German Kaplun

In 1993, German Kaplun co-founded RosBusinessConsulting (“RBC”), one of the largest Russian media groups. Between 1993 and 2012, RBC grew into a diversified holding company with 3,000 employees and dozens of successful businesses. RBC’s successful acquisitions included “RBC Money”, online travel operator “iGlobe.ru” and online dating service “loveplanet.ru”. Russia’s largest web-hosting service provider “Hosting Centre RBC” was formed as a result of RBC’s acquiring and merging 8 different hosting service providers in Russia. In addition, throughout its history, RBC launched over 70 start-ups, including business news portal “rbc.ru”, RBC TV channel, online magazine “utro.ru”, online news and recreational portal “qip.ru”, video hosting service “smotri.com”, and one of Russia’s most popular hi-tech news resources “cnews.ru”. In April 2002, RBC successfully conducted Russia’s first IPO on Moscow’s MICEX and RTS stock exchanges with its market capitalization reaching $1.7bn at one point. German is also the co-founder of Armada, one of the 5 largest Russian software companies. Throughout the years, German has been ranked among the best media managers in Russia. He holds a Ph.D. from the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.