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Mail.Ru dumps Facebook stock

Moscow - Russian internet group Mail.Ru, part owned by the country's richest man Alisher Usmanov, has sold the remainder of its shares in social network group Facebook for $525m, it said on Thursday.

Mail.Ru originally bought into Facebook in 2009, investing $200m for a small stake that valued Facebook at $10bn. At the time of Facebook's IPO last year, it had a stake worth around $700mn.

Mail.Ru sold some of its Facebook shares during the IPO. It said on Thursday it sold its remaining 14.2 million Facebook shares in the period of July-August 2013.

Mail.Ru also reported a 28% rise in first-half net profit to 5.1bn roubles ($151.8m) and edged up its revenue growth forecast for 2013 on the back of fast growth in advertising and games.

The company said it expected its revenue to rise by 27% to 29% in 2013, up from previous guidance of 25% to 28% but still below last year's growth in sales of 39%.

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