After Tkachenko — a personnel purge, business with Kvartal people and rumors of a new family: how Yaroslav Pakholchuk consolidated power at 1+1

After Oleksandr Tkachenko stepped back from the operational management of 1+1 media, a quiet but very telling reorganization began in the group.

The key figure in the new structure became Yaroslav Pakholchuk.

On 19 December 2019 he was appointed chairman of the board and CEO of 1+1 media. Tkachenko himself remained honorary president of the group, effectively stepping away from day-to-day management.

And shortly after that, personnel changes began at the top of the company.

The old team began leaving 1+1

One of the first to go was Svitlana Paveletska — director of corporate communications and a board member.

Her departure took place in January 2020, that is, less than a month after Pakholchuk was appointed CEO.

It is especially telling that Paveletska herself publicly spoke about structural changes following the arrival of the new CEO and acknowledged that she and Pakholchuk had disagreements on a number of issues.

After her departure, the corporate communications division was reorganized and placed directly under the new leadership.

The process did not end there.

In December 2020, 1+1 media was left by Anna Tkachenko, who had worked in the group for about ten years and headed the 1+1 Digital and Innovation division.

Officially her exit was presented as her own decision to end the collaboration.

However, after her departure the functions of the head of 1+1 Digital were temporarily assumed personally by CEO Yaroslav Pakholchuk.

So the chronology looked rather telling:

December 2019 — Pakholchuk gains operational power;

January 2020 — Paveletska leaves the company;

December 2020 — Anna Tkachenko leaves;

some management functions become concentrated directly around the new CEO.

Calling this a proven personnel “purge” without internal documents would be incorrect.

But it is also hard to ignore the sequence of events.

The new leader arrived — the old team began to change.

And Pakholchuk not only remained but significantly strengthened his position.

Not just a hired manager

Pakholchuk has long ceased to be just a top manager of one media group.

According to public registers, he owns shares in companies where his partners are people directly connected to Kvartal 95.

In particular, in Vision Kvartal TV LLC Pakholchuk holds 24%.

Among the other co-owners are Serhiy Shefir, Timur Mindich and Ruslan Osadchiy.

Separately, Pakholchuk has 25% in Kvartal TV LLC, where his business partners also include Shefir and Mindich.

So this is no longer about abstract acquaintances or “connections.”

These are concrete corporate shares.

Atlas, Sydorenko and the October Palace

Another line runs through the festival business.

Pakholchuk has publicly appeared as a co-owner of Atlas Weekend.

One of the key people in that business is Dmytro Sydorenko.

And it is his name that appears in the material about the company Kombinat Plus, which was put in charge of Kyiv's October Palace.

Thus, a rather interesting business construction is forming:

1+1 media — Pakholchuk — Atlas — Sydorenko — Kombinat Plus — October Palace.

At the same time another line exists:

Pakholchuk — Vision Kvartal TV — Shefir — Mindich.

And another:

Pakholchuk — Kvartal TV — Shefir — Mindich.

Each such connection can be explained by ordinary business relations.

But when they form a single system around a person who simultaneously heads one of the country’s largest media groups, reasonable questions arise about the scale of his real influence.

From financier to center of influence

Pakholchuk’s career in 1+1 was rapid.

He worked as finance and executive director, was responsible for pay television, sat on the group’s governing bodies, and after Tkachenko’s departure received the highest operational position.

After that, part of the old management gradually left the company.

Paveletska — left.

Anna Tkachenko — left.

Pakholchuk himself — remained.

And at the same time his own business interests extended far beyond 1+1.

Festivals.

Media business.

Partnerships with Kvartal people.

Corporate shares.

Connections with entrepreneurs whose companies acquire high-profile assets.

So the question is no longer only how successful a manager Pakholchuk turned out to be.

The question is: where does the work of a hired executive at 1+1 end and where does the network of his own business interests and influence begin?

Rumors about a wife, Olha and a child

A separate strand of information around Pakholchuk concerns his personal life.

According to unofficial claims circulating in private conversations and non-public circles, Pakholchuk allegedly split from his wife Natalia and began a relationship with a woman named Olha.

By the same version, Olha allegedly previously worked at 1+1, and the relationship supposedly began as an office romance.

In the same circle of rumors Anna Tkachenko also figures: according to an unconfirmed version, it was she who allegedly introduced or brought Pakholchuk closer to Olha. In private retellings this story is sometimes compared to how Anna Tkachenko was allegedly paired with Oleksandr Tkachenko in the past.

By that same version, Olha allegedly has already given birth to a child by Pakholchuk.

In older society publications Yaroslav Pakholchuk did indeed appear together with his wife Natalia.

But there are no public divorce documents, confirmed statements by Pakholchuk himself, his wife, a woman named Olha or other reliable sources in the public domain that would confirm the new relationship, its alleged office origin, Anna Tkachenko’s role in the introduction, or the birth of a child.

Therefore the claims that he “left his wife, ran off with a mistress who has already given him a child,” as well as about an office romance or Anna Tkachenko’s mediation, cannot be presented as established fact today.

After Tkachenko’s departure he receives the main operational chair at 1+1.

Part of the old management leaves the group.

Management functions concentrate around the new CEO.

At the same time Pakholchuk remains co-owner of businesses with Shefir and Mindich and has partnership ties with people from Atlas, whose companies appear in stories around major capital assets.

So the main question for Yaroslav Pakholchuk is not the gossip about his private life.

The main question is how far his system of corporate, media and business influence extends after Oleksandr Tkachenko’s departure, and whether the change of the old team at 1+1 was simply a reform or an actual reformatting of the group under a new center of power.