Five employees of Vedomosti wrote a statement to the Ostankino inter-district prosecutor’s office and the State Labor Inspectorate in Moscow after receiving notices “about layoffs and upcoming dismissal” in connection with the abolition of the online edition of the publication from April 20.
According to Alexander Malakhov, the editor-in-chief of Vedomosti.ru, he and several other employees signed a statement regarding their dismissal. The Vedomosti website lists nine employees of the Vedomosti.ru division, not including Malakhov.
Morozova told RBC that the employees of the online editorial office were not informed about the dissolution of the unit. The HR director kept the conversation topic secret until they were individually called and notices were read out in front of witnesses. She also mentioned concerns about the reorganization having potential risks for the publication.
The statement, partially available to RBC, states that the reduction appears to be fictitious. Except for Malakhov, all others were asked to move to the editorial office of the Vedomosti newspaper with similar positions and salaries under the threat of dismissal. Malakhov was offered a lower-paying position. The statement argues that the employer's actions do not lead to a decrease in the total number of employees, as assumed by labor laws, but are used to force workers to move to another unit with worse conditions.
According to the Moscow City Court, Malakhov is suing JSC Business News Media, the publisher of Vedomosti. Two lawsuits related to internal audit, disciplinary sanctions, and competition results were filed in January. Hearings are scheduled for March 10 and 22.
Malakhov states that the employer had previously subjected him to disciplinary measures in August 2021. The order related to skipping a meeting with the CEO was canceled by the labor inspectorate, and two other penalties are being contested in court. The decision to abolish the online editorial office was made after the publisher became aware of the lawsuits.
Malakhov claims that he received a penalty shortly after refusing to write a text on the creation of a “global association of business media”, which at the time included only Vedomosti and Federalpress. These publications have one owner, Ivan Eremin.
Malakhov also alleges that the order to abolish the online editorial office was signed by Mikhail Nelyubin, CEO of Business News Media JSC, the day after Malakhov sent a letter to Vedomosti management detailing issues with audience indicators, subscribers, and citations during the tenure of the acting editor-in-chief Irina Kazmina.
General Director of “Business Press Media” Mikhail Nelyubin, acting editor-in-chief of Vedomosti Irina Kazmina, the owner of the publication Ivan Eremin and his representative did not respond to requests. RBC also turned to the Ostankino Interdistrict Prosecutor’s Office and the State Labor Inspectorate for comment.
Eremin became the owner of Vedomosti in May 2020, having bought the newspaper from Ivetta Voronova. At the same time, before the deal, Demyan Kudryavtsev, Vladimir Voronov and Martin Pompadour called themselves investors of the publication. For Vedomosti, 160 million rubles were paid, in addition, the new owner for 14 million rubles. entered into an agreement with former investors on the assignment of claims on previously issued loans.
Malakhov has been working as the chief editor of Vedomosti.ru since the summer of 2020, in the fall of 2021 he was acting editor-in-chief of the Vedomosti newspaper for several weeks.
How Vedomosti is developing under the new owner
The latest available Mediascope meter data on the audience of the Vedomosti.ru website refers to October 2021: then the monthly all-Russian audience on desktops and mobile devices was 2.8 million people over 12 years old; a year earlier, in October 2020, it was more than 5.7 million people.
The audience of one printed issue of Vedomosti in May-October 2021 was, according to Mediascope estimates, 101.3 thousand residents of large cities over 16 years old, a year earlier it was 163 thousand people.
