In Soviet Russia, Sickle Hammers GOOG …
by John Paczkowski
Posted on October 24, 2008 at 1:36 AM PT
Russia’s antitrust authorities have dropped the hammer (and sickle) on Google’s proposed $140 million acquisition of online advertising firm ZAO Begun. Interestingly, Russia’s Federal Anti-monopoly Service, FAS, blocked the deal not because it felt it would harm competition, but because Google didn’t provide it with enough information to make that determination.
An unfortunate turn of events for Google (GOOG), which had expected to complete its acquisition of ZAO Begun in the third quarter. More so, because of the regulatory scrutiny being leveled at the search sovereign’s proposed advertising partnership with Yahoo (YHOO). “We are very disappointed to hear that FAS has come to this decision,” Google said in a statement. “We strongly believe that this acquisition will enable us to significantly improve opportunities for Russian users, advertisers and publishers as well as the entire industry. At this time, we are reviewing FAS’s decision. Once this process is complete, we will decide on our next steps.”
Sounds like Google may not be willing to take nyet for an answer …
Comments
russia is smart to block google since google is a monopolist
google stifles competition in the u.s. and tries to expand its reach using search as a cornerstone (similar to how microsoft used windows to expand)
Posted by Sam Harrison at October 27th, 2008 at 12:54 pm