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The international research group Nielsen/GfK has sold its assets in Russia, according to a press release from GfK-Rus which operates under the brand name ICMR and was formerly owned by Nielsen. Specifically, Russian investors have acquired both GfK-Rus LLC and AC Nielsen LLC.

Under the deal, 60 % of GfK-Rus was bought by a company belonging to Russian venture investor Konstantin Leonovich, and another 40 % by a company owned by GfK-Rus chief executive Alexei Dorofeev. Leonovich's company also bought Nielsen's Russian assets, which Dorofeev will also head.

RBC, citing the state register of legal entities, reports that on 25 September 100 % of AC Nielsen LLC passed to Konversiya LLC, which belongs to Leonovich.

ICMR did not disclose the value of the deal. GfK-Rus had revenue of 2 billion rubles in 2025 (USD24 million) and net profit of 694 million rubles (USD8 million). AC Nielsen's revenue last year was 2.3 billion rubles (USD27 million), and it recorded a net loss of 124 million rubles (USD1.5 million).

Nielsen and GfK can be described as the main "measurers" of the consumer analytics and marketing research market, Leonovich said. He owns the communications agencies Kluch and SALO, the research company Vox Populi, the user experience laboratory Neurollab and the computer vision vendor L-Labs.

GfK came to Russia in 1991 and has specialised in marketing research throughout. Nielsen has operated in Russia since 1994, supplying data on retail sales and shopper behaviour in FMCG. Its key asset is panel data on consumer preferences, collected over the years in partnership with the largest retail chains.

NielsenIQ (NIQ) is the world's leading consumer analytics company. It merged with the German research company GfK in 2023.