Chechnya’s leader says a retail merger approved by Putin is a ‘hostile takeover’ executed by ‘devils.’ How a family feud over the future of Wildberries became a public scandal.
The head of the Chechen government, Ramzan Kadyrov, shared a video on Tuesday showing him meeting with Vladislav Bakalchuk, the husband of Tatyana Bakalchuk, Russia’s wealthiest woman and the founder of Wildberries, the country’s biggest online retailer. In the footage, Mr. Bakalchuk complains that his wife “left home” after “getting involved with some strange company that’s taking over the business under the guise of a merger.” Hearing this, Kadyrov lambasts the company merging with Wildberries, calling it a “blatant and brazen hostile takeover” carried out by “devils” who are “destroying families.”
It’s unclear why Bakalchuk decided to go to Kadyrov to complain publicly about the merger between Wildberries and Russ Group. According to journalists Farida Rustamova and Maxim Tovkailo, the appeal to Chechnya’s governor indicates that the Bakalchuks are fighting over how to divide the business. “In this conflict, Vladislav Bakalchuk has made quite a … bold move,” wrote Rustamova and Tovkailo on their Telegram channel. “But it’s unlikely to help him since his wife’s got much tougher backing.”
A Putin-approved merger
Wildberries and Russ Group, Russia’s largest outdoor advertising operator, announced their merger on June 18, revealing only that the deal will create a new digital trading platform to operate in and around Russia, as well as throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and India. Russia’s government cabinet has already approved the merger, which Kremlin deputy chief of staff Maxim Oreshkin reportedly oversaw. Sources told the news outlet RBC that the Putin administration hopes to see the new conglomerate compete with Amazon and Alibaba and establish a “payment system for global transactions in rubles bypassing SWIFT and digital banking networks.” Forbes has reported that Vladimir Putin personally approved the agreement, and the Kremlin has confirmed the administration’s support.
Kadyrov’s vow
In his recorded conversation with Vladislav Bakalchuk, Ramzan Kadyrov says he doesn’t consider the businessmen responsible for the “hostile takeover” of Wildberries to be “human.” Chechnya’s leader called out Russ Group’s owners, the Levan family, by name and warned that they would “face their fate.” Kadyrov also promised to do everything he could “to help return [Tatyana Bakalchuk] to her family” and “to protect their legitimate business.” He tasked State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov with this work.
A stormy divorce, not a demon-driven hostile takeover
In late 2019, Tatyana Bakalchuk transferred 1 percent of Wildberries to her husband. Two years later, Forbes estimated her worth to be roughly $13.1 billion. That valuation fell to $7.4 billion by 2024, but she remains the 22nd richest person in Russia. (Her husband doesn’t appear in the Forbes rankings.)
Soon after Kadyrov’s video appeared online on Tuesday, multibillionaire Tatyana Bakalchuk responded on her Telegram channel, writing, “This isn’t a hostile takeover. This is a divorce. Everything was agreed upon with Vladislav from the very beginning. He attended the presentation to the senior management of the new structure of the merged company.” As proof, Tatyana also shared a photograph showing her husband sitting with her and Robert Mirzoyan, who will reportedly become the CEO of the merged company (with Tatyana as its general director).
Spokespeople for Wildberries said the company’s work continues uninterrupted and dismissed the episode with Ramzan Kadyrov as part of “the emotional specifics” of the Bakalchuks’ divorce process. According to the outlet The Bell, Wildberries began transferring its business assets to its new joint company with Russ Group (where Wildberries has a 65-percent stake), just a day before the scandal in Chechnya. On Tuesday, amid Kadyrov’s remarks, Wildberries notified its vendors about its upcoming legal entity change.
Russ Group’s backstory
In 2019, the news outlet RBC reported that firms tied to billionaire and Federation Council Senator Suleiman Kerimov are responsible for orchestrating Russ Group's growth. The business has spent the past several years on a buying spree, acquiring assets in Russia’s outdoor advertising market. Last month, sources told the newspaper Kommersant that Kerimov is still pulling the strings at Russ Group.