Ozon

Ozon.ru was established in 1998 as an online bookseller by the Russian software house Reksoft. The company soon expanded its assortment to CDs and DVDs before going on to sell a wide range of goods from clothing to electronics. In 2012, it acquired the shoe seller Sapato.ru and sold it in 2015 to the online fashion retailer KupiVIP. In 2014, it acquired a stake in Litres, a major Russia's e-book marketplace.

Leadership

After a series of Russian chief executive officers, in 2005 Ozon appointed Bernard Lukey, who had advised the company on behalf of Baring Vostok. In 2011 Maelle Gavet became the new chief executive officer of Ozon. During her tenure, the firm worked to popularize e-commerce in the mainly cash-based Russian retail market. Gavet stepped down as chief executive officer in 2015; her deputy Danny Perekalsky was appointed successor. Since 2017 the chief executive officer of has been Alexander Shulgin, the former chief financial officer and chief operating officer of the Russian tech company Yandex. In April 2022, Mr. Shulgin bowed out as CEO and member of the board of directors of Ozon due to international sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Funding

In 1999, ru-Net Holdings, founded by Leonid Boguslavsky along with the Western Baring Vostok Group, UFG and Rex Capital, purchased a controlling stake in the company for $3 million. In 2000, Baring Vostok became a controlling shareholder after investing $3 million into the company. In 2007, Ozon raised $18 million in a funding round led by the Geneva-based Index Ventures. In 2011, Ozon attracted $100 million in investment from Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, Boguslavsky's ru-Net and others, followed by another $150 million funding deal with the Russian conglomerate Sistema and the Russian mobile operator MTS in 2014. MTS and Baring Vostok invested another $92 million into Ozon in 2018. In 2019, Boguslavsky sold his share in Ozon to the company's main shareholders, Baring Vostok and Sistema, for $70 million.In 2019 Ozon secured a $150 million round of financing with the participation of U.S. venture capital firm Princeville Capital, in what was reported to be one of the largest Russian tech investment deals involving Western backers since 2014.

Financial performance

Ozon reported a "hypergrowth" stage in 2019 as sales for the year increased by 93% to $1.1 billion and the volume of orders more than doubled to 32.2 million. Company turnover by gross merchandise volume grew 188% year on year in the second quarter of 2020 and reached RUB 77.4 billion by H12020, an increase of 152% from the same period in the previous year. According to Daniil Fedorov, Ozon's chief financial officer at the time, the coronavirus pandemic created a new habit of shopping online among Russian consumers.

2022 fire at the Istra fulfilment centre

On August 3rd 2022 a large fire destroyed approx 50,000SQM of warehouse including the contents of the building the external walls and roof. At least one person died and 13 were injured in the fire. The emergencies ministry initially said the fire had spread to an area of 35,000 square metres but later revised this to approx 50,000SQM. A fire-pumping station, an Mi-8 helicopter, two Ka-32 helicopters, 150 firefighters and 40 other pieces of equipment were deployed to the scene, it said.