MIK Izvestia, which belongs to the National Media Group (NMG) holding, announced the purchase of a controlling stake in the publishing house Komsomolskaya Pravda. In a statement, the holding said the deal strengthens NMG's position in the information and entertainment content market and makes MIK Izvestia a leader in audience metrics.
Komsomolskaya Pravda does lead Russian daily newspapers in audience size. According to Mediascope, from December 2025 to April 2026, the average daily print run audience was 2.9 million Russians over the age of 16.
The size of the stake and the transaction amount were not disclosed. The shareholder structure of Komsomolskaya Pravda was also not revealed. According to the company's financial statements, as of the end of 2025, 89.7% of the publishing house's shares were owned by legal entities, with the remaining 10.3% held by individuals.
NMG is owned by Bank Rossiya, whose main shareholder is Yuri Kovalchuk and whose board chairman since 2014 has been Alina Kabaeva. The connection to Kabaeva and Kovalchuk, both under sanctions, was one of the reasons for NMG's inclusion in the EU sanctions list. NMG and Komsomolskaya Pravda's general director Vladimir Sungorkin are both under European sanctions.
Vladimir Putin has repeatedly called Komsomolskaya Pravda his favorite newspaper. That circumstance served as the basis for adding Sungorkin to the EU lists.