NGS (Russian digital mass media outlet)

The NGS (НГС) (an abbreviation of Russian phrases Новосибирский городской сайт (Novosibirsk City Website) or Независимые городские сайты (Independent City Websites)) is a Russian digital news media outlet with headquarter in Novosibirsk. It is the major Novosibirsk regional media outlet by citation index.

The NGS is included in the Network of the cities portals (Russian media group) owned by the Hearst Shkulev Media.

History
The history of the website ngs.ru began on 12 March 1998. Maxim Sidorkin, who was earning his living selling compact discs, created it using the simplest FrontPage editor. It was one of the first 100 websites hosted in Novosibirsk. Sidorkin decided to develop the website as Novosibirsk City Website (Новосибирский городской сайт) – the web portal for residents of Novosibirsk, hoping to attract as many advertisers as possible. In 2001, the website became his main source of income.

In 2003, Sidorkin founded the stock company «НГС» (registered on 8 August 2003 with assignment of primary state registration number 1035403210325) and recruited the first employees. On 14 September 2007, the news section of the site was registered as a digital mass media (certificate of registration ЭЛ No. ФС77-29543). In 2007, the company commenced to expand to Krasnoyarsk. At the same time, the website was rebranded, after which the name "НГС" began to mean Independent City Websites (Независимые городские сайты). In 2009, the sphere of the company's activity was extended to Omsk, in 2010 – to Barnaul, Kuzbass and Tomsk, in 2011 – to Irkutsk.

In March 2013, 75% of the company's shares were bought by the Hearst Shkulev Media. The website ngs.ru and other websites created by the company became the part of the regional network of city portals organized by the Hearst Shkulev Media. Prior to the deal on the disposal of the company, the NGS had, in addition to news section, many others, such as car sales announcements section, real estate search section, job search and search for employees section, other kind of announcements section, dating section, online forum, electronic mail. After the transition to the control of Hearst Shkulev Media, most of these sections were spun out into a separate "verticals" (websites); the NGS kept its news section and ability to publish adverisements.

In 2017, a series of reorganizations within the holding began. At the time, the website ngs.ru is owned by the Internet Tehnologii LLC (primary state registration number 1087448005050) and registered as a digital mass media (certificate of registration ЭЛ No. ФС 77 - 84683 issued on 6 February 2023).

Activity
As major Novosibirsk regional mass media outlet, the NGS specializes in news related to local events. Its news are often republished by other media outlets.