Hot ticket: Wildberries & Russ bought a major tour operator Fun&Sun
Wildberries & Rus acquired one of the largest Russian tour operators, Fun&Sun, from Alexey Mordashov's Severgroup structures, Izvestia has learned. The value of the transaction is estimated at approximately $200 million. Earlier, RVB acquired Magasa Airport in Ingushetia, secured 100% of the operating company of the Rive Gauche network and became a participant in the privatization of the UzPost postal operator in Uzbekistan. Experts believe that the marketplace is looking for ways to develop in the travel market, where it is still inferior to its key competitors — Ozon and Yandex. See the Izvestia article about how a high—profile deal can affect the market.
How is the marketplace increasing its share in the travel market
Alexey Mordashov's Severgroup structure has sold the largest Russian tour operator, Fun&Sun, to the united Wildberries & Russ company (RVB LLC). Three sources close to both sides of the negotiations told Izvestia about this. Earlier, the industry publication TurDom reported on RVB's interest in the tour operator.
The deal has already taken place and has been "closed for a long time," according to one of Izvestia's sources. Representatives of Severgroup and Fun&Sun declined to comment. The representative of the online platform only recalled the strategic partnership between the marketplace and the tour operator, which began in September this year, he declined to comment further. The changes in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities have not yet been displayed.
The deal amounted to "several hundred million dollars," a source close to one of the parties told Izvestia. Fun&Sun was sold for "at least 15-16 billion rubles," said a co-owner of a major tour operator familiar with the parameters of the agreement. This corresponds to about $200 million at the current exchange rate. The tour operator has a heavy debt burden, one of Izvestia's interlocutors added. The cost of the entire business, including debt (EV), is about 50-60 billion rubles, estimated by Ivan Peshkov, head of BGP Capital's M&A department.
Fun&Sun (until 2022 — "TUI Russia") is one of the largest Russian tour operators, founded in 2009 on the basis of VKO Group and Mostravel companies as a joint venture (JV) of Severgroup and TUI Group holding (a controlling stake since 2008 in Cyprus Unifirm Ltd, owned by Alexei Mordashov). In 2022, the company announced a name change.
The company has about 12,000 travel agents, including franchisees, said the co-owner of a major tour operator. According to the Turpomosh Association, the organization is among the top 3 travel companies in terms of contributions to the personal responsibility fund. By the end of 2024, TT-travel's revenue (Fun&Sun legal entity) amounted to 104.4 billion rubles, which is 46.2% more than a year earlier. Net profit for the same period amounted to 4.9 billion rubles against a net loss of 6.6 billion rubles in 2023, according to the RAS financial statements.
The combined RVB company was established in 2024 as a joint venture between Wildberries (65%) and Russ Group (35%), combining marketplace, advertising technologies and logistics into a single digital ecosystem. The company manages trading, logistics and advertising services, as well as develops factoring and IT platforms for sellers. In 2024, the turnover of the combined structure in the e-commerce segment exceeded 4 trillion (+60% YoY), net profit for the same period amounted to 104 billion rubles, 3.5 times more than a year earlier, RVB reported in March.
The united organization itself registered RVB Travel at the end of July 2025, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. According to the statement, her main type of work is stated to be the activities of travel agencies, as well as tour operators and the provision of sightseeing and booking-related services.
What else did RVB buy
Wildberries & Russ has become active in mergers and acquisitions in recent months. In September, the combined company acquired 100% of shares in Oskanov Magas International Airport in Ingushetia. In early October, she received 100% of the operating company of the perfume and cosmetics chain Rive Gauche as collateral, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. On October 14, RVB became a participant in the privatization of the UzPost postal operator in Uzbekistan, RBC wrote, citing sources.
The acquisition by the combined company of a large operator fits into the trend of consolidation of the Russian travel services market, said a top manager at a major tour operator. So, in June of this year, Yandex Travel bought the Akadem-Online hotel booking service for business tourism. In October, Avito Travel entered into a partnership with Aeroclub, a business travel service provider, the company reported.
The travel segment of the business is actively developing among Wildberries' competitors, Ozon and Yandex, so Tatiana Kim's company's desire to move in this direction looks logical, agrees Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of INFOLine Analytics. According to him, the marketplace has an audience with a request for travel services. In this case, the company can meet this need as part of the development of an ecosystem approach, he added.
The use of anonymized data from users of the online platform will allow for more targeted formation of tour offers, Ivan Peshkov notes. We are talking about look-alike technology, in which the system identifies users who behave similarly to existing customers, he explained. In addition, entering the tourism business will strengthen the direction of lending in the banking structure of RVB — Wildberries Bank, increasing the volume of loans for the purchase of tours, the expert added.
The discount policy of the marketplace may allow for some time to make tours more accessible to consumers, believes a source of Izvestia in a large travel agent. At the same time, this deal may turn out to be unprofitable for the franchisee tour operator, as it reduces the marginality of his business, said the co-owner of a large tour operator.
According to data from SberAnalytics, the total amount of tourist spending within Russia in January-September 2025 amounted to 1.4 trillion rubles. In eight months, the number of trips across the country amounted to 123 million, which is 3% more than in the same period a year earlier, the study said.
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