Google wants to make headway in the Russian market, where it lags behind the portal Yandex. To help it increase penetration, CNET reports that the search giant is acquiring ad company ZAO Begun for $140 million in a slightly unusual deal.
Just over 50% of Begun is currently owned by Russian site Rambler Media. It’s agreed to buy the remained from another company, Bannatyne, and then sell it for cash to Google.
Begun has 40,000 advertisers and 143,000 Russian-language sites in its network, according to Rambler.
Mohammad Gawdat, Google’s managing director for emerging markets, said:
