Tigran Khudaverdyan Explained

Tigran Oganesovich Khudaverdyan (ru|Тигран Оганесович Худавердян, hy|Տիգրան Հովհաննեսի Խուդավերդյան|Tigran Hovhannesi Khudaverdyan; born 28 December 1981) is an Armenian businessman, former executive at Yandex N.V.^[1]

Early life

Born in Yerevan, Armenian SSR in 1981, Khudaverdian graduated from the Moscow State University, physics department in 2004.^[2] Before joining Yandex, he participated in developing internet projects and headed a web studio.^[3]

Career

Tigran Khudaverdyan joined Yandex in April 2006, as a project manager for portal services and technologies. Since then he has led several successful Yandex projects, including Yandex.Browser and Yandex.Navigator.

From 2009 to 2012, he was Head of Division for Portal Products and Mobile Apps.^[4] In 2012, he spearheaded the launch of Yandex.Browser, positioning it as a direct competitor to Google Chrome.^[5] Since 2012 he has been the Head of Direction for Yandex.Browser and Yandex.Taxi and has been appointed Head of Product Development in 2013.^[2]

He moved to the Yandex.Taxi business in 2015, and has served as chief executive officer of MLU B.V., ride-hailing and food delivery joint venture with Uber, since its formation.

In 2016, Azerbaijan blocked the Uber-Yandex.Taxi partnership led by Khudaverdyan in the country because of Khudaverdyan's Armenian origins.^[6]

In 2019 Tigran Khudaverdyan was appointed as Deputy CEO of Yandex N.V.^[7] and joined the company's Board of Directors.^[8]

In 2020 he attended the World Economic Forum in Davos as a speaker of "Inequality: A Barrier to Economic Growth" discussion.^[9]

In March 2022 Tigran Khudaverdyan stepped down from his roles as executive director and deputy CEO at Yandex NV.

Personal life

Tigran is married and has five sons.^[3]

International sanctions

In 2014, the government of Canada included Khudaverdyan in an annex of its Special Economic Measures Act, banning him from any economic activity in Canada.^[10]

In March 2022, the European Union sanctioned Khudaverdyan as part of its package of economic penalties against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.^[11]

Sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 in relation to Russo-Ukrainian War. ^[12]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tigran Khudaverdyan Steps Down from His Roles as Executive Director and Deputy CEO at Yandex NV. 2022-03-16. Bloomberg.
2. Web site: Tigram Khudaverdyan Profile. 23 January 2021. Webit.
3. Web site: Tigran Khudaverdian. World Economic Forum.
4. Web site: Трансформация "Такси" и сборка часов: чем Тигран Худавердян занимался до руководства "Яндексом" . vc.ru.
5. Web site: 2012-10-01 . Yandex lança navegador para desafiar o Google . 2024-11-23 . O Globo . pt-BR.
6. Web site: 2017-07-17 . Citing Armenian CEO, Azerbaijan Rejects Uber-Yandex Partnership . 2024-11-23 . Armenian National Committee of America . en-US.
7. Web site: Yandex Appoints Tigran Khudaverdyan as Deputy CEO. russiabusinesstoday.com.
8. Web site: Tigran Khudaverdyan, Yandex NV: Profile and Biography. Bloomberg.com.
9. Web site: Inequality: A Barrier to Economic Growth. Roscongress Building Trust.
10. Web site: Branch . Legislative Services . 2024-10-11 . Consolidated federal laws of Canada, Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations . 2024-11-23 . laws.justice.gc.ca.
11. Web site: Cordell . Jake . 2022-03-16 . Yandex Head Quits After Surprise EU Sanctions . 2022-06-04 . The Moscow Times . en.
12. Web site: CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK . 16 April 2023.