Viadeo Opens Office in Russia and Announces Joint Venture With Leading Russian Media Group Sanoma Independent Media

Viadeo is now active in all major emerging BRIC markets

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Dec 13, 2011, 12:41 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Viadeo, the professional social network with over 40 million members worldwide and Sanoma Independent Media (SIM), Russia's leading glossy publisher, today announced a joint venture agreement to develop and strengthen the presence of Viadeo in Russia, and deliver professional social networking solutions to Russian professionals.

Viadeo's new Russian office will be well placed to take full advantage of the huge online market in Russia, which is ranked first in Europe with over 51 million Internet users.

According to a PwC report[1], the Russian media market (including Internet) is one of the fastest growing in the world (+13% in 2010). In addition, a recent Comscore study[2] highlights Russia as having the highest number of unique visitors online. Russians are more engaged with the country scoring the highest average engagement among top properties in Europe (10.4 hours).

The deal will combine the local strengths of SIM's rb.ru, one of Russia's top business websites with a powerful professional community with Viadeo's technological social networking expertise, to develop business services for the Russian market.

Viadeo has also announced its platform will be available in Cyrillic including local services at the beginning of next year.

"Our new office and this joint venture with Sanoma Independent Media open up the door to Russia and its huge growth potential for the professional social network industry. Looking at our multi-local strategy, —focused on the emerging countries—, Russia was the missing part. With this partnership, our BRIC puzzle is complete," said Dan Serfaty, founder and CEO of Viadeo.

"We are very confident that SIM's strong knowledge of the Russian professional and its powerful business communities will help us grow quickly in Russia. It's also a great opportunity to tap into the knowledge of the local teams based in Russia. In addition, the Viadeo Platform will be localized (translated into Cyrillic) and adapted to the local culture," added Serfaty.

Elena Myasnikova, CEO of Sanoma Independent Media commented: "We are very happy to partner with Viadeo. Within the next few years, Russia will become the single biggest media market in Europe and Sanoma Independent Media is looking for new and innovative services, for our readers to boost our audience. This alliance aligns with our digital growth strategy perfectly to obtain leading positions in segments such as professionals that are sizeable and close to the core of our local operations."

About Viadeo

Viadeo is a professional social network with over 40 million members. Viadeo is used by those who want to:

Increase their business opportunities (to discover new clients, staff and business partners)
Enhance their visibility and their online reputation
Manage and develop their network of professional contacts.

Viadeo's members consist of business owners, entrepreneurs and managers from a diverse range of businesses both start-up and well-established. Every day Viadeo attracts more than 30,000 new members; 150,000 new connections are made and over 3 million profiles are viewed.

Based in Paris (head office), Viadeo also has offices and teams in the UK (London), US (San Francisco), Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), Italy (Milan), China (Beijing), India (New Delhi), Mexico (Mexico City) and Senegal (Dakar). The company employs 310 staff worldwide.

The localization of sites is very important for Viadeo. In addition to Russian and Mandarin, Viadeo is available in six languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.

Our Website: www.viadeo.com

About Sanoma Independent Media:

Sanoma Independent Media (SIM) is one of Russia's largest and most successful media companies. SIM is successful in operating a number of key partnerships in the Russian Market with leading partners like the Hearst corporation, Dow Jones and Pearson. SIM has been servicing professionals, both off and on-line, through its brands Vedomosti and vedomosti.ru (financial newspaper with Pearson and Dow Jones), Harvard Business Review and its long term established business content portal rb.ru. Sanoma Independent Media is part of Sanoma Magazines International (SMI). SMI is part of Sanoma and responsible for the activities of Sanoma's Media in Central, East and South East Europe. It has leading market positions in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Russia. Sanoma is a strong European media group operating in diverse fields of media in over 20 countries.