The Moscow Times' new majority owner is a Russian catering company executive

The English-language news website The Moscow Times is now under the control of Vladimir Jao, the head of the “Aeromar” catering company.

The former newspaper now belongs to a limited liability company called “Tiamti,” 51 percent of which is owned by Jao. Moscow Times founder Derek Sauer owns 19 percent of the company and his media projects director, Svetlana Korshunova, owns the remaining 30 percent.

Speaking to Kommersant, Sauer said Jao “is a partner and doesn’t control the publication,” explaining the ownership scheme as necessary to comply with Russian laws, which limit foreign control of media outlets to 20 percent.

The Moscow Times was founded in 1992. In 2015, because of new media restrictions on foreign ownership, the newspaper was sold to Demyan Kudryavtsev, who also owns Vedomosti. In June 2017, the publication ended its print edition, Sauer returned, and most of the staff left, including chief editor Mikhail Fishman.