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Plus and Entertainment Services revenues grew 84% in Q4 2022 compared with Q4 2021. The increase was primarily driven by the growth of subscription revenue on the back of the expanding base of paid subscribers and changes in tariff mix, as well as solid trends in other revenue streams, including advertising and Afisha. Adjusted EBITDA improved significantly, to a loss of only RUB 0.6 billion from a loss of RUB 1.9 billion in Q4 2021 driven by a positive operating leverage effect on the back of the subscription revenue growth.

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segregation of unallocated corporate expenses from reportable segments’ adjusted EBITDA and their inclusion in the Other Business Units and Initiatives category (since Q3 2022).

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Eliminations related to our revenues increased 232% in Q4 2022 compared with Q4 2021. The increase was mainly attributed to the increased intercompany revenue between our businesses (related to cross service advertising and marketing activities, intercompany device sales, the usage of data centers and other IT infrastructure and other centralized services by all business units), which grow as the whole group grows and integration between services expands.

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Consolidated Operating Costs and Expenses

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Our operating costs and expenses consist of cost of revenues, product development expenses, sales, general and administrative expenses (SG&A), and depreciation and amortization expenses (D&A). Apart from D&A, each of the above expense categories include personnel-related costs and expenses, relevant office space rental, and related share-based compensation expenses. Increases across all cost categories reflect investments in overall growth. In Q4 2022, our headcount increased by 916 full-time employees. The total number of full-time employees was 20,850 as of December 31, 2022, up by 5% compared with September 30, 2022, and up 16% from December 31, 2021, which was primarily driven by the accelerated pace of hiring in Search and Portal (mainly in product development and sales) and Mobility, as well as by the fast growth of Cloud, Delivery, Plus and Entertainment Services and other businesses.

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Total operating expenses increased 40% in Q4 2022 compared with Q4 2021. The increase was mainly due to the сost of revenues related to E-commerce, Mobility and Delivery businesses, Plus and Entertainment services and Devices, and

growth of headcount and related personnel expenses across most of our business units due to the overall increase of the businesses.

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TAC grew 67% in Q4 2022 compared with Q4 2021 and represented 7.3% of total revenues, higher 78 basis points compared with Q4 2021. The year-on-year growth of TAC as a share of revenue was primarily driven by TAC related to our distribution partners.

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Total SBC expenses decreased 4% in Q4 2022 compared with Q4 2021. The decrease was primarily related to the replacement of new grants in 2022 by an increase in salaries and bonuses as well as material depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Russian ruble in Q4 2022 compared to Q4 2021. This effect is partly offset by the settlement of Business Unit Equity Awards in cash, which led to additional costs recognized in Q4 2022. In light of the current geopolitical and macroeconomic crisis and the ongoing suspension of trading in our Class A shares on Nasdaq, during the whole of 2023 participants will continue to receive cash compensation on the vesting dates of the relevant RSU equity awards, in an amount equal to the target value of each tranche of such awards. In Q4 2022, RUB 2.0 billion of the total RUB 4.8 billion in SBC expenses related to RSU equity awards settled in cash were recorded as part of personnel expenses, which reduced consolidated adjusted EBITDA.

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Income/(loss) from operations

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Income from operations amounted to RUB 6.1 billion in Q4 2022 compared to a loss from operations of RUB 2.6 billion in Q4 2021. The growth was mainly driven by the continuing improvement of our Search and Portal and Devices segment profitability.

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Other income/(loss), net for Q4 2022 was income of RUB 9,873 million, up from loss of RUB 2,048 million in Q4 2021. Other income/(loss), net includes foreign exchange gains in the amount of RUB 9,382 million and RUB 149 million in Q4 2022 and Q4 2021 respectively. The increase of foreign exchange gains reflects the depreciation of the Russian ruble against the US dollar by 18% and 2% during Q4 2022 and Q4 2021, respectively.

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Income tax expense for Q4 2022 was RUB 9,666 million, up from RUB 2,028 million in Q4 2021. Our effective tax rate in Q4 2022 was positive of 57.8% compared to negative tax rate of 243.5% in Q4 2021. If we remove the effects of deferred tax asset valuation allowance, SBC expense, effect of change in tax rates, tax provisions recognized and gains/(losses) on equity method investments, our effective tax rate for Q4 2022 was 22.0%, compared to 17.3% for Q4 2021 as adjusted for similar effects and contribution to the Russian Fund for the Development of Information Technologies. The change in the tax rates without above-mentioned effects was primarily driven by the permanent differences between US GAAP and tax accounting as well as reduced tax rates of certain our subsidiaries.

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Net income was RUB 7.1 billion in Q4 2022, compared with net loss of RUB 2.9 billion in Q4 2021. The changes in net income were mainly attributable to growth of operational income and foreign exchange gains in Q4 2022, partly offset by the gain on the revaluation of our equity method investment in the amount of RUB 3.5 billion in Q4 2021.

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Cash used in operating activities was RUB 1.6 billion and cash paid for property and equipment, intangible assets and assets to be leased was RUB 21.7 billion for Q4 2022.

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The total number of shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2022 was 361,482,282, including 325,783,607 Class A shares, 35,698,674 Class B shares, and one Priority share and excluding 558,663 Class A shares held in treasury and all Class C shares outstanding solely as a result of the conversion of Class B shares into Class A shares. Any such Class C shares will be cancelled.

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There were also employee share options outstanding to purchase up to an additional 2.9 million shares, at a weighted average exercise price of $44.32 per share, 2.2 million of which were fully vested; equity-settled share appreciation rights (SARs) for 0.1 million shares, at a weighted average measurement price of $32.85, all of which were fully vested; restricted share units (RSUs) covering 11.9 million shares, of which RSUs to acquire 6.2 million shares were fully vested; and performance share units (PSUs) for 0.2 million shares. In addition, we have outstanding equity-linked awards in respect of our various Business Units, including options and synthetic options, for 4.5 million shares, 2.2 million of which were fully vested and may be settled in equity of our Business Units, cash or Yandex Class A shares.

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Goodwill and non-current assets

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With regards to our financial position as of December 31, 2022, we have concluded that the current geopolitical crisis and macro environment have not had any material impact on goodwill and non-current assets.

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ABOUT YANDEX

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Yandex (NASDAQ and MOEX: YNDX) is a technology company registered in the Netherlands that builds intelligent products and services powered by machine learning. Our goal is to help consumers and businesses better navigate the online and offline world. Since 1997, we have delivered world-class, locally relevant search and navigation products, while also expanding into mobility, e-commerce, online entertainment, cloud computing and other markets to assist millions of consumers in Russia and a number of international markets. More information on Yandex can be found at https://ir.yandex/.

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

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This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical facts, including, without limitation, statements regarding our future financial and business performance, our business and strategy and the impact of the current geopolitical and macroeconomic developments on our industry, business and financial results, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “estimate,” “expect,” “guide,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “will” and similar expressions and their negatives are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted or implied by such statements, and our reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. The potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted or implied by such statements include, among others, macroeconomic and geopolitical developments affecting the Russian economy or our business, changes in the political, legal and/or regulatory environment and regulatory and business responses to that crisis, including international economic sanctions and export controls, competitive pressures, changes in advertising patterns, changes in user preferences, technological developments, and our need to expend capital to accommodate the growth of the business, as well as those risks and uncertainties included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 and “Risk Factors” in the Shareholder Circular filed as Exhibit 99.2 to our Current Report on Form 6-K, which were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 20, 2022 and November 18, 2019, respectively, and are available on our investor relations website at https://ir.yandex/sec-filings and on the SEC website at https://www.sec.gov/. All information in this release and in the attachments is as of February 15, 2023, and Yandex undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.

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USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

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To supplement the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we present the following non-GAAP financial measures: ex-TAC revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin and Adjusted net income. The presentation of these financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned “Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest comparable U.S. GAAP measures”, included following the accompanying financial tables. We define the various non-GAAP financial measures we use as follows:

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These non-GAAP financial measures are used by management for evaluating financial performance as well as decision-making. Management believes that these metrics reflect the organic, core operating performance of the company, and therefore are useful to analysts and investors in providing supplemental information that helps them understand, model and forecast the evolution of our operating business.

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Although our management uses these non-GAAP financial measures for operational decision-making and considers these financial measures to be useful for analysts and investors, we recognize that there are a number of limitations related to such measures. In particular, it should be noted that several of these measures exclude some recurring costs, particularly share-based compensation. In addition, the components of the costs that we exclude in our calculation of the measures described above may differ from the components that our peer companies exclude when they report their results of operations.

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Below we describe why we make particular adjustments to certain U.S. GAAP financial measures:

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TAC

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We believe that it may be useful for investors and analysts to review certain measures both in accordance with U.S. GAAP and net of the effect of TAC, which we view as comparable to sales bonuses but, unlike sales bonuses, are not deducted from U.S. GAAP revenues. By presenting revenue, net of TAC, we believe that investors and analysts are able to obtain a clearer picture of our business without the impact of the revenues we share with our partners.

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SBC

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SBC is a significant expense item, and an important part of our compensation and incentive programs. As it is highly dependent on our share price at the time of equity award grants, we believe that it is useful for investors and analysts to see certain financial measures excluding the impact of these charges in order to obtain a clearer picture of our operating performance. However, because we settled the RSU equity awards of our employees in cash during 2022, starting from Q3 2022 we no longer eliminate the relevant SBC expense corresponding to the cash payment from adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income.

Foreign exchange gains/(losses)

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Because we hold significant assets and liabilities in currencies other than our Russian ruble operating currency, and because foreign exchange fluctuations are outside of our operational control, we believe that it is useful to present adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and related margin measures excluding these effects, in order to provide greater clarity regarding our operating performance.

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Amortization of debt discount and issuance costs

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We also adjust net income/(loss) for interest expense representing amortization of the debt discount related to our convertible senior notes due 2025 issued in Q1 2020. We have eliminated this expense from adjusted net income as it is non-cash in nature and is not indicative of our ongoing operating performance. We have repurchased substantially all of the outstanding notes to date.

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Expenses related to contingent consideration

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We may incur expenses in connection with acquisitions that are not indicative of our recurring core operating performance. In particular, we are required under U.S. GAAP to accrue as an expense the contingent compensation that is payable to certain employees in connection with certain business combinations. We eliminate these acquisition-related expenses from adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income to provide management and investors a tool for comparing on a period-to-period basis our operating performance in the ordinary course of operations.

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Goodwill and other intangible assets impairment

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Adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2022 exclude a loss from intangible assets impairment related to E-commerce, Mobility and Delivery business of RUB 2,740 million (the amount of excess of fair value of intangible assets over its carrying value) and related income tax gain of RUB 548 million.

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Gain on restructuring of convertible debt

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Adjusted net income, adjusted EBITDA and related margin measures exclude gain on restructuring of our convertible debt. Adjusted net income and its margin measures also exclude income tax attributable to this gain. In June 2022, Yandex completed the purchase of 93.2% in aggregate principal amount of its $1.25 billion 0.75% Convertible Notes due 2025. Yandex has to date purchased more than 99% in aggregate principal amount of the Notes originally issued. As a result of the restructuring, a gain in the amount of RUB 9,305 million and a related income tax expense in the amount of RUB 751 million were recognized.

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Effect of the News and Zen deconsolidation

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We have adjusted net income, EBITDA and related margin measures for the one-off gain as a result of the News and Zen deconsolidation completed in Q3 2022, in the amount of RUB 38,051 million. We have eliminated this gain from adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA as we believe that it is useful to present adjusted net income, adjusted EBITDA and related margins measures excluding impacts not related to our operating activities.

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One-off restructuring and other expenses

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We believe that it is useful to present adjusted net income, adjusted EBITDA and related margin measures excluding impacts not related to our operating activities. Adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA exclude expenses related to the restructuring of our corporate governance approved by our shareholders in December 2019 and other similar one-off expenses.

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The tables at the end of this release provide detailed reconciliations of each non-GAAP financial measure we use from the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure.

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*  Derived from audited consolidated financial statements

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