The focus remains on Russia, Yandex now has a Cyrillic-based logo

Yandex has changed its Roman character logo into one depicting the company name in Cyrillic. According to Yakov from Quintura, this means Yandex has become a househould name in Russia. The new logo, by design consultancy Art. Lebedev Studio must stimulate the rise of Yandex’s brand, which is on its way to becoming one of Russia’s best-known brands.

Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh

“Our technology is better suited for the Russian market,” Volozh told The Sunday Times. “We have brilliant mathematicians and programmers. We are very strong on data analysis and have developed better technology, which is cutting-edge in Russia. We are constantly inventing new programs to stay ahead.”

So there’s no world-domination tour coming up for Yandex. But why would they? Operating in one of the world’s most exciting Internet markets, the engine is attracting 8 million people per day to its site and holds a share of 55 percent. That’s the bases of their success story: the victory over Google, which only holds 21 percent of the Russian search market. Yes, Yandex is booming. CEO Arkady Volozh knows this, as he told The Times in an interesting interview that “in two years since Google opened an office in Russia we haven’t lost a single specialist to our competitors because Yandex is one of the best companies to work for in Russia.”

The Sunday Times article by Mark Franchetti proves an interesting insight in the career of Volozh, a mathematician who was 24 years old when he first saw a personal computer. Touchy subjects like goverment-supported oligarchs aren’t discussed though. Volozh only says he’s not considering a sale.