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| Formerly | VimpelCom Ltd. (2009–2017) |
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| Company type | Public |
| ISIN | BMG9349W1038 US91822M1062  |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Predecessor | PJSC VimpelCom andKyivstar |
| Founded | 2009; 16 years ago (2009) |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Asia, Europe |
Key people | Kaan Terzioğlu (Group CEO), Augie K. Fabela II (founder and chairman),Mike Pompeo (board member) |
| Products | Mobile telephony,mobile phones retailing,international telephony,broadband Internet,IPTV, city-wideWi-Fi,domain name registrar and others |
| Revenue |  US$3.7 billion (2023)[2] |
| Total assets | US$8.2 billion (2023)[3] |
| Owners |
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Number of employees | 17,206 (2023)[3] |
| Divisions | Kyivstar,Jazz, Mobilink Bank, Banglalink, Beeline |
| Website | www |
VEON Ltd. (formerlyVimpelCom Ltd.),[4] also known asVEON Group, is amultinationaltelecommunication and digital services company.[5][4] Headquartered inDubai,[6] the company ispublicly traded[7] on the U.S.-basedNASDAQ stock exchange.[8] VEON operates in six markets in Europe and Asia, includingBangladesh,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Pakistan, Ukraine andUzbekistan.[9] Specific brands includeBanglalink in Bangladesh,Jazz in Pakistan,Kyivstar in Ukraine, and units operating in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan under theBeeline brand.[8] In 2024, the company had 160 million total customers,[10] 1.8 million fixed line customers,[11] and 111 million monthly active users of its digital services,[12] with products and services in areas such as mobile financial services, entertainment, health, and education among others.[13]
VEON was founded in 2009 as VimpelCom, a multinational holding company. Incorporated inBermuda and headquartered inthe Netherlands, VimpelCom was formed whenTelenor andAlfa agreed to merge their assets in the telecommunications companiesPJSC VimpelCom andKyivstar. At the time of the incorporation, Kyivstar was Ukraine's largest wireless operator, while PJSC VimpelCom was the second-largest telecommunications operator in Russia.[14] Kyivstar had been founded in 1994[15] byIhor Lytovchenko, also its long-term CEO.[16] PJSC VimpelCom, founded in 1992 byDmitry Zimin[17] and American businessman Augie K. Fabela II as a mobile carrier,[18] had launched itsBeeline brand in 1993[citation needed] and listed on theNYSE in 1996.[19]
Under CEOAlexander Izosimov, VimpelCom acquiredOrascom Telecom andWind fromNaguib Sawiris in 2011.[20] After a number of acquisitions, as of December 31, 2011, VimpelCom had 205 million customers across 20 countries,[21] and by 2012 it was the 13th largestmobile network operator in the world by number of subscribers.[4] The company switched its listing from theNYSE Euronext to theNASDAQ on September 10, 2013.[22] It sold its majority stake inWind Mobile toGlobalive in 2014 for US$272 million.[23] and in 2015 thegovernment of Algeria bought VimpelCom's 51% stake inDjezzy for $2.6 billion.[24] VimpelCom's revenue was $9.78 billion in 2016,[25] while assets were $33.85 billion.[26]
In February 2017, VimpelCom renamed itself VEON, named after the messaging platform that it had developed. The company explained that the re-branding was part of a shift towards marketing itself as a technology company instead of just a telecommunications firm.[27][28] VEON began listing its shares onEuronext Amsterdam in April 2017.[29] In July 2017, VEON launched a personal internet platform named VEON in Ukraine, Bangladesh, Pakistan,Italy, andGeorgia.[30] After a number of divestments and a business transformation, by summer 2017, VEON had around 200 million combined subscribers across 12 markets.[31] By the end of 2017, various listed VEON subsidiaries includedGolden Telecom, Kyivstar, andBanglalink, among others in Europe and Africa.[32]
In March 2018, CEO Jean-Yves Charlier resigned and CEO duties were temporarily assumed by VEON's chair,Ursula Burns.[33] Burns was appointed CEO in December 2018 while remaining chair.[34] In October 2019, VEON hired Sergi Herrero and former ex-Turkcell CEO Kaan Terzioğlu as joint COOs of VEON Group.[35] They both succeeded Burns as co-CEOs in February 2020,[36] and in June 2020,Gennady Gazin succeeded Burns as chairman.[37] In 2020 VEON purchased the remaining 15% shares inJazz fromAbu Dhabi Group in Pakistan for 100% ownership.[38] VEON exited Armenia in 2020.[39] In July 2021, Terzioğlu became VEON's Group CEO,[40] with oversight of VEON's executives and its regional CEOs assigned to separate markets.[8] The company sold its Georgia unit for $45 million in June 2022, stating it was streamlining its operations.[39] In August 2022, VEON completed the sale of Djezzy to the government of Algeria for USD$682 million.[41] After announcing the pending sale of its Russian operations on November 24, 2022,[9] VEON completed the sale on October 9, 2023, completely leaving the Russian market.[42] Following the sale, the company went through various management changes, including reducing the board from 11 to 7 members.[43]
VEON's total revenues in 2023 amounted to $3.7 billion.[2] Morten Lundal was appointed chair of the VEON board in June 2023.[44] Augie K Fabela II was appointed his successor in 2024.[45] In March 2024, it was reported that VEON had agreed to sell a significant stake of its Kyrgyzstan operations, stating it was looking to focus on large markets.[46] As of 2024, VEON also ownedMobilink Bank in Pakistan, a microfinance institution.[47] Augie Fabela, VEON’s co-founder, was appointed chair of the VEON board in May 2024. Several other new directors were also named to the board, includingMike Pompeo,[48]Brandon Lewis, and Duncan Perry, with incumbents including Fabela, Michiel Soeting, and VEON's CEO Kaan Terzioglu.[49] It was the largest foreign investor in Ukraine in 2022 and 2023. In June 2024, VEON announced that it was committing US$1 billion in Ukraine's infrastructure via its subsidiary Kyivstar.[50] Also in June 2024, VEON announced that over the next three years, it aimed to increase revenues by up to 19%, and would be increasingly focusing on AI technology.[51]
As of 2024, the company had 160 million total customers,[10] 1.8 million fixed line customers,[11] and 111 million monthly active users of its digital services,[12] while its digital operations had six separate markets.[52] Specific brands included units in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan operating under the Beeline brand, as well asBanglalink in Bangladesh,Jazz in Pakistan, andKyivstar in Ukraine. These units in turn provided digital services with products such as Izi, Simply, hitter, OQ,[8] JazzCash, Beepul,[11] and the Tamasha andToffee entertainment platforms.[7] VEON delisted from theEuronext Amsterdam stock exchange on the 25th of November, 2024, after which their shares trade exclusively on NASDAQ.[53] In Dec 2024 it moved its headquarters from Amsterdam toDubai'sDubai International Financial Center.[6]
VEON shareholder structure:[54][55]
VEON operated in six markets, each with their own brand, as of 2024:[8]
In summer 2015, theUnited States Justice Department claimed VimpelCom had used a network of shell companies and phony consulting contracts to funnel bribes in exchange for market access inUzbekistan.[56] VimpelCom's affiliate Telenor severed consulting ties with Telenor's former CEOJon Fredrik Baksaas due to the police investigation.[57]
In November 2015, VimpelCom CEO Jo Lunder was arrested on corruption charges inOslo, Norway. The case alleged that in exchange for an operating license, VimpelCom funneled $57.5 million to Takilant, a company linked toGulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbek PresidentIslam Karimov.[58] The case was settled in February 2016, with theSecurities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and Dutch regulators requiring VimpelCom to pay $795 million to resolve violations of theForeign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).[59][60]
Our digital operators work under five main brands: Kyivstar in Ukraine, Beeline in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Jazz in Pakistan, and Banglalink in Bangladesh and provide a suite of digital services under the following brands: Tamasha, Toffee, Izi, Simply, hitter, OQ and...
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