October 24, 2008 by Matt Thomas
Once again, regulators are standing in the way of long planned Google deal. For once however, the obstacle isn’t US based. Now the Russians are getting in on the act too – blocking the company’s $140 million dollar acquisition of Zao Begun, a local business selling advertising across text, search and contextual video. The Business is one of several in the stable of Russian corporation, Rambler Media along with numerous websites and a search engine.
Google is reviewing the ruling and deciding how to proceed. A Google spokesperson described the mood within the company as “Disappointed,” adding that, “We [Google] strongly believe that this acquisition will enable us to significantly improve opportunities for Russian users, advertisers and publishers as well as the entire industry.”
This is very bad news for Google. Whilst we in Europe and the US are used to the company being the dominant force, that is not the case all over the world. Google faces particularly strong competition from home-grown search engines in China, Russia and South Korea, which made this acquisition particularly important.
Expansion of Google is being blocked at every turn currently, with the US Department of justice also holding up their proposed advertising deal with Yahoo.
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