider [ru]. As a part of theSOGAZ insurance company, Lider had been controlled byRossiya Bank, whose largest shareholder wasYuri Kovalchuk, an associate ofVladimir Putin.[2][16][17] In March 2014, Rossiya Bank sold its indirect control of Lider to Gazfond, which now owns a 45% stake in Lider.[16] Since 2003, Gazfond's president has beenYuri Shamalov, who is also the deputy chairman of Gazprombank.[18][16]
^National Media Group was founded in February 2008. Investors includeSeverstal with a 26% stake as of 2009, Rossiya Bank with a 35.5% stake at the end of 2012, SOGAZ with a 21.22% stake as of 2015, andSurgutneftegas with a 23.98% stake as of 30 March 2016.[citation needed] Since 2014, the National Media Group has been chaired byAlina Kabaeva, who has a strong relationship withVladimir Putin.[15]
^Цвик, В. (Tsvik, V.); Качкаева, А. (Kachkaeva, A.)."Реформы в обществе и на телевидении" [Reforms in society and on television].tvmuseum.ru website (in Russian). Archived from the original on 11 November 2007. Retrieved20 February 2021.See sectionТелевидение, власть и капитал (Television, power and capital) on page 5.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Медиа-Мост: История" [Media Most: History].Медиа-Мост (mediamost.ru) (in Russian). August 2000. Archived fromthe original on 18 August 2000. Retrieved20 August 2021.
^Григорьев, Андрей (Grigoriev, Andrei) (28 March 2000).Аполитичный Гусинский. Apolitical Gusinsky. (in Russian).«Компания» — деловой еженедельник (Company).Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
^Смирнов, Алексей (Smirnov, Alexey) (24 September 2010)."ндал, шитый клейкой лентой" [Scandel sewn with duct tape].Novye Izvestia (in Russian). Archived fromthe original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved20 February 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
