@ktsiya, June 2003

From bulletin to television
10-year anniversary of RosBusinessConsulting
Ten years ago, in 1993, a small company was created on the initiative of several people. The company started publishing a 7-page printed bulletin with economic information. Two pages were cover pages, four pages were covered with diagrams and tables and one page contained explanations of these tables. Bulletins were delivered to several subscribers by courier. There were 7 people in the company. The company's name was not known to anybody; it was RosBusinessConsulting.

Everything started from a simple question, why doesn't Russian business have its own source of business information. From a small initiative and later a small information agency the large holding RosBusinessConsulting (RBC) emerged.

The holding RBC includes:
-RBC Information Systems, the holding's parent company
- The information agency RosBusinessConsulting, which provides news in real time, financial information, special financial instruments for market analysis, commentaries of analysts and corporate and industrial research.
RBC Soft, which develops software solutions and provides IT consulting, services on system integration, etc.
RBC-TV, which has been created to implement RBC's new project, the first Russian business channel RBC-TV.
The publishing house RosBusinessConsulting creates and disseminates the printed products of RBC.

The development of RosBusinessConsulting has been consistent and rapid. In 1995 RBC founders decided to create an information portal on the Internet, which was the first attempt of Russian information agencies to enter the Internet. The reason for this decision was the demand for information, which was increasing geometrically. In 1996 the first information system, which provided on-line data from Russian exchanges, appeared on the server. In 1998 RBC's website became the most popular website in the .ru domain zone on the Internet. RBC did not stop at these achieved results and continued creating new websites regularly. At present all Internet resources of RBC are thematically segmented.

The following Internet resources belong to RBC: the website of the RosBusinessConsulting information agency www.rbc.ru, the analytical online newspaper RBC Daily, the IТ portal CNews, the electronic newspaper Ytro.ru, the portals Sport, AutoNews, Turist, Headhunter, the mail server Hotbox, the website for students 5ballov and other well known servers.

RBC downloads some 10,000 pages of printed text onto the Internet every day. RBC's consistent business audience exceeds 1.5m people, which is a unique figure for Russia.

Last year RBC implemented the first IPO (Initial Public Offering) in Russia on the domestic market. Some 16 percent of the company's shares were placed at exchanges. As a result, the company raised more than $13m.

Currently, RBC develops two business directions: media and IT. These are, in fact, two equal parts of RBC business. The share of IT is about 48 percent of the company's business.

In a few days RBC will launch its new project, which has been prepared over the past year. It is RBC-TV, a 24-hour TV channel devoted to business information. It is the first and only business television channel in Russia. The channel's format is unique not only for Russia. All western business channels are clearly divided into informational (like Bloomberg) and analytical (like CNBC). RBC-TV will combine informational programs and analytical. The channel will broadcast live programs 18 hours a day, and the other 6 hours the channel will broadcast replays and previously recorded programs.

Currently, Russian TV channels dedicate less than 1 percent of their airtime to business news. Such programs are more often devoted to extremely huge deals like the deals between BP and TNK or YUKOS and Sibneft, or they are about large scandals. As a rule, TV channels do not cover positive business events, because they think that such information will be treated as advertising. "The current situation is difficult to call normal; The TV audience has a right to business information. In their turn, companies should have the possibility to apply directly to their potential investors and explain their positions without being interpreted," RBC General Director Yury Rovensky believes.

RBC-TV will be launched in test mode as of June 30 and on September 1 it will start broadcasting. Subscription will not be required to watch RBC-TV, there will be free access. The channel will broadcast through Kosmos-TV, NTV Plus, Moscow cable operators and regional broadcasting companies.

RBC's website will have a link to RBC-TV. Digital broadcasting will enable users to search archives, i.e. any program that has been broadcasted can be viewed on the Internet. Certainly such conveniences will be available for those who have high-speed Internet access.

So, what is the reason for success of practically all RBC projects, what is the formula?

"In fact, this formula has many variables. RBC is what is called a knowledge-based company, which builds its success not on resources or advantages of competition, but on people, their skills, knowledge and readiness to work. The authorities of the company understand that our success is provided first of all by the RBC team," Yury Rovensky says.

"To my mind, the second part of the success of RBC is that over these ten years shareholders have had possibilities to grow with the company. At some stage, when the organizational structure of the company had to be qualitatively changed, they were not afraid to invite new managers, and I was one of them. All invited managers certainly brought their methods and experience. It was risky to invite independent personalities, not marionette managers; any owner of a company would have to have courage to do it. I believe that the readiness of our shareholders to delegate authority and a modern approach to management are also the components of success.

Another component is the clear understanding of peculiarities of your business. I wound say 'non-dispersion'. We have clearly defined our boundaries. RBC is mass media and information technologies. And we have always followed only these directions".

So, the main factor of RBC success is people. Three years ago there were 300 employees in the company, currently there are 1,200. The company continues growing rapidly. According to Yury Rovensky, RBC can employ anybody who fits three basic requirements: professionalism, decency and the desire and readiness to work hard (you can send your resumes to ok@rbc.ru).

According to German Kaplun, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of RBC, the essence of the development strategy of the holding is to continue the intensive advance.

There are no doubts that RBC will grow and the holding will have many successful projects, including the upcoming project RBC-TV. So, one can wish the same effective and productive activities on the 10th anniversary of RBC!