My.Games wants to sell Boosty service by end of year - media

MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax) - The My.Games company plans to sell the Boosty content monetization service before the end of the year, and the VK internet holding could be the buyer, the Kommersant publication said, citing sources in the media market.

According to the publication's sources, My.Games plans specifically to restructure the service, within which the platform will be transferred to a separate Russian legal entity that will be sold. There are already several potential buyers, Kommersant said.

One of the publication's sources in the media market believes that the service could be sold to VK. "This would allow the holding to integrate the platform with VK Donut and attract a new audience of authors and content creators." The company has declined to comment.

VK previously owned My.Games, and sold it to LETA Capital manager Alexander Chachava for $642 million in September 2022. The company announced its withdrawal from the Russian market in December.

According to Finam investment consultant Timur Nigmatullin, Boosty's value could start at $10 million. Finam FG analyst Leonid Delitsyn estimates the asset at $4-$5 million. He believes that Boosty could acquire another venture fund with a portfolio of projects in the gaming industry.

The platform was created in 2019 as being similar to the Patreon crowdfunding platform, which the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, IT, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) blocked in 2022, and Mail.ru Group developed it. Mail.ru Group is a service for Donation Alerts streamers, which is part of My.Games, and was responsible for testing Boosty. The platform allows monthly payments of content consumers to the author, who determines the subscription levels, their content, and the cost of access. According to SimilarWeb, Boosty has about 20 million users monthly.