Google deal blocked in Russia: cannot buy the contextual advertising company Begun yet

Written on 23rd October 2008                                                                                                              1 COMMENT
Mircea Goia, Next Web US Webtipr

Not everybody likes Google, although many of them uses it.
It seems some high power people in Russia don’t like Google either. At least, they don’t like how Google tries to enter in each and every regional market.

This time Google tried to buy the contextul advertising firm Begun (a subsidiary of Rambler.ru search engine and the second biggest player in the russian contextual advertising field). The russian search engine (among the top three in the country) agreed to sell its division to Google for a reported $140 million.

But the authorities (Federal Antimonopoly Service – FAS) said that Kokuna Holdings Limited (owned by Google) failed to provide all the documentation needed to close the deal.

The chief of the FAS Igor Artemyev told Vedomosti, that “Google has not provided accurate and adequate information about the structure of ownership and therefore was refused“.

A source close to shareholders Rambler told Vedomosti that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was not pleased by Google taking over the local market as it did in other markets.

It’s not that hard to believe this rumour considering Mr. Putin’s past actions.