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Tag Archive: DST

Russians Continue To Show Interest Outside Russia: Digital Sky Technology Acquires ICQ For $187.5 Million

Posted April 28, 2010 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb109 Russians Continue To Show Interest Outside Russia: Digital Sky Technology Acquires ICQ For $187.5 Million

It appears the Russian investment firm,Digital Sky Technologies has got some real liking for investing outside the Russian border. Primarily in those that are known names across the Web. DST has been very active in making huge funding in prominent names like the social media platform, Facebook and also in the largest social gaming platform; Zynga [the producer of Farmville and Mafia Wars] worth $180 Million.

The interest in these firms has been enormous and it was bound to bag some other big names. The latest news is of DST acquiring AOL’s ICQ and that is a big move for AOL that had been looking forward to sell off many of its services and ICQ was one of them. The Russians have acquired the Desktop based chat client for $187.5 Million and the deal will be finalized by the third quarter.

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Chinese Firm, Tencent Invests In Facebook’s Investor: Russian Digital Sky Technologies

Posted April 12, 2010 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb30 Chinese Firm, Tencent Invests In Facebook’s Investor: Russian Digital Sky Technologies

Alright China has some major issues with directly investing into Facebook, perhaps fearing it might have to allow the social network more access to its people. But making an indirect link doesn’t sound that bad and there is always an option. China’s leading Internet firm, Tencent has made a $300 Million investment in Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies. The same DST that has made major investments in Facebook, Zynga [Farmville creator].

The investment will give Tencent a 10.26% share in DST. I am not sure what shares does it translate to for Facebook, in which DST has 3.5 stake. The investment is pretty striking for me, given that only recently I stated that penetrating China, is going to be a major problem for Facebook but firms in the region see the prospects of making investments as it is a definite profit, one thing that wont translate to losses any time in the future. As for Facebook, it just adds more value to the platform, the greater firms get associated to it, the easier it becomes for it to gain penetration into the International market, even in regions where the idea is a bit too difficult.

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Russian Investment Firm, DST Is Under Facebook’s Spell; Willing To Buy More Shares

Posted December 17, 2009 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb103 Russian Investment Firm, DST Is Under Facebook’s Spell; Willing To Buy More Shares

If I had enough money, I would gladly invest in Facebook and buy as many shares as I could. And taking the obvious step ahead, Russian Investment firm, DST is more that willing to put in more investment to raise its stake in the largest social network. This isn’t something new as the firm has been in news the whole of this year, making quite a lot of investments in Facebook.

DST yesterday invested a mighty $180 Million in Zynga, which powers the most famed games on Facebook, the most prominent being Farmville. The firm already has more than 5% stake in the social network and is already amassing more shares, without a stop in the future. Reports state that it is buying those shares much cheaper at $14.77 a share when others are paying $25 a share. The net value that Facebook has got from DST accounts for $500 Million, with majority of its transactions taking place amidst the firm and the employees of Facebook.

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Zynga raises $180 million from Russian Investors for Facebook Games

Posted December 16, 2009 by Imran Ahmed Khan

image thumb75 Zynga raises $180 million from Russian Investors for Facebook Games

Zynga, a San Francisco based game maker of popular facebook games such as FarmVille, Café World and Mafia Wars, has raised $180 million in a new round of funding – according to NY Times. The round was led by Moscow based Digital Sky Technologies (DST). The Russian based digitial investment firm has previously invested $200 million in Facebook.

The investment is structured similar to that of DST’s investment in Facebook, whereby DST invested directly into Facebook and also bought stocks from Facebook employees. Similarly Zynga employees will get a chance to sell their shares to DST, allowing them to cash out before the IPO.

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More investment from Russia as DST buys $100 Million of Facebook Common stock

Posted July 13, 2009 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

facebook thumb More investment from Russia as DST buys $100 Million of Facebook Common stock

Looks like Russians are really keen about expanding there presence felt strongly on Facebook. Digital Sky Technologies has placed another investment offer to buy $100 million worth of stocks. Beginning from today, employees will have to accept the terms of the deal if they are interested in availing the offer. The present offer is second from DST, following the $200 Million deal a couple of months back and raises its overall stakes in Facebook to 3.5%.

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