MOSCOW, November 19 (Sputnik) — Russia's largest social network VK, formerly known as VKontakte, will cooperate with Chinese advertising company YeahMobi, VK's spokesperson Georgy Lobushkin told Sputnik on Wednesday.
The social network is currently in negotiations with YeahMobi for a possible deal, however no contracts have been signed just yet, Lobushkin said.
He did not confirm earlier reports by China Daily about VK opening a marketing branch in Beijing.
The Chinese newspaper in its Wednesday report also quoted YeahMobi CEO Peter Zou as saying that mobile games and e-commerce were the biggest Internet opportunities in Russia and VK was one of the platforms Chinese businesses would need to consider.
"For Chinese companies, VK is one of the potential advertising platforms they will have to look at," Zou said.
Marx Zhang, responsible for VK's overseas business, said that closer ties between Russia and China facilitated larger-scale Chinese investment in Russia, according to China Daily. He also mentioned the possibility of VK launching a cross-border online shopping service in the future.
China's Haier Group, Huawei Technologies and Alibaba Group have already signed advertising deals with VK, the newspaper added.
VK was launched in 2006 and is headquartered in St. Petersburg. The social network has more than 270 million accounts and is one of the most frequently visited websites in Russia. In September, Russia's Mail.ru Group finalized its purchase of the social network, with the total acquisition cost of VK standing at $2.07 billion, according to Bloomberg estimates.
