Viadeo doubles down on emerging markets, expands into Russia

Viadeo, the world’s second-biggest online networking site for professionals after LinkedIn largely due to its joint ventures in China is extending that policy into Russia. It’s now launching a joint venture with the Russian subsidiary of Finnish publisher Sanoma Oyj to create a professional networking site in Russia.

Sanoma already has rb.ru, one of Russia’s leading business sites, so the idea is to develop a new site in Russian Cyrillic.

Paris-based Viadeo said ownership of the joint-venture will be split evenly. The company delayed plans for an IPO this year to continue focusing on emerging markets.

Russia recently overtook Germany as the single biggest Internet market in Europe, according to Comscore.