Russia to Google: Stay Out

Google made a big play to enter the Russian search-ad market, but regulators today killed the company's chances. According to the New York Times, the country's Federal Antimonopoly Service refused to allow Google to buy the search engine and contextual-ad company Zao Begun, ending a $140 million deal that had been in the works since July. ZDNet's Richard Koman points out that as it currently stands, Russia's search market is dominated by Yandex, which controls 64 percent. If Google had been able to buy Zao Begun's 20 percent of the market and boost its share to some 40 percent, Russia would suddenly have real competition between two strong companies in the marketplace. "The denial, then, smells much more like protecting the local company against the mega-American company," Koman writes. "Why should Russia let a U.S. company have a big chunk of the Russian market? Only for the benefit of its consumers, but I guess that's not such a big consideration." Well, considering that Google dominates more than 60 percent of American search, and may yet gobble up Yahoo's share, maybe we're not so different after all.