Loss-making VK pays hundreds of millions of rubles in bonuses to its managers

Loss-making VK pays hundreds of millions of rubles in bonuses to its managers

Over the years of the war, internet censorship has led to a massive redistribution of audiences, advertising budgets, and state resources. The main recipient of these flows was VK. Verstka obtained data on salaries at the company; we verified and analyzed this information.

🟪VK CEO Vladimir Kiriyenko received about 543 million rubles from July 2024 through August 2025. His average monthly income including bonuses was almost 45 million rubles, while his salary was 9 million rubles. His father is Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Presidential Administration and one of the key overseers of domestic policy.

🟪VK Deputy CEO Stepan Kovalchuk received about 465 million rubles over the year. He earns more than 8.4 million rubles a month, and his bonuses exceed 160 million rubles. Kovalchuk is the grandson of Mikhail Kovalchuk, president of the Kurchatov Institute and one of the most influential figures in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

🟪Another recipient of large payouts is VK Deputy Director of the Business Development Department Bogdan Sidorenko. Over the year he received more than 40 million rubles, and his monthly salary is about 1.4 million rubles. Media outlets have also linked him to projects close to the Kiriyenko family.

🟪All top managers of the corporation receive the same kind of bonuses and salaries. At the same time, the corporation itself remains loss-making. In 2025, its net loss amounted to about 25 billion rubles; a year earlier, it was almost 95 billion.

Read about how much the people who shut off the internet for Russians earn on Verstka’s website (with VPN):

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