Moscow Exchange to Open Trading for Yandex Shares Starting May 15

The Moscow Exchange has announced its plans to list shares of MKPAO Yandex for trading, starting May 15. This decision marks a significant development for the Russian technology giant, positioning it for heightened engagement with investors through one of the country’s premier trading platforms. The shares of Yandex, under the trading code YDEX, will be included in the first quotation list, signaling a strong confidence in the company’s value and stability.

This move comes on the heels of a comprehensive internal reorganization within the Yandex group of companies, alongside the delineation of assets for a forthcoming sale to a consortium of private investors. The restructuring efforts and strategic sale underscore Yandex’s commitment to optimizing its operational framework and enhancing shareholder value.

However, the specified start date for trading is subject to confirmation, with the Moscow Exchange noting that adjustments may be made based on further communications from Yandex. The company has indicated that the initiation of trading is anticipated in the coming months, with a formal announcement to be made to clarify the exact commencement date.

This development follows the approval by the Subcommittee of the Government Commission for the Control of Foreign Investments in Russia for the acquisition of a 96.3% stake in Yandex shares from its Dutch counterpart, Yandex NV. The government’s green light for this significant transfer of shares to local investors reflects a strategic pivot towards consolidating Yandex’s operations within Russia, potentially bolstering its position in both local and international markets.

The listing of Yandex shares on the Moscow Exchange represents a pivotal moment for the company, providing it with a platform to attract investment and foster growth amidst a dynamic technological landscape. For investors, this offers a new avenue to engage with one of Russia’s leading tech firms, known for its extensive portfolio of internet-related products and services.

Dan Taylor is the founder and editor of International Search Insights (ISI), the publication behind ReadIsi, and a Partner and Head of Innovation (Search & AI) at SALT.agency. He has worked in search for more than a decade, in-house and agency-side, and is regarded as one of the West’s leading voices on search engines beyond Google, including Yandex, Baidu, Naver and Cốc Cốc. On ReadIsi, Dan covers the engines and AI answer platforms that English-language coverage tends to miss: Baidu and ERNIE, Yandex and Alice AI, Naver, Cốc Cốc, Shenma, Sogou, WeChat and Weibo search, plus DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen. He also keeps dated records of documented changes, such as the Yandex, Baidu and Naver algorithm update histories and the DeepSeek, ERNIE and Qwen model update histories. His approach is to take learnings from global search engines and apply logic with a high evidence threshold. A claim needs a source, patterns seen in one market are treated as a hypothesis until they are checked in another, and where the evidence is thin he says so. For brands, that means advice built on what can be shown, with measurement that separates being cited from being chosen. Dan is credited with coining the term “edge SEO” and won the inaugural TechSEO Boost research competition in 2018 for his work on CDN and edge changes for SEO. In 2026 he was credited with coining “Infinite Tail” to describe how keyword research is changing with AI search. He is the author of AI Search Marketing For The Travel Sector, writes for Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land and Travel Marketing Guy, and has advised technology, SaaS, travel and enterprise ecommerce brands, including Cloudflare, GitLab and Airbnb. He has given multiple talks and panels at the International Search Summit in Barcelona, and has also spoken at Optimization Moscow, brightonSEO, Google Search Central Live Deep Dive Asia in Bangkok, Athens SEO and the Asia SEO Virtual Summit 2026, where his talk looked at how Baidu, Naver, DeepSeek, Tencent, Cốc Cốc and Yandex built their own AI answers.