AST is one of the largest book publishing companies in Russia,[2] headed by Oleg Bartenev (Олег Бартенев). It owns a bookstores chain "Bukva" (, lit. A Letter).
Among AST partners are publishing companies Astrel, Zebra E, Molodaya Gvardiya, CenterCom, bookstores Moscow and Biblio Globus and online shops, such as Ozon.ru.[7] It also owns comic book and manga publisher Comics Factory.[8]
History
The company was established in 1990 by Andrey Gertsev, Sergei Derevianko and Tatiana Derevianko as "Creative Cooperative Association AST". AST is an abbreviation meaning Andrey–Sergei–Tatiana. In 1993 the company was divided into AST itself, headed by Andrey Gertsev, and AST-PRESS.
As of 2007, AST and its rival (later parent company)