VEON Ltd. (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.), also known as VEON Group, is a multinational

telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

and digital services company. Headquartered in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

, the company is

publicly traded A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

on the U.S.-based

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

stock exchange. VEON operates in six markets in Europe and Asia, including

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. Specific brands include

Banglalink Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd., d.b.a. Banglalink (; formerly ''Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Ltd.'') is a Dutch-owned telecommunications company headquartered in Gulshan-1, Dhaka. It is the third-largest mobile network operator in Banglades ...

in Bangladesh,

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

in Pakistan,

Kyivstar Kyivstar () is a Ukrainian telecommunications company, providing communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies, including 4G (LTE) services, in Ukraine. The Kyivstar mobile network covers a ...

in Ukraine, and units operating in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan under the Beeline brand. In 2024, the company had 160 million total customers, 1.8 million fixed line customers, and 111 million monthly active users of its digital services, with products and services in areas such as mobile financial services, entertainment, health, and education among others.

History

2009–2016

VEON was founded in 2009 as VimpelCom, a multinational holding company. Incorporated in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and headquartered in

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, VimpelCom was formed when

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwi ...

and Alfa agreed to merge their assets in the telecommunications companies

PJSC VimpelCom PJSC VimpelCom ( or full name , ''PAO «Vympel-Kommunikatsii»'') is a Russian telecommunications company started in 1992 when its co-founders, Dr. Dmitry Zimin and Augie K. Fabela II came together to pioneer the Russian mobile industry. Augie Fa ...

and

. At the time of the incorporation, Kyivstar was Ukraine's largest wireless operator, while PJSC VimpelCom was the second-largest telecommunications operator in Russia. Kyivstar had been founded in 1994 by Ihor Lytovchenko, also its long-term CEO. PJSC VimpelCom, founded in 1992 by an American businessman Augie K Fabela II and

Dmitry Zimin Dmitry Borisovich Zimin (; 28 April 1933 – 22 December 2021) was a Russian radio scientist and businessman, who was the founder and honorary president of PJSC VimpelCom, VimpelCom. From his retirement in the early 2000s, he became known as a ...

as a mobile carrier, had launched its Beeline brand in 1993 and listed on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

in 1996.

Under CEO Alexander Izosimov, VimpelCom acquired

Orascom Telecom Global Telecom Holding S.A.E. (GTH; formerly Orascom Telecom Holding) is a holding company based in Amsterdam, and a subsidiary of the multinational telecommunications services company VEON. GTH previously owned mobile network operators in multipl ...

and

Wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

from

Naguib Sawiris Naguib Onsi Sawiris ( ; ; born 15 June 1954) is an Egyptian businessman. Sawiris is chairman of Weather Investments's parent company, and the former chairman and CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding and Orascom Investment Holding S.A.E. Early li ...

in 2011. After a number of acquisitions, as of December 31, 2011, VimpelCom had 205 million customers across 20 countries, and by 2012 it was the 13th largest

mobile network operator A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a mobile network provider, mobile network carrier, mobile , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, wireless operator, wireless telco, or cellular company, is a telecommunications provider of se ...

in the world by number of subscribers. The company switched its listing from the

NYSE Euronext NYSE Euronext, Inc. was a Transatlantic relations, transatlantic Multinational corporation, multinational financial services corporation that operated multiple Stock exchange, securities exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext ...

to the

on September 10, 2013. It sold its majority stake in

Wind Mobile Freedom Mobile (formerly Wind Mobile) is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider owned by Québecor. As of November 30, 2022 it is the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the country with 2,290,497 subscribers and a 6% market share, prim ...

Globalive Globalive Capital Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and investment company founded in 1998. It is based in Toronto, Ontario. Globalive is best known for its telecommunication businesses like Freedom Mobile (formerly known as Wind Mobile), Yak ...

in 2014 for US$272 million. and in 2015 the

government of Algeria Politics of Algeria takes place in a framework of a constitutional semi-presidential republic, whereby the President of Algeria is head of state while the Prime Minister of Algeria is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the g ...

bought VimpelCom's 51% stake in

Djezzy Djezzy (in ) is one of Algeria's three main mobile network operators, with a market share of 65% (over 16.49 million subscribers in December 2016) and a network covering 90% of the population (48 wilayas). Djezzy is wholly owned by the Algerian st ...

for $2.6 billion. VimpelCom's revenue was $9.78 billion in 2016, while assets were $33.85 billion.

2017–2022

In February 2017, VimpelCom renamed itself VEON, named after the messaging platform that it had developed. The company explained that the re-branding was part of a shift towards marketing itself as a technology company instead of just a telecommunications firm. VEON began listing its shares on

Euronext Amsterdam Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (), it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The re ...

in April 2017. In July 2017, VEON launched a personal internet platform named VEON in Ukraine, Bangladesh, Pakistan,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. After a number of divestments and a business transformation, by summer 2017, VEON had around 200 million combined subscribers across 12 markets. By the end of 2017, various listed VEON subsidiaries included

Golden Telecom Golden Telecom is an internet services provider in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It was acquired by VimpelCom in 2007. History Founded in 1996 by the global corporation Global Telesystems ("GTS"). NYSE-listed Global Te ...

, Kyivstar, and

, among others in Europe and Africa. In March 2018, CEO Jean-Yves Charlier resigned and CEO duties were temporarily assumed by VEON's chair,

Ursula Burns Ursula M. Burns (born September 20, 1958) is an American businesswoman. Burns is known for her tenure as the CEO of Xerox from 2009 to 2016. In this role, Burns was the first black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. She is also the first woma ...

. Burns was appointed CEO in December 2018 while remaining chair. In October 2019, VEON hired Sergi Herrero and former ex-

Turkcell Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (''lit. Turkcell Communication Services'') (, ) is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 39.3 million subscribers as of September 2021. In 2015, the company's number ...

CEO Kaan Terzioğlu as joint COOs of VEON Group. They both succeeded Burns as co-CEOs in February 2020, and in June 2020,

Gennady Gazin Gennady Gazin (Russian: Геннадий Газин; born 28 January 1965) is a businessman and philanthropist of Ukrainian-Jewish descent. Education Gazin has an MBA from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a master's degree in e ...

succeeded Burns as chairman. In 2020 VEON purchased the remaining 15% shares in

from

Abu Dhabi Group Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan (; born 1951) is an Emirati royal and politician, who currently serves as the minister of tolerance of the United Arab Emirates. Al Nahyan previously served as the minister of culture and the minister of higher ...

in Pakistan for 100% ownership. VEON exited Armenia in 2020. In July 2021, Terzioğlu became VEON's Group CEO, with oversight of VEON's executives and its regional CEOs assigned to separate markets. The company sold its Georgia unit for $45 million in June 2022, stating it was streamlining its operations. In August 2022, VEON completed the sale of Djezzy to the government of Algeria for USD$682 million. After announcing the pending sale of its Russian operations on November 24, 2022, VEON completed the sale on October 9, 2023, completely leaving the Russian market. Following the sale, the company went through various management changes, including reducing the board from 11 to 7 members.

2023–2025

VEON's total revenues in 2023 amounted to $3.7 billion. Morten Lundal was appointed chair of the VEON board in June 2023. Augie K Fabela II was appointed his successor in 2024. In March 2024, it was reported that VEON had agreed to sell a significant stake of its Kyrgyzstan operations, stating it was looking to focus on large markets. As of 2024, VEON also owned Mobilink Bank in Pakistan, a microfinance institution. Augie Fabela, VEON’s co-founder, was appointed chair of the VEON board in May 2024. Several other new directors were also named to the board, including

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American retired politician who served in the First presidency of Donald Trump#Administration, first administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) fr ...

Brandon Lewis Sir Brandon Kenneth Lewis (born 20 June 1971) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor from September to October 2022. He previously served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2018 to 201 ...

, and Duncan Perry, with incumbents including Fabela, Michiel Soeting, and VEON's CEO Kaan Terzioglu. It was the largest foreign investor in Ukraine in 2022 and 2023. In June 2024, VEON announced that it was committing US$1 billion in Ukraine's infrastructure via its subsidiary Kyivstar. Also in June 2024, VEON announced that over the next three years, it aimed to increase revenues by up to 19%, and would be increasingly focusing on AI technology. As of 2024, the company had 160 million total customers, 1.8 million fixed line customers,https://www.veon.com/fileadmin/user_upload/VEON_Preliminary_Annual_Results_for_FY_2023.pdf and 111 million monthly active users of its digital services, while its digital operations had six separate markets. Specific brands included units in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan operating under the Beeline brand, as well as

in Bangladesh,

in Pakistan, and

in Ukraine. These units in turn provided digital services with products such as Izi, Simply, hitter, OQ, JazzCash, Beepul, and the Tamasha and

Toffee Toffee is an English confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepar ...

entertainment platforms. VEON delisted from the

stock exchange on the 25th of November, 2024, after which their shares trade exclusively on NASDAQ. In Dec 2024 it moved its headquarters from Amsterdam to

Dubai International Financial Center The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is a special economic zone in Dubai covering , established in 2004 as a financial hub for companies operating throughout the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia (MEASA) markets. DIFC is regulated ...

Owners

VEON shareholder structure: * 45.5% of common and voting shares owned by LetterOne Investment Holdings S.A * 7.9% of common and voting shares owned by The Stichting * 7.2% of common and voting shares owned by Lingotto Investment Management LLP * 6.8% of common and voting shares owned by Shah Capital Management Inc.

Subsidiaries

VEON operated in six markets, each with their own brand, as of 2024: *

(Bangladesh) * Beeline (Kazakhstan) *Beeline (Kyrgyzstan) *

(Pakistan) *

(Ukraine) *Beeline (Uzbekistan)

VimpelCom-Takilant case

In summer 2015, the

United States Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

claimed VimpelCom had used a network of shell companies and phony consulting contracts to funnel bribes in exchange for market access in

. VimpelCom's affiliate Telenor severed consulting ties with Telenor's former CEO

Jon Fredrik Baksaas Jon Fredrik Baksaas (born 1954) was the Chairman of the GSMA until 2016, and CEO of Telenor until August 2015. He now serves as a special adviser to the telecommunications company's Group Executive Management team. Among the longest-serving top ...

due to the police investigation. In November 2015, VimpelCom CEO Jo Lunder was arrested on corruption charges in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway. The case alleged that in exchange for an operating license, VimpelCom funneled $57.5 million to Takilant, a company linked to

Gulnara Karimova Gulnara Islamovna Karimova (Cyrillic Uzbek: ; , ; born 8 July 1972) is a former Uzbek businesswoman and the elder daughter of Islam Karimov, the president of Uzbekistan from 1991 to his death in 2016. She wielded considerable influence in Uzbeki ...

, the daughter of Uzbek President

Islam Karimov Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov (30 January 1938 – 2 September 2016) was an Uzbek politician who served as the first president of Uzbekistan, from the country's independence in 1991 until his death in 2016. He was the last First Secretary of the ...

. The case was settled in February 2016, with the

Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

, the U.S. Department of Justice, and Dutch regulators requiring VimpelCom to pay $795 million to resolve violations of the

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from Bribery, bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. The FCPA is applic ...

(FCPA).Elco Van Groningen
"Takilant Found Guilty of Taking Bribes From Telia, VimpelCom"
Bloomberg (July 20, 2016). Retrieved 21 July 2016.

References

External links

* {{Major telecommunications companies VEON Telecommunications companies of the United Arab Emirates Holding companies of the United Arab Emirates Internet service providers of the United Arab Emirates Mobile phone companies of the United Arab Emirates Telenor Multinational companies headquartered in the United Arab Emirates Companies based in Dubai Holding companies established in 2009 Telecommunications companies established in 2009 2009 establishments in the Netherlands Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Nasdaq Alfa Group Emirati brands