“Russian Internet companies should be owned by Russian investors”
Russian Internet companies should be owned by Russian investors – claims Minister of Mass Communications of Russia Igor Schegolev. "We would like to see those Russian companies that have leading positions (including technical) on the Internet, such as search engines, remain Russian in terms of ownership, and intellectual potential," – said to the "Vedomosti" newspaper I. Shchegolev.
The Ministry, he said, is not going to regulate the content of sites, but it is interested in that "the team who made innovative products for the Russian Internet, remained in Russia”.
According to Alexa.com (traffic ranking project), the top five Runet sites include social network "vkontakte", the search engine “Yandex”, the postal service Mail.ru, the social network “odnoklassniki” and the search engine "Rambler". Owners of these sites are all Russian businessmen.
Last autumn, the state has prevented “Google" to consolidate its position in Russia. In summer, "Rambler" has agreed to sell to Google 100% of the second in Russia (after “Yandex”) seller of contextual advertising "Бегун" for $ 140 million. By purchasing "Бегун ", "Google" could become the strongest Yandex’s competitor in the Russian contextual advertising market ("Mindshare Interaction" estimated its volume to be at $ 358.7 million in 2008). But in October, the FAS(Federal Antimonopoly Service) prohibited the transaction: the applicant has not provided reliable and sufficient information about the structure of their property, explained the head of FAS Igor Artemyev. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was as well discontent by the deal with the Americans, as complained by source close to shareholders of "Rambler". I. Shchegolev was silent as to the reasons of refusal to “Google”.
The "Google" representative did not comment on this statement by the Minister. President of "Profmedia” Rafael Akopov said: the market should remain open, and the government “should develop uniform rules, irrespective of the nationality of the investor."
In summer 2008, a senior Russian government official said that the scope and impact of major Internet companies have become comparable to the TV, so the state is concerned that large share is owned by foreigners.
The Ministry, he said, is not going to regulate the content of sites, but it is interested in that "the team who made innovative products for the Russian Internet, remained in Russia”.
According to Alexa.com (traffic ranking project), the top five Runet sites include social network "vkontakte", the search engine “Yandex”, the postal service Mail.ru, the social network “odnoklassniki” and the search engine "Rambler". Owners of these sites are all Russian businessmen.
Last autumn, the state has prevented “Google" to consolidate its position in Russia. In summer, "Rambler" has agreed to sell to Google 100% of the second in Russia (after “Yandex”) seller of contextual advertising "Бегун" for $ 140 million. By purchasing "Бегун ", "Google" could become the strongest Yandex’s competitor in the Russian contextual advertising market ("Mindshare Interaction" estimated its volume to be at $ 358.7 million in 2008). But in October, the FAS(Federal Antimonopoly Service) prohibited the transaction: the applicant has not provided reliable and sufficient information about the structure of their property, explained the head of FAS Igor Artemyev. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was as well discontent by the deal with the Americans, as complained by source close to shareholders of "Rambler". I. Shchegolev was silent as to the reasons of refusal to “Google”.
The "Google" representative did not comment on this statement by the Minister. President of "Profmedia” Rafael Akopov said: the market should remain open, and the government “should develop uniform rules, irrespective of the nationality of the investor."
In summer 2008, a senior Russian government official said that the scope and impact of major Internet companies have become comparable to the TV, so the state is concerned that large share is owned by foreigners.
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