The headquarters of Ozon, one of the largest marketplaces, may be located in the Grand Tower skyscraper, currently under construction in Moscow City. According to current reports, negotiations between the marketplace and the building's owners are still ongoing, and it is unclear whether the deal involves a purchase or just a lease. Ozon declined to confirm or deny this information.
Real estate experts believe that if this deal goes through, it will be the largest ever concluded in the office leasing market. Currently, that title belongs to Tinkoff Group, which leased nearly 78,000 square meters in the AFI Square business center, located in the historic center of Moscow near the Belorussky Railway Station, last year. However, as a person close to one of the parties to the potential deal shared with the media, Ozon is considering more than just Grand Tower as a possible location for its headquarters.
If the deal goes through, the company will have to pay approximately 7.6-9.2 billion rubles in annual rent. Grand Tower has 232,000 square meters of space available for rent, and the annual rent per square meter in this location is approximately 33,000-40,000 rubles. If the marketplace is considering purchasing the property, the total transaction value could reach 85-95 billion rubles.
Ozon recently decided to participate in a program implemented by Visa for major online marketplaces. This program, which begins on February 1, 2022, reduces fees for cashless payments. Therefore, starting February 1, 2022, the marketplace's fees to the international payment system will not exceed 1.2-1.5% of the total payment amount.
