Polish Grupa Pracuj Increases Stake in Work.ua and Robota.ua as Co-Founder Exits

The Poland-based company Grupa Pracuj is increasing its stake in the Ukrainian job search websites Work.ua and Robota.ua by acquiring shares from co-founder Andriy Borovyk, Forbes Ukraine wrote referring to the company’s press release.

Work.ua and Robota.ua are among Ukraine’s largest job search websites. Over four million users visited Work.ua in October 2024, and almost seven million were reported by the website’s statistics in February 2020.

Borovyk, co-owner of Work.ua and Robota.ua, has exited the business for personal reasons, Forbes reported, citing Work.ua founder Artur Mikhno.

Borovyk’s stakes in the two companies were acquired by Mikhno, Polish Grupa Pracuj, as well as well as the co-founders of Jooble (the largest job aggregator) Roman Prokofiev and Yevhen Sobakarov.

The deal with the Polish shareholders does not exceed $7.6 million, according to Forbes Ukraine.

Work.ua and Robota.ua both belong to Grupa Pracuj and Ukrainian company Gravitatciya-U.

Robota.ua is split between Polish and Ukrainian shareholders, accounting for 67% and 33% respectively. Work.ua has the same shareholder structure, though in this case, Ukrainians own the majority of the company.

If the transaction is finalized, the total shareholding of Grupa Pracuj (directly and indirectly) in Robota International will increase to 77% (including 67% directly), and in Work Ukraine to 53% (including 33% directly).

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In a press release, the Polish shareholders stated that the deal will not result in them taking control over Work Ukraine, despite an increase of indirect shareholding.

“It will also have no impact on the way both businesses are run and will not change the existing approach for consolidating financial results,” the company wrote.

Polish Grupa Pracuj was founded in 2000. Its largest asset is the job search website Pracuj.pl.

The M&A deal has already been signed and now needs to be submitted to Ukraine’s Anti-Monopoly Committee. It is expected to be finalized in three to four months, Prokofiev told Forbes Ukraine.