Why Aram Gabrelyanov (Life) no longer receives Kremlin money and who does he blame for this. Aram Gabrelyanov was going to sell his entire media business. He had a conflict with the deputy head of the Presidential Administration Alexei Gromov

In 2006, the former finance minister of the Chernomyrdin government, a member of the Gazprom Board of Directors and head financial company UFG Boris Fedorov acquired 49 percent of the shares of one of the most popular Russian tabloids - the newspaper Zhizn.

UFG invested $40 million to control 49 percent of the publication's shares.

“You can write about anything and anyone, but there are three topics that are closed even for discussion - these are Putin, Patriarch Alexy and the state,” this could often be heard at meetings of the editor-in-chief, a native of Dagestan, 45-year-old Aram Gabrelyanov.

Now Gabrelyanov is already 56, but the newspaper Life, after rebranding Life, has remained a pro-government publication. Until 2016, the group had the closest ties to the presidential administration. The peak of Gabrelyanov's media opportunities fell on the period from 2012 to 2016 - it was then that Aram Ashotych managed to build close relations with representatives of the presidential administration. "Life" was not without reason considered a Kremlin publication.

It cannot be said that before the arrival of Volodin and the formation of the new Presidential Administration in 2012, Aram Gabrelyanov did not cope well - during the years of work for Vladislav Surkov, he participated in a campaign to whitewash the reputation of the latter.

However, the secret of the success of a talented Armenian should be sought in the 90s, when he bought the popular St. Petersburg newspaper Chas Rush from Pavel Gusev MK and presented (sold for a symbolic price) to Natalya Chaplina, the wife of the closest friend of President Viktor Cherkesov.. .

Perhaps I will again be suspected of conspiracy theories, but I think it’s not worth explaining that Viktor Cherkesov is a member of the very "Shkolov group". Cherkesov became one of the first victims in the confrontation between the special services, and his FSKN was defeated by other law enforcement agencies.

Considering that after 2012, Life had very serious investments, and contacts with the AP became permanent, there is reason to believe that it was Shkolov’s entry and his contacts with Volodin that contributed to the flow of cash from the AP towards Life.

In 2016, Aram Gabrelyanov started having problems - Vyacheslav Volodin left the Presidential Administration, and the flow of money from the presidential administration stopped. Apparently, the Kremlin's former "black cash desk" left with Volodin, and the new political administrators were forced to form a new "black cash desk". Accordingly, and monetary relations with the old contractors in the political direction were basically broken. "Life" was left without a roof in the AP.

Even if Gabrelyanov had no connections with Shkolov-Cherkesov, Life's funding would have stopped anyway. In conditions when the media field has been completely cleared and is under the control of near-Kremlin oligarchs, there is no point in maintaining a separate court publication.

The main problem of the enterprising Armenian lies in the existence of Kovalchuk's National Media Group, which includes the leading Russian media. Given that Yuri Kovalchuk himself is in direct contact with Vladimir Putin, and the new leadership of the presidential administration is in contact with Kovalchuk, there is simply no point in financing Life. There is a clear excess of federal publications, and their temnik is no different from each other.

A distinctive feature and feature of Life has always been yellowness, and in general there is nothing wrong with that. The really terrible thing is that Gabrelyanov blames his more successful colleagues for his own financial problems.

Since there was a catastrophic lack of funds for the development of Life, they tried to find a way out in social networks. Gabrelyanov invested in the creation of “yellow” communities on Vkontakte, such as the Mash project and the promotion of the network of urban communities on Vkontakte. Telegram channels have not been ignored in Life.

How I exposed "Bouncer and Sonya"

Not so long ago, an anonymous person representing the telegram channel “Bouncer and Sonya” knocked on my PM. At first it was fun, but then it became extremely boring and dull - the anonymous person took on too much, indicating how to write and what to do. During my communication with “Hvastun”, I managed to establish that he is especially nervous about journalists Evgenia Albats, Alexandrina Elagina and Natalia Morar.

When I began to study Volodin and his entourage, several times I had to mention those who could be behind the financing of Life. These notes caused a painful reaction from the "Bouncer", who tried to expose me, trying to get to my sources of information and customers. Unfortunately, Sasha Yunashev did not succeed - the entire Ural party knows that our editorial office is sitting without money.

A little later, after conducting a content analysis of his publications, I was convinced that the executor of the project was Sasha Yunashev, an employee of Life. On the Web, you can find a video where Sasha barks at people, and his voice completely matches the voice of an anonymous person with whom I had to communicate.

The last straw was the fact that when a DDoS attack began on the Rupolit.net website, Sasha Yunashev accused me of cheating - supposedly there was no attack on the site from his posts, but I keep fantasizing. Well...let me fantasize. Trying to hurt or offend me, he even posted a screen on his channel, on which his IP address was mistakenly indicated; a little later, he wiped this post.

Now, following the publications and inquiries from Yunashev, we can confidently state that the project "Bouncer and Sonya" was being prepared as a big exposure of the "enemies of Aram Ashotovich Gabrelyanov." The list of enemies included not only these journalists, but also high-ranking Russian officials - Sergei Kiriyenko, Igor Sechin, Sergei Chemezov.

Within the framework of the author's concept of the existence of a bundle Shkolov-Volodin-Chuichenko The courtly proximity of Aram Gabrelyanov's projects to the Presidential Administration until 2016 is understandable - Viktor Cherkesov could act as a lobbyist for Life. The most remarkable thing is that the opposite is also true - an analysis of Life's publications indicates that this particular bunch was the key political force during Vladimir Putin's third presidential term. This also explains the conditional "independence" of the group to the political opponents of the group, about which we wrote in previous articles.

Aram Gabrelyanov, whose nationality is Armenian, is a well-known Russian businessman. He is the president of a holding that produces Russian Federation high-circulation tabloids. Launched the Life.ru video portal. He is the chairman of the board of directors of the Izvestia newspaper.

Education

Aram Ashotovich Gabrelyanov was born in 1961 on the tenth of August in Dagestan, in the city of Derbent. He spent his childhood there. Gabrelyanov Aram Ashotovich, whose biography is closely connected with business and the media, like many, first graduated high school. Then he entered the Moscow State University at the Faculty of Journalism.

Career

In 1985, Aram Gabrelyanov, whose wife was originally from Ulyanovsk, moved to his wife's homeland. At first he trained in the newspaper "Ulyanovsky Komsomolets". Then he began to work as a correspondent. Gradually climbed the career ladder. First he became the head of the department, then deputy editor, executive secretary. And finally, the editor-in-chief of the publication.

Activities in Ulyanovsk

At the plenum of the regional committee, he proposed to transform Komsomolets into a new edition - The Word of Youth. This has been approved. As a result, in the early nineties, the newspaper began to be published with the features of the yellow press. In 1991, the publication was privatized by the staff and changed its name to Simbirsk Provincial News. And Aram Ashotovich had the Company became a Closed Joint Stock Company, and Gabrelyanov - its head.

By 1997, the circulation of the publication had grown significantly, reaching two hundred thousand copies. The newspaper had its informants, whose work was paid. The latest information about significant regional events has always been delivered to the newspaper very promptly. Therefore, the publication quickly gained circulation and enjoyed success with the population.

Creation of a publishing holding

In 1995, Aram Gabrelyanov, whose biography from the point of view of his work began with printed publications, bought the Ulyanovsk edition of Local Time in Dmitrovgrad. At the end of the same year, he acquired fifty percent of the shares of the SKiF commercial organization. She owned the newspaper "Scythians", which had economic direction. After some time, a new edition with the name "Skif" was created on its basis. The founder of the new newspaper was Joint Stock Company "SGV".

On the basis of the last two newspapers mentioned above, a publishing holding called Vedomosti-Media was gradually created. Somewhat later, it included printed editions of Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd and Saratov.

Moving to Moscow

In the ninety-sixth year, Aram Gabrelyanov, whose photo is in this article, moved to Moscow. He registered and began publishing the weekly Moskovskie Vedomosti. Due to the 1998 default, Gabrelyanov had to save his business with his own funds. Not only did he put all his money into it, he also sold his cars, mortgaged his apartment, and borrowed money from friends.

By 1999, the business situation had leveled off, and Aram Ashotovich already owned twenty-nine newspapers. In the same year he returned to Ulyanovsk, but already as the editor-in-chief. In 2000, the press controlled by Gabrelyanov helped in the election campaign of the governor and mayor of Ulyanovsk. But Aram Ashotovich could not work well with the new leadership and again left for Moscow.

First mainstream tabloid

There he renamed Moscow News into the weekly Life, for which he created a separate publishing house. The format was borrowed from the famous English tabloid. The publication quickly became popular, as it published scandals related to personal life. Russian stars show business. In 2006, the circulation of the weekly exceeded two million copies. Gabrelyanov Aram Ashotovich became the general director and editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

In 2001, the Otkrytoye holding was created on the basis of the publishing house. joint-stock company News Media. "Life" became a brand under which other publications began to be printed ("Life. Ulyanovsk", etc.). The newspaper was on a par with the main Russian tabloids. In 2004, she entered the top five most popular. Mainly due to paid informants who provided exclusive materials.

By 2005, the Life brand united fifty-two Russian printed publications and had a representative office in Kyiv. In some cities newspapers were issued daily, in others once a week. At the end of 2005, Aram Gabrelyanov resigned from the post of editor-in-chief and became chairman of the board of directors.

Since 2000, negotiations have been underway to sell part of News Media. The deal took place in 2006. As a result, slightly less than 50% of the shares were sold to a fund created by former Finance Minister Boris Fedorov and his partners.

With the funds received from the deal, Gabrelyanov increased the circulation of many of his publications and organized a large-scale advertising campaign. At the same time, he rebranded the newspaper "Life". Crime and sexual themes were removed from the publication. As a result, the newspaper has become solid, for family reading.

Business Sprawl

In 2006, a new edition appeared - "Your Day". Regional branches were located in several cities of Russia. In 2007, Gabrelyanov Aram Ashotovich replaced the post of General Director of News Media with the position of Editorial Director and Chairman of the Holding. Subsidiaries of the company appeared in Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine.

In 2006, Gabrelyanov planned to open his own printing houses and develop a distribution network. But he changed his mind and spent the available funds on the Life.ru website, which was based on exclusive videos.

Initially, the idea was to create not just an Internet portal, but an operational news agency, so that visitors could not only provide their materials, but also receive fees for this. In a short time, the site Life.ru was in seventh place in terms of popularity in Runet. In 2009, Gabrelyanov divided it into three parts. The first is breaking news. The second is show business news. The third is sports.

In 2009, journalism courses were opened at News Media. Along with other specialists, Aram Gabrelyanov himself taught. In the same period, two more new projects appeared. The first is "Heat" (secular magazine). Philip Kirkorov was appointed its editor-in-chief. And the second project appeared in 2010 - the business newspaper Marker. It was supposed to be strikingly different from similar publications due to exclusive materials and the speed of their placement. At the same time, the calculation was mainly on the popularity of the publication among young people.

In 2010, News Media Open Joint Stock Company became the first Russian company selling video materials to leading TV channels. By this time, the holding had already managed two - "REN-TV" and "Petersburg-Fifth Channel". In 2011, Gabrelyanov became the deputy general director of NMG, who oversaw the holding's Internet projects and the Izvestia publication. In the same year, Aram Ashotovich headed the board of directors in it.

Then an agreement was to be signed, according to which the News Media holding began to deal with the newspaper. He covered all publishing costs. In 2012, due to Gabrelyanov's plans to integrate Izvestia, many employees and Chief Editor quit. New personnel were recruited.

Gabrelyanov and politics

Some journalists paid attention to the pro-Kremlin direction of the printed publications of Aram Ashotovich. Notes appeared in the media about his connection with United Russia. Gabrelyanov is on good terms with the head of the presidential administration.

Thanks to Surkov, Gabrelyanov has access to the presidential press pool. The printed publications of Aram Ashotovich professionally and objectively covered the Crimean events in connection with the return of the republic to Russia. For this, Gabrelyanov was awarded on behalf of the President in April 2014.

Aram Ashotovich Gabrelyanov: reviews, criticism, scandals and conflicts

Periodically, the publications of Aram Ashotovich were criticized. He was accused of unethical, illiteracy and unprofessionalism. In 2010, a screenshot of one of the Life News articles was posted on Kashin's blog, which spoke of provocations at the rally. As a result, Gabrelyanov spoke in strong terms at the planning meeting regarding employees. This angry speech was recorded on a dictaphone and posted online.

Some of the materials published in News Media were sued by the heroes of the articles. And they accused the publishing house of unreliability of published data and interference in personal life. But Aram Gabrelyanov believes that a public person already has his whole life in plain sight. In principle, it cannot be a secret, since celebrities are always in the spotlight. And public people need to be ready for this.

In 2011, pictures were published on the Life News website of how the deputy is at the wedding in the fascist uniform of V. Canaris. As a result, a complaint was filed against Gabrelyanov to the court. But 4 experts confirmed that the pictures are genuine. As a result, Mikheev had to not only compensate the moral damage to Aram Ashotovich, but also publish a refutation of the accusations against Gabrelyanov on REN-TV.

In April 2014, Aram Ashotovich decided to close the Ukrainian edition of Life. The reason was the refusal of the local editorial office to publish pro-Russian materials. As Gabrelyanov's son Ashot explained, the employees refused to publish the materials sent because of fears that the Ukrainian authorities would apply sanctions against them.

Family

Aram Ashotovich Gabrelyanov married his classmate. His marriage is happy, the spouses live in perfect harmony. Gabrelyanov Aram Ashotovich, whose wife bore him two sons, is a happy father.

The first son, Artem, graduated from Moscow State University, Faculty of Journalism. He successfully defended his diploma in tabloization of modern Internet media. But before that, in 2008, he had already worked as deputy chief editor in the international news department. Artem himself wrote many articles for glossy publications. In 2011, he was appointed editor-in-chief of Bubble comics.

The second son, Ashot, also became a journalist, like his father and older brother. He began publishing at the age of fifteen. His first reportage was about the American drunk director Tarantino. At the age of nineteen, Ashot was appointed editor-in-chief of Life News. In 2012 - Executive Director of News Media.

After a while, Artem left for permanent residence in the United States of America, in New York. Ashot until 2014 worked as the general director of the media resource.

The grandfather of Aram Ashotovich, Nikolai Ter-Gabrelyan, is known for having founded in the village at his own expense. Tatev Orthodox Monastery.

Gabrelyanov's character and beliefs

Aram Gabrelyanov is convinced that the media must be emotional and truthful. Even if for the sake of this it is necessary to get video materials where and how a public person dies. Gabrelyanov first of all appreciates the result in his work, which pays well. He does not tolerate indifferent people next to him, he prefers active and efficient people. For his subordinates, he is an example of how a person can achieve heights by starting small - from the position of a simple correspondent.

Until recently, Aram Gabrelyanov was one of the most influential media managers in Russia, he was even called the shadow minister of the press. In the past two years, having quarreled with patrons from Vladimir Putin's inner circle, he lost everything, and now the authorities are forced to think over options for his employment. What is behind the rapid collapse of the creator of "Life" and Life.ru - understood THE NEW TIMES.

The Legend of the Altruist

The most characteristic legend about Gabrelyanov in 2013 was told by TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak. Allegedly, in the 2000s, the Kremlin wanted to control the Gabrelyanov's tabloid Life, which had gained popularity, and then the deputy head of the presidential administration, Vladislav Surkov, invited him to the Kremlin. At the meeting, Surkov, according to Sobchak, suggested that Gabrelyanov sell half of the business to people understandable to the authorities and thus give control of the newspaper. The media tycoon made an unexpected move: he said that he loved the president so much that he was ready not to sell the business, but to give away for nothing for the needs of the country. The Kremlin official was so impressed by the answer that they bought a share from Gabrelyanov for more money than originally expected, and he himself was left not only as the manager of the newspaper, but in the future he was entrusted with a huge holding.

It is impossible to confirm the reliability of this story, but Gabrelyanov himself never refuted it. “I always wanted to work with the president,” he answered the request of his acquaintance, the interlocutor NT- comment on the legend. "It was a good chance."

This legend is the essence of Gabrelyanov's ideas about business: he understands that in Russia you can earn money only on relations with the authorities, says a media manager familiar with Gabrelyanov. “In this sense, he is very consistent,” the interlocutor ironically says. NT. “If a conditional State Department comes to power tomorrow, then its journalists will write in English and praise Navalny.”

THIS LEGEND IS THE ESSENCE OF GABRELYANOV'S VIEWS OF BUSINESS: HE UNDERSTANDS THAT IN RUSSIA YOU CAN MAKE MONEY ONLY ON RELATIONS WITH THE AUTHORITIES

First romance with power

Gabrelyanov began his career in the 1980s in the newspaper Ulyanovsk Komsomolets. In private conversations, he likes to recall his first achievement: he went to Moscow to cover an important event with the participation of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, broke through to him and asked a few questions.

But then he achieved proximity to power not by this. Gabrelyanov became a confidant of one of the key party functionaries of the Ulyanovsk region - Yuri Goryachev. It was thanks to Goryachev that Gabrelyanov received the Ulyanovsk Komsomolets, which he renamed the Word of Youth, into management. When Goryachev became governor of the region in 1992, Gabrelyanov's newspaper was housed in a mansion in the center of Ulyanovsk, Forbes reported. Later, the media manager and the politician had disagreements, and in the 2000 gubernatorial elections, Gabrelyanov supported the already nominated Moscow, General Vladimir Shamanov. He eventually sent Goryachev to retire.

Gabrelyanov moved to Moscow, where in 2001 he established the Life Publishing House. The newspaper began to quickly gain popularity, and soon Boris Fedorov became interested in the asset, who, following the results of negotiations, bought 49% of the shares. It was Fedorov who could provide Gabrelyanov with connections in the highest echelons Russian authorities. Fedorov worked in the government in the 1990s, having risen to the post of deputy prime minister under Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko in 1998, and was friends with many officials.

Photo: prim-marketing.ru

Fedorov's people were the first to discover financial problems in Gabrelyanov's holding. According to Forbes, they studied the financial documents and came to the conclusion that the holding is on the verge of loss. Then the representative of Fedorov became the general director, who tried to put the reporting in order.

In 2008, Fedorov died, and Gabrelyanov quickly got a new partner - following the aforementioned meeting with Surkov, he became close to Putin, Yuri Kovalchuk, who created the National Media Group (NMG) in the same year.

Patron from St. Petersburg

In private conversations, Gabrelyanov admitted that he always dreamed of a full-fledged holding: in addition to the “yellow” newspapers “Life” and “Your Day”, as well as the Lifenews portal created later, he also wanted to get a respectable political newspaper, TV channel and radio station. Kovalchuk gave Gabrelyanov a chance to realize his dream.

It was Kovalchuk who since then has been Gabrelyanov's chief boss. Periodically, Aram Ashotovich came to work not in traditional jeans and a T-shirt, but in a suit, recalls one of Gabrelyanov's employees. According to him, this meant that the "boss" that day would go to St. Petersburg to "Yuri Valentinovich". The suit, Gabrelyanov told employees, he put on only for the sake of two people - Kovalchuk and Putin. Visits to the latter, by the way, happened much less frequently.

The first fruits of friendship with Kovalchuk appeared in 2011. Gabrelyanov received the first element of the dream holding - a political newspaper. Six months before the State Duma elections of the next convocation, he was appointed chairman of the board of directors of the Izvestia newspaper, which three years earlier had passed from Gazprom-Media Holding to NMG. First of all, Gabrelyanov evicted employees from the historic building on Tverskaya and transferred them to the building near the Belorusskaya metro station, where the office of his “yellow” assets was located.

Photo: en.wikipedia.org / Sergey Samoylov Life

During this period, Gabrelyanov began to attend meetings in the Kremlin with Vladislav Surkov especially often, performing all the tasks of the authorities in covering the election campaign of United Russia, says an acquaintance of the Kremlin official. At the same time, the authorities did not skimp on expenses - Gabrelyanov was encouraged like no one else, a high-ranking United Russia official claims on condition of anonymity.

Another fact speaks about the special status of Gabrelyanov. When protests began at the end of 2011 and it became clear that Surkov was being fired from his post as curator domestic policy, he decided to give something like a farewell interview. According to a person close to the Kremlin, Surkov insisted that the interview be published in Izvestia, and he set the condition that Gabrelyanov personally take it. He did not immediately agree - he consulted with the leadership of the Izvestia editorial office and, only with the approval of the team, went to the Kremlin, says an employee of the holding.

However, at first, Gabrelyanov declared that he was not going to demand excessive loyalty from Izvestia. For example, he always said that he would never agree to put the headline “Brilliant victory for United Russia” in the newspaper following the election results - such a degree of loyalty should have been characteristic of Lifenews (such headlines appeared there regularly), but not the respectable newspaper that he promised to do. Another former employee confirms that until 2012, Gabrelyanov was on fire with Izvestia and tried to make the information in the newspaper look balanced.

The situation began to change shortly before presidential elections. In the midst of the protests, he called in key employees of the paper and advised that the paper might have to take a "patriotic stance" amid the protests. By the summer, he kept his promise and finally turned her into a Kremlin mouthpiece.

To the Kremlin as a job

By this time, Gabrelyanov had lost interest in Izvestia. In general, he is arranged like this: at first he burns with something, then he is fond of the new, and destroys the old, his friend says. Instead of Izvestia, the manager was preparing to launch new parts of the empire - a channel and a radio station.

He received both in 2013. The Life channel was launched from scratch, but was almost immediately included in the packages by all the leading cable operators, and its journalists immediately received the most privileged positions in the Kremlin pool. They began to take them to all events of the head of state without exception, the source says. NT, familiar with the progress of the launch of the channel. Radio Gabrelyanov was given the already existing and before that - the "Russian News Service". It was headed by the star and honored presenter Sergei Dorenko, but for the sake of Gabrelyanov they said goodbye to him.

At first, Gabrelyanov declared that he was not going to demand excessive loyalty from Izvestia

Gabrelyanov began to visit the Kremlin even more often than under Surkov, his acquaintances say. The internal political bloc of the presidential administration was already headed by Vyacheslav Volodin, and Gabrelyanov spoke publicly about his friendship with a Kremlin official. Sources NT claim that they regularly saw the media manager in Volodin's waiting room. He left there with “tasks,” one of the interlocutors claims. Noticing this, journalists from other publications began to call him "the shadow minister of the press."

Gabrelyanov liked to be a tool in political intrigues, his acquaintances say. Most a prime example- the story of the demolition of the government. In 2013, Life published a controversial video titled "Vladimir Putin threatens to dissolve the government." The channel reported that it was publishing a video fragment from the closed part of the meeting with members of the government, recorded after the President's request to turn off the cameras. On the recording, Putin can be heard sharply criticizing the audience and threatening to resign.

On the same day, a scandal erupted - Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov criticized Life for violating ethics, after which there were reports of the exclusion of journalists from the Kremlin pool. In fact, the video was handed over to Life journalists from the presidential press service, two well-informed sources say. The President thus showed the people how he scolds officials, adds one of the interlocutors. NT. This is confirmed by the fact that the video was later shown on the air of all central channels. Gabrelyanov always liked such "wiring".

But the expansion of the empire did not end there. In 2015, Gabrelyanov, after a long preparation, launched new channel in St. Petersburg - Life78. The channel, according to the plan, was supposed to critically cover the activities of the governor Georgy Poltavchenko, the interlocutors say. Poltavchenko is usually attributed to the sphere of influence of the Rotenberg brothers, the excessive strengthening of the current governor does not suit Gabrelyanov's senior comrade, Yuri Kovalchuk, too much.

Chronicle of the Fall

In late 2015 - early 2016, incredible, as it seemed then, rumors appeared on the market: Izvestia would be taken away from Gabrelyanov. He himself denied this information for a long time, but the newspaper soon began rearranging. In early February last year, Alexander Potapov, appointed by Gabrelyanov, left the post of editor-in-chief. He was replaced by a former lieutenant governor Kaluga region Arseny Oganesyan. He is a creature of the chairman of the board of directors of NMG Kirill Kovalchuk, although before that only Gabrelyanov himself made decisions on the management of the editorial office, the source in the holding notes.

Already in the summer of 2016, Izvestia was removed from Gabrelyanov's management and remade into the direct jurisdiction of the NMG. Later they were merged with other assets of the group - REN TV and Channel Five. There was no clear explanation of what happened then.

This year the process has continued. In March, information appeared about the withdrawal of the Life78 channel from Gabrelyanov’s management, then there were reports of the closure of the Life Sound radio station created by Gabrelyanov on the basis of the RSN. Finally, in August, it was announced that the Life channel would cease broadcasting. In addition, it became known that Gabrelyanov was dismissed from the post of deputy CEO NMG, which symbolized the unification of his holding with the Kovalchuk group.

Probably, after the 2018 presidential election, the Life.ru website will also be taken away from Gabrelyanov, a person in the NMG predicts

Probably, after the 2018 presidential election, the Life.ru website will also be taken away from him, a person in the NMG predicts. Gabrelyanov fell victim to the NMG business merger model. All the assets were under his control, but significant shares belonged to the group, so it was easy to take all the assets from him, the source continues. Realizing this, Gabrelyanov removed all key employees from Life. Several former employees of Gabrelyanov have already launched new projects in which he acts as an investor.

One of such projects is Ararat football club. Gabrelyanov is now very passionate about him, said a source familiar with the media manager, close to the leadership of the Kremlin administration. According to RBC, in September, Gabrelyanov, through his representative, became the owner of the club. Companion NT says he heard high level discussion of other options for further employment of the manager. “I even heard the idea of ​​making him the dean of the faculty of journalism,” the interlocutor said, without specifying which university he was talking about and how serious this idea sounded.

Money and politics

Informed Sources NT agree that Gabrelyanov's empire fell apart due to a coincidence of political and financial reasons. At a certain point, the NMG (as Fedorov once did) decided to figure out what was going on with Gabrelyanov's money, and made many unpleasant discoveries for herself, says an acquaintance of the manager. Gabrelyanov spent millions of dollars building the channel's studio, according to two people who saw the cost estimates for the equipment. According to them, the launch of the channel as a whole was very expensive, and the shareholders could not understand where the money went.

The shareholder’s questions were also intended use funds that Gabrelyanov received by concluding contracts with heads of regions and companies. The posting of these receipts was, to put it mildly, not very transparent, notes a person close to the NMG. Gabrelyanov always distributed the funds as he saw fit, it irritated the shareholder, says a subordinate of the creator of Life.

The quality of the product was also often in doubt: the shareholders counted on the success of Life78 in St. Petersburg, a lot of money was also spent on it, but the efficiency turned out to be lower than expected, says a source close to the Kremlin.

The attitude of the most influential Kremlin official, the first deputy head of the Kremlin administration, Alexei Gromov, could also have influenced Gabrelyanov’s shaken position.

The attitude of the most influential Kremlin official, the first deputy head of the Kremlin administration, Alexei Gromov, could also have influenced Gabrelyanov’s shaken position, follows from the words of the interlocutors. NT. Gabrelyanov had close relations with Volodin, the curator of domestic policy, but they were always tense with Gromov, the curator of information policy. Companion NT says that he was somehow present at a telephone conversation between Gromov and Gabrelyanov. According to him, Gabrelyanov kept asking: “Aleksey Alekseevich, who is turning you against me?” In addition to Gromov, there were many other ill-wishers in power, says a source close to the Kremlin.

Volodin covered Gabrelyanov for a long time, but at the beginning of 2016, Volodin’s position was already weakening, many understood that he would be transferred from the Kremlin to the State Duma, so Gabrelyanov also became more vulnerable, says his acquaintance.

In general, the cause of the problems lies in the fact that Gabrelyanov did not understand in time that loyalty alone was no longer enough, another of his acquaintances argues. He continued to behave as if he was the only one helping the Kremlin: he quarreled with whom he wanted and spent money as he liked. “Although in reality everyone is loyal now, almost every media outlet is ready to follow the order of the Kremlin administration. In this sense, Gabrelyanov has ceased to be unique, ”summarizes an acquaintance of the demoted king of the tabloid press of Russia.

tabloid publisher

Prominent tabloid publisher. Since 2001, he has been managing the News Media holding, which, in particular, owns the popular tabloids Life for the Whole Week and Your Day, as well as the Life News Internet information portal. Since February 2011, he has simultaneously been Deputy General Director of the National Media Group holding, since April 2011 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Izvestia newspaper.

Aram Ashotovich Gabrelyanov was born on August 10, 1961 in the city of Derbent, Dagestan ASSR. His grandfather Nikolai Ter-Gabrelyan (in Soviet times his family settled in Derbent and changed their surname) was mentioned in the media as the founder of a monastery in the village of Tatev in the Armenian historical region of Zangezur.

Little data was published about Gabrelyanov's life until the second half of the 1980s. It is known that he served in the army, and then studied at the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, from which he graduated in 1985 (according to other sources - in 1986 or in 1989). Already at the university, Gabrelyanov showed interest in foreign journalism and even fraudulently obtained access to view the Western press, reporting the non-existent consent of the heads of the faculty,,.

In 1985, Gabrelyanov moved to Ulyanovsk, to the homeland of his wife, with whom he studied on the same course, and became an intern in the regional newspaper Ulyanovsk Komsomolets,,,. Later he worked in the publication as a correspondent, head of department, deputy editor, executive secretary, and in 1990 became editor-in-chief of the newspaper,. At the same time, at the plenum of the Ulyanovsk regional committee of the Komsomol, Gabrelyanov proposed transforming the Ulyanovsk Komsomolets into a new newspaper, Slovo Molodoy (the press claimed that the idea belonged to his former boss Alexander Kuznetsov), and this proposal was accepted,,. Already in the early 1990s, the publication had the stylistic features of the "yellow press" (the media writing about this mentioned such headlines of "Words of Youth" as "Animal farm on the bones of a storyteller", "Ulyanovsk poltergeist", "Swastika on rubles", "Man- magnet visiting "Words of Youth", etc.).

Gabrelyanov tried to support good relationship with the authorities of the Ulyanovsk region. So, the media noted that in some "long-standing elections to the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR" (details were not reported), Gabrelyanov acted as a confidant of Yuri Goryachev, who since the late 80s served as chairman of the executive committee of the regional Council of People's Deputies. In the early 1990s, when Russian President Boris Yeltsin removed Goryachev from his post (by that time he was already the head of the regional administration), Simbirsk Gubernskie Vedomosti published material that became the reason for holding a rally in Ulyanovsk in support of the head of the region. After that, the session of the regional Council of People's Deputies demanded that Gabrelyanov be put on trial. A criminal case was opened against him on charges of incitement, but it did not go any further, and Yeltsin, who arrived on a visit to Ulyanovsk, "reinstated Goryachev in his position" at the request of the people ". Gabrelyanov's relationship with Goryachev deteriorated in 1996 (as it was alleged "domestic quarrel"), after which the "Simbirsk provincial sheets" began to actively publish anti-governor materials,,.

Gabrelyanov also collaborated with big business in the region. In 1997, the Ulyanovsk "Narodnaya Gazeta" told a story about how Gabrelyanov came to the police and, boasting of his connections in power structures and the fact that he "controls all the newspapers", tried to help employees of the ATM company accused of extortion, with the head of which he was on good terms.

In 1995, Gabrelyanov in the city of Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region, bought the newspaper Local Time, (the newspaper of the same name, a subsidiary of Simbirsk Gubernskiye Vedomosti, was published at that time in Ulyanovsk itself). At the end of 1995, Gabrelyanov purchased from Kuznetsov half of the SKiF information and commercial partnership, which owned the popular economic newspaper Skify (according to some reports, Gabrelyanov paid Kuznetsov less than half of the agreed amount). On the basis of the "Scythians" in 1998, the newspaper "Skif" was created, and its founder was already exclusively JSC "SGV", and not the partnership "SKiF".

In the same period, Gabrelyanov created the Vedomosti-Media holding, which became the owner of many newspapers in other regions. In this regard, Vedomosti was mentioned Nizhny Novgorod province"," Vedomosti of the Samara Governorate "," Rostov Courier "," Krasnoyarsk Komsomolets ", the St. Petersburg newspaper" Rush Hour ", the children's illustrated magazine "Watermelon" (originally called "Seryozhka", according to some sources in honor of the grandson of the governor Goryachev), newspapers "Local time" in Saratov, Dimitrovgrad, Yekaterinburg, Cheboksary, Yoshkar-Ola, Stavropol, Novosibirsk, Lipetsk, etc. According to Gabrelyanov himself, when selecting publications, he did not conduct special marketing research, but only chose big cities and sent his employees there.

In 1997, Gabrelyanov moved to Moscow, where he registered the company "Editorial office of the newspaper" Vedomosti "". In the same 1997, Vedomosti-Media began publishing the weekly Moskovskie Vedomosti,. As a result of the default in 1998, Inkombank, in which Gabrelyanov kept fixed assets, suffered significantly. According to the businessman-publisher, he lost about five million dollars, after which, in order to save the enterprise, he had to "sell all his cars, mortgage an apartment and borrow from his comrades."

In 1999, it was reported that Gabrelyanov's holding owned twenty-nine (according to other sources, nineteen) publications; the main part of them was a "yellow press". The corporation was also mentioned as a co-founder of the Ulyanovsk television and radio company Gubernsky Kanal, but Gabrelyanov lost interest in the channel that supported the regional administration back in 1996, and in 1999 Vedomosti-Media initiated its bankruptcy.

In the same 1999, Gabrelyanov returned to Ulyanovsk as the editor-in-chief of the Simbirsk Gubernskie Vedomosti,. At the end of 2000, the press controlled by Gabrelyanov took an active part in the campaign that preceded the election of the governor of the Ulyanovsk region and the mayor of Ulyanovsk,,. Vladimir Shamanov, whose candidacy was supported by Gabrelyanov, was then elected to replace Goryachev as the new governor. However, Gabrelyanov failed to work with the new leadership of the city, and after the elections he returned to Moscow.

Although initially "Moskovskiye Vedomosti" was supposed to be a "solid" newspaper, in 2000 they were transformed into the popular daily "Life", for the publication of which the publishing house of the same name was created. The format of "Life" (including design, fonts and headings) was borrowed from the famous British tabloid The Sun,,, (in 2002, articles about this were published in the British press,). Gabrelyanov became editor-in-chief and general director of the Zhizn publishing house. In addition, on the basis of this publishing house in 2001, he created the holding JSC "News Media". From the same year, some other publications owned by Gabrelyanov began to appear under the Life brand: in particular, in 2001, Simbirsk Gubernskie Vedomosti was renamed Life. Ulyanovsk.

The newspaper "Life" quickly became one of the main Russian tabloids. Already in 2004, it was one of the five most popular newspapers among Russians - along with its main competitors " Komsomolskaya Pravda", "Arguments and Facts", "Moskovsky Komsomolets" and "AIDS-Info". Like Simbirsk Gubernskiye Vedomosti, Life owed its success to the presence of a network of paid informants who provided the editors with exclusive materials. By 2005, Life "had editorial offices in fifty-two cities of Russia and a representative office in Kyiv, the newspaper issues in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don and Yekaterinburg were daily, and in other regions - weekly. half of the 2000s, the Life Publishing House concealed a significant part of its income, for which, among other things, it used advertising of various kinds of "dubious services".

At the end of 2005, personnel changes took place in the Life Publishing House, as a result of which Gabrelyanov left the posts of general director and editor-in-chief, and became chairman of the board of directors of the company.

In the mid-2000s, Gabrelyanov negotiated the sale of a part of News Media with the head famous company Axel Springer Russia by Regina von Flemming, however, the conclusion of the deal was delayed - according to the head of the holding, "due to German pedantry" . In the spring of 2006, fifty percent minus one share of News Media were sold investment fund UFG Private Equity Fund, created by former Finance Minister Boris Fedorov and his partners. The amount of the transaction, according to some sources, amounted to forty million dollars,,. However, the legality of this transaction was soon called into question: in early 2007, the former head of the department secular life newspaper "Life" Irina Mayorova (Eremina) stated that back in 2004, Gabrelyanov fraudulently became the owner of twenty percent of the shares of News Media that belonged to her, which he later disposed of. Mayorova appealed to the prosecutor's office, but she refused to initiate a criminal case.

The funds received through the sale of a large block of shares allowed Gabrelyanov to increase the circulation of his publications and conduct a large-scale advertising campaign with a budget of about eight million dollars. At the same time, the rebranding of the newspaper "Life" was carried out - articles on "criminal topics" and frank "materials of a sexual nature" were removed from it, thanks to which the publication turned into a weekly newspaper "for family reading" Life for the whole week ",. The format of the weekly was taken from the British edition of News of the World, but soon, due to claims from the British, it had to be changed too... Many well-known journalists were involved in the work on the publication: in particular, journalist Oleg Kashin led a political column for some time. all week", Gabrelyanov's holding in 2006 began to publish the daily journal "Your Day", regional editions of which at that time were published in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don and Yekaterinburg.

On April 1, 2007, Gabrelyanov left the post of CEO of News Media (which since the beginning of that year has regularly appeared in the press also under the name News Media Rus) and became chairman of the board of directors and editorial director of the holding. The vacated post of general director was taken by the representative of UFG Private Equity Fund Andrey Mushkin. In 2007, Gabrelyanov's holding was no longer limited to the territory of Russia and also had subsidiaries in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus. In February 2008, there were reports in the press about the creation of a new OJSC "News Media", coordinating projects both in Russia and abroad; Gabrelyanov became the general director of the new "News Media".

Back in 2006, Gabrelyanov announced his intention to use the money received from the sale of shares in News Media to open his own printing houses, form his own distribution network, and also to create regional schools for young journalists,,. However, Gabrelyanov abandoned most of these plans, and the money was spent on a new, largely based on exclusive videos, Life.ru Internet portal (it was launched in the spring of 2008),. Gabrelyanov said that the portal was based on the ideas of organizing its own operational news agency and, at the same time, creating "Media 2.0", in which site visitors could provide their own materials and receive money for it. Already in June 2008, Life.ru took the seventh place in the Russian segment of the Internet in terms of popularity - it was only ahead of search engines and social media. In October 2009, the Life.ru portal was divided into three parts: the Lifenews.ru agency specializing in "breaking news", the Lifeshowbiz.ru website dedicated to show business news, and the sports website Lifesport.ru,.

In September 2009, it was announced that News Media had its own journalism courses. Both Gabrelyanov himself and other employees of News Media were supposed to teach at them,. As a possible teacher, Gabrelyan also suggested inviting the well-known journalist Sergei Dorenko (no information was found about his participation in the project - ed. note).

In the same period, Gabrelyanov's holding launched two more projects. In the fall of 2009, the secular magazine "Heat", announced long before, appeared, whose editor-in-chief was pop singer Philip Kirkorov,. On March 1, 2010, "News Media" began to issue a business online newspaper "Marker", which, according to its creators, was supposed to differ from other similar publications in exclusivity and efficiency, as well as in that it was designed for a youth audience,. In September 2010, News Media OJSC became one of the first companies in Russia to sell video materials to TV channels: the first channel to conclude such an agreement with Gabrelyanov's company was NTV, headed by Vladimir Kulistikov.

Back in the summer of 2008, UFG Private Equity Fund sold its stake in News Media for $ 80 million to the National Media Group (NMG) holding, controlled by Yury Kovalchuk, co-owner and chairman of the board of directors of Rossiya Bank. By that time, the holding already managed the REN-TV and Petersburg-Fifth Channel television channels, and was soon to receive the Izvestia newspaper in management, in which Kovalchuk's structures received a controlling stake in the spring of the same 2008. However, the head of News Media over the next few years insisted that he did not know to whom exactly Fedorov's company sold its stake in his holding,.

In February 2011, Gabrelyanov was appointed Deputy General Director of NMG, who oversaw Izvestia and the holding's Internet projects. At the same time, the media manager continued to manage his own holding News Media,,. In April of the same year, Gabrelyanov headed the board of directors of Izvestia. At the beginning of May 2011, it became known that an agreement would be signed next month, according to which News Media would deal with the publication of Izvestia. It was reported that the holding would bear all the costs of publishing the newspaper. As Gabrelyanov clarified, the shareholders of Izvestia do not plan to sell the newspaper.

In May 2012, the media wrote about Gabrelyanov's intention to integrate the work of the Izvestia editorial office and other publications of the News Media holding, including the Life News portal,,. These plans caused disagreement both among the publication's employees (more than half of them resigned after the sale of Izvestia) and its editor-in-chief Alexander Malyutin, who resigned from his post in June. His place was taken by the editor-in-chief of the Marker portal Alexander Potapov,.

Some journalists noted the pro-Kremlin mood of Gabrelyanov's publications, in addition, there were hints in the media about his connections with the United Russia party. In an interview with the OpenSpace portal, Gabrelyanov said the following about the Prime Minister: "Putin is the father of the nation, nothing can be presented to him." According to some reports, before launching the Zhara magazine, Gabrelyanov consulted with the deputy head of the presidential administration of Russia Vladislav Surkov, who was in charge of media issues, and it was also reported that they had "good relations". Gabrelyanov himself said in an interview that he loves to "talk to him, just a smart person", sometimes asks him for advice, but Surkov does not give any indications about the policy of his publications, this is "bullshit". At one time, News Media journalists were denied access to the president's press pool, but according to some reports, thanks to Surkov, they were still allowed in, and Gabrelyanov began to take part in regular meetings of the head of the country with editors-in-chief. In late 2011 - early 2012, the Life News portal published compromising information on oppositionists who were preparing protest rallies against the results of the parliamentary elections,,.

Gabrelyanov's publications were criticized for being unethical, and their authors for being unprofessional and illiteracy. In 2010, Kashin published a screenshot of an article on the Life News website on his blog - its headline reported a "provocation" at the rally. Kashin's publication became one of the reasons Gabrelyanov criticized his employees at the planning meeting - his speech, replete with obscene expressions, was recorded on a dictaphone and hit the net,.

Repeatedly, the heroes of the materials of "News Media" filed lawsuits, accusing the holding's publications of interfering in private life and disseminating false information,,,,. Gabrelyanov himself insisted that personal life a public figure for journalists should not be inviolable.

Gabrelyanov is a laureate of the national award in the field of media business "Media Manager of Russia" for 2006.

It is known that Gabrelyanov speaks the Zangezur dialect of the Armenian language, attends the Armenian church and is actively interested in Armenian culture, but as of 2006, he visited Armenia only once.

Aram Gabrelyanov is married and has two sons,. The eldest, Artem Gabrelyanov, graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University in the summer of 2009 with a thesis "Tabloidization of modern Russian Internet media", however, back in 2008 he was mentioned as deputy editor-in-chief and editor of the Life.ru international news department,. Artem Gabrelyanov also wrote articles for glossy magazines. In 2011, he also became editor-in-chief of News Media's Bubble comics magazine. The youngest son of Aram Gabrelyanov, Ashot, who was born in 1989, has been published in News Media since the age of fifteen (then he presented a report on the drunken American director Quentin Tarantino). At nineteen, Ashot Gabrelyanov became the editor-in-chief of Life News, in 2012 it was reported that he was also the executive director of the News Media holding.

Used materials

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Alexander Potapov became the new editor-in-chief of Izvestia. - Interfax, 19.06.2012

"I have a mission." - Lenta.ru, 28.05.2012

Anastasia Matveeva, Petr Kanaev, Alina Chernoivanova, Olga Tanas. Izvestia is not integrated. - Newspaper.Ru, 22.05.2012

Will Izvestia change its editor-in-chief? - open space, 22.05.2012

Roman Badanin, Ivan Osipov. Izvestia may change its editor-in-chief. - Forbes, 21.05.2012

Stepan Bukhnin. Gabrelyanov says. - Scandals.ru, 26.01.2012

A viral recording of Gabrelyanov's meeting appeared on the Internet. - Arguments and Facts, 26.01.2012

Nemtsov wanted to "fill the face" of the editor-in-chief of Life News, who called his girlfriend a "call girl." - NEWSru.com, 26.01.2012

Anastasia Zhokhova, Ivan Prosvetov. Aram Gabrelyanov created the most popular tabloid in the country. What did it cost him? - Russian Forbes, 20.12.2011

Andrey Artemov. "Scum and vegetables." The opposition leader gave an assessment to his supporters. - Arguments and Facts, 20.12.2011

Oleg Kashin. Aram Gabrelyanov: "Putin is the father of the nation, nothing can be presented to him." - openspace.ru, 11.07.2011

The Izvestiya newspaper will be published by Gabrelyanov's holding, which makes Life News and the Life newspaper. - Newspaper.Ru, 05.05.2011

Valery Weisberg. Aram Gabrelyanov and Alexander Malyutin headed Izvestia. - Marker, 21.04.2011

Ekaterina Sevryukova, Valentina Borisova. Aram Gabrelyanov will become the top manager of the National Media Group. - RBC daily, 11.02.2011

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Marina Naumova. "Who owns half of my business, I don't know." - Slon.ru, 10.02.2011

Anton Petrov. Life is like a miracle. - openspace.ru, 04.02.2011

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Famous people who won lawsuits against the media. Reference. - RAPSI, 10.06.2010

Eh Aram Ashotovich. - Oleg Kashin's blog (kashin.livejournal.com), 01.06.2010

March 1 launched new project LLC "News Media-Rus" - business newspaper "Marker". - Guild of Periodical Press Publishers (gipp.ru), 01.03.2010

Today in Ulyanovsk, at the age of 72, the first governor of the region, Yuri Goryachev, died. - Russian newspaper- Middle Volga, 20.01.2010

Anastasia Alekseeva. The best people Cities: News must be exclusive. - Private Correspondent, 12.01.2010