The Wildberries section of the market by Vladislav and Tatyana Bakalchukov has been attracting the attention of trade and trade publications for several weeks. What is happening there? Profile magazine columnist Igor Trifonov asks a question.
At first there was a public washing of dirty linen, senior officials were involved in the conflict, multimillion-dollar losses and serious damage to business reputation were discussed. Then the victims appeared: two dead, seven injured, including two police officers. And now what?
The Wildberries business emerged in 2002. According to the official version, English teacher Tatyana Bakalchuk preferred to order clothes for herself and her husband, a well-known Moscow businessman, in foreign stores, but there was no stability in the business. receiving orders and, if things didn’t fit, it was difficult. to return them. Thus arose the idea of creating a chain of stores, whose distinctive feature would be convenience for the buyer. The husband donated the initial capital – $700, and Tatyana started from scratch.
It was then that the first obstacle was placed in the great conflict that was to come. The company was registered in the name of Tatyana and both spouses became founders, but Vladislav kept one hundredth of the shares. Later it will become one percent. This percentage legally gave the husband a priority right to claim everything in case of any problem. Then and now, this practice is common in family businesses.
Under the Family Code, all property and all loans acquired during an official marriage are divided in half between the spouses at the time of separation, despite the formal “one percent.” In the vast majority of cases, these disputes are resolved amicably: one simply relinquishes claim to the other’s property. This did not happen in the “Wild Berries” case, which itself may set a precedent (in any case, many family law attorneys today cite this story as an example of a legislative loophole).
In 2004, the couple had their first child, Vladislav began to help his wife during maternity leave and, in fact, took over part of the development of Wildberries. At the same time, he sold his main business and focused on working on a new project, formally becoming the owner of one-hundredth of the share. Little by little, affiliated companies emerged around the main company, and in them the shares of the spouses were distributed differently. For example, the construction of warehouses in Russia and the CIS is carried out by VB Development, a company wholly owned by Vladislav.
Thanks to joint efforts, a small online store turned into a popular market, which received the name “Russian Amazon”. The company’s net profit in 2020 reached 2.1 billion rubles, and the number of employees exceeded 25 thousand. And here lies the second obstacle.
In essence, Wildberries has become a financial and logistics empire with extensive international connections, stable authority and well-established work. You can find any product: from a cable for charging devices and a modest gold ring to a set of expensive furniture and jewelry. Money can also be of any type, both in terms of quantities and names of currencies: financial flows are varied. And with a large volume of supplies, customs and tax procedures are greatly simplified. And we must understand that the battle in the family is not for a market focused on the convenience of the buyer, but precisely for this empire, in which the online store is only the tip of the iceberg.
Divorce and maiden name
In July 2024, Tatyana Bakalchuk announced her impending divorce from her husband and, at the same time, the merger of Wildberries with the Russ Outdoor business group. In the new company, Wild Berries retains 65% of the shares. This decision seemed legally impeccable: the Bakalchuks were not divorced and the only decision of the general director of the company and at the same time owner of a 99% stake was legal. The deal itself raises questions: from a financial point of view, it is not profitable for the market or its owner. In just a few months, Tatyana became twice as poor: according to the American magazine Forbes, her assets decreased from $7.9 billion to $4.1 billion (due to both the merger and the depreciation of the ruble).
There is a lot of talk about the reasons for the divorce, but two themes prevail: the spouse’s inappropriate behavior in the family and his actions in the Wildberries business, which can be described as unethical and threaten the purity of the company. In fact, some call the merger process with Russ a forced measure to protect themselves (forceful and legal) from the consequences of a series of operations carried out by Vladislav Bakalchuk. There is no official data confirming this version, mainly because it constitutes a commercial secret, that is, a secret specially protected by law. It is noted that Vladislav carried out the operations behind his wife’s back, carefully hiding the fact itself. And the dismissal of two senior managers at Wildberries was due to their failure to inform their CEO of what was happening, even though they were required to do so.
On this basis a conflict arose: Vladislav Bakalchuk considers the merger unprofitable and causing harm, including to his seven children, and (in accordance with the law) demands a review of the shares, which will lead to the cancellation of the agreement. Legally, their position is not perfect: even if the court decides another distribution of shares, this will happen when the merger has already taken place.
This is why on September 18, 2024, Vladislav Bakalchuk, as well as two senior managers who left Wildberries (Sergey Anufrievwhose area of responsibility included logistics, delivery service and security service, and former chairman of the board of directors of Wildberries Bank Vladimir Bakin) He arrived at the company’s headquarters and tried to enter. The new guards did not let them enter. A clash ensued in which two office security guards were shot and seven people, including two police officers, were injured.
Bakalchuk, Bakin and Anufriev were accompanied by a group of armed men who turned out to be ethnic Chechens. According to preliminary data, it was they who started the conflict, which quickly moved to the power level, but they could not fulfill the assigned tasks and withdrew. The deceased office security employees were natives of Ingushetia, which added ethnic overtones to this conflict and gave rise to verbal battles in the local (Chechen and Ingush, as well as Dagestan) segments of social media.
By the way, at the same time, a group of opponents of the merger also tried to break into another Wildberries office, in the capital’s Iskra Park business center, but this incident was bloodless and was not reflected in operational reports.
Within an hour, the Russian guard took the company’s headquarters under surveillance. The participants in the conflict were detained later, in the building of the Sklifosovsky Institute of Emergency Medicine; It was there that the victims of the shooting were taken. Vladislav’s supporters began to behave very harshly, tried to break into the emergency department and were detained and then sent to custody for a criminal case or under administrative arrest.
A criminal case was opened under five articles of the Penal Code: murder of two or more people, attempted murder, illegal trafficking in firearms, attempt on the life of a law enforcement officer and arbitrariness. The actions of Vladislav Bakalchuk and former senior managers are included in this last article.
“I just came to talk”
And then things got weird. The case was opened by the investigative department of the Presnensky district of Moscow, then it was brought to the first department of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Moscow, which is quite acceptable given such a resonance. But within a few hours, the criminal case was transferred to the central office of the Investigative Committee, who actively participated in the work, in particular, an employee of the Central Administration of the Investigative Committee came to court with a petition for arrest. . Let us keep in mind that usually the head office is in no hurry to deal with the routine and resumes the case after completing a large number of procedural formalities.
The searches were carried out without judicial authorization “due to the urgency of the investigative actions” (the law allows this). Vladislav Bakalchuk was also among those detained. They were going to charge him under serious articles of the Penal Code and even prepared a petition for his arrest in court, but they did not allow the newspaper to proceed. In addition, at the time when the courts detained the participants in the fight, Bakalchuk was released without charge.
“During the interrogation, in the presence of lawyers, he presented his version of events, according to which he did not expect the tragic development of the situation and was simply going to speak,” said a source from the investigation team. “His testimony was confirmed by other participants in the events: they said that Bakalchuk did not direct anything or give any instructions. The weapon with which the shots were fired was never found. In such situations, there were no legal grounds to press charges against Vladislav. Yes, members of the investigation team have doubts about the reliability of this version, but doubts cannot be added to the case.”
On September 20, 33 people were arrested. Among them are neither Bakalchuk nor the former senior managers of Wildberries. And after two days, the detainees began to be slowly released: formally, during interrogations, it was not possible to convict them of illegal actions, and the reasons for keeping them in custody disappeared. Furthermore, the gun used to shoot was never found and this is, of course, the key evidence in this case.
Even before the court hearings to choose a preventive measure, all detainees from Bakalchuk’s support group declared that they intended to go to the Northern Military District area and their lawyers were already preparing corresponding petitions. According to the recently adopted amendments to the Criminal Code, this is a legal basis for suspending and then terminating criminal proceedings. The information was later confirmed. The dead guards were buried at Wildberries’ expense and the company provides support to the victims.
Thus, the case of the tragedy at the Rogovy Lane business center can be suspended due to the fact that the subjects of criminal liability turn out to be not involved in the crimes or sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense.
Let us add that on September 20, the Federal Antimonopoly Service announced: the agreement to merge Wildberries and Russ is legal and does not contain any signs of violation of the law. So the conflict turned out to be useless: Bakalchuk could not delay time and even if the shares were redistributed, he would receive part of what was left. That is to say, the empire has moved away from him and it will not be possible to return it; All lawyers agree on this.
The divorce procedure will continue as usual, the spouses will not appear in court, they will negotiate through their lawyers. The market itself will change its structure and will continue to be only an online store, and its owner, who has recovered her maiden name. tatiana kimShe will continue to be considered one of the most successful women in the country.
