Russia's antitrust
regulators blocked Google Inc.'s $140 million acquisition of contextual online advertiser ZAO Begun. On Thursday, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, or FAS, refused Google's application to buy the unit from search engine operator Rambler Media Ltd.
Terms called for Rambler to acquire the 49.9% stake in Begun it didn't already own from Bannatyne Ltd. and sell Begun to Google.
Google is reviewing its options. An analyst told Bloomberg News the acquisition would have improved Google's share of Internet advertising in Russia, the last European market where it lags behind a local provider. He said the government urged support for Russian Internet resources and said strategic assets shouldn't be sold cheaply into foreign hands. Yandex (Russia's No. 1 search engine) and Rambler are losing ground as Internet users switch to Google.
Google is currently
speaking to the U.S. Department of Justice about an ad deal with Yahoo! Inc. There are monopoly concerns about the firms' market share. According to comScore Inc.,
Google sites led the U.S. core search market in August with 63% of the searches conducted, up from 61.9% in July. -
Baz HiralalGo to the Bloomberg story
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