BBC chair Richard Sharp has business links to Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin, who is now sanctioned by the UK government, an investigation by The Guardian shows.

According to the investigation, Sharp used a Cayman Islands offshore company to invest in a crypto venture founded by Potanin. The investment had been made in 2019, before Potanin was sanctioned.

Still, “although Sharp has since stepped down from [the position of Potanin’s company director], Swiss corporate filings show an individual who works for Sharp’s personal investment office continues to sit on the board of directors”, The Guardian writes.

Potanin used to be Russia’s richest man and is best known for owning a chunk of Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of refined nickel. He was sanctioned in June of this year for being one of the oligarchs that form Russian president Putin’s inner circle.

Condé Nast is on pace to surpassing its 2021 revenue this year, Axios reports. The global publishing house, which owns multiple brands including Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired, will top the almost $2 billion mark in revenue seen last year.

The strong results are enabled by the growth in Condé Nast’s advertising business, which is majority digital today. Despite the worsening economic outlook, Condé Nast hasn’t suffered from an advertising slump as its publications are attracting luxury brands.

At the same time, the company is working to expand its audience revenue. “It’s unclear if the company will post a profit again this year [as it did last year], as it looks to continue investing in its digital expansion”, Axios’ Sara Fischer adds.

Prominent Ukrainian journalist and commentator Vitaliy Portnikov reported discovering a listening device in his apartment in Lviv, Ukraine.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), where Portnikov is a long-term contributor, notes that the origins of the bug are not clear yet, but called on the Ukrainian authorities to investigate the incident properly.
Portnikov, who says he discovered the device while cleaning his apartment, filed a report with the police and the security services. “SBU [Ukrainian Security Service] agents inspected Portnikov’s apartment and removed the equipment”, RFE/RL writes.

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Weekly Digest: Condé Nast Revenue Growth, BBC Chair’s Business Ties to Russian Oligarch