The ANS Group of Companies is a news and broadcasting company in Azerbaijan.
It was founded by three young Azeri journalists, brothers Vahid and Seyfulla Mustafayev, and Mirshahin Agayev in 1990. The Company name, ANS, derives from the first letters of Azerbaijan News Service. ANS was the first privately owned company in the former Soviet Union.
During many local wars following the breakup of the Soviet Union, ANS got popularized by reporting news from the frontlines in Chechnya, Georgia, Ossetia, Karabakh, Abkhazia, Afghanistan, Ingushetia, which stories were also sold to BBC, CNN, NBC, ZDF, ARD, VOX, RAI, TF, RTR, CBS, TBS. Being an independent news company, ANS Group of Companies has played a significant role in the development of the independent media in Azerbaijan. Currently ANS Group of Companies owns four sub-companies: ANS TV, ANS ChM, ANS Press and ANS Kommers.