• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechThe Mobile Executive

Google’s Antitrust Defeat Is Helping Its Biggest Russian Rival

By
David Meyer
David Meyer
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
David Meyer
David Meyer
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 29, 2016, 5:51 AM ET
Google Hosts Its Annual I/O Developers Conference
Photograph by Stephen Lam—Getty Images

When Russia’s competition authorities ruled against Google in a major antitrust case last September, they paved the way for a key local competitor to gain ground.

Yandex (YNDX), in many ways the Russian Google (GOOG), said in its latest quarterly results Thursday that it was starting to see the benefits from the ruling. The case had very strong parallels with the EU’s current Android antitrust charges against Google.

“Yandex share on Android devices started to grow again in late June as a result of new distribution deals following the favorable…ruling in our case against Google,” said the company’s COO, Alexander Shulgin, as he hailed “significant improvements in mobile monetization.”

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

As in the major ongoing EU case (in which Yandex testified), the Russian authorities accused Google of abusing its dominant position in the Android ecosystem by banning device manufacturers from making rival search services the default on their devices’ homescreens.

Yandex, in part thanks to its greater proficiency at handling Russian-language queries, has a search market share of around 57% in the country—though this has been gradually eroding in recent years.

Google also pressured manufacturers to preinstall all its core apps, such as Gmail and Maps, if they want to use any. Again, Yandex offers a suite of such apps, even including an Android app store to those manufacturers and operators who might want a lucrative alternative to Google’s Play Store.

Yandex has not been clear about which new distribution deals have helped to boost its Android market share, nor did it quantify the growth, although it reportedly now has a share of around 40%.

Google lost an appeal against the Russian antitrust ruling in March, and has so far still not paid a fine for its violations—indeed, it still has an appeal in with the Moscow appellate court, so it is not clear to what extent it has actually changed its practices in Russia.

Buoyed by its strong results for the first half of the year (H1 revenues were up 31% year-on-year and adjusted net income up 40%), Yandex has now raised its gross outlook for 2016 revenues, predicting growth in the range of 19-22% compared with last year.

For more on Google and antitrust, watch our video.

Meanwhile in the EU, Google this month won an extension on the deadline for handing in its defence against the similar charges levied against it by competition commission Margrethe Vestager. It now has until September 7.

The Android charges are only one strand (albeit a major one) in a tapestry of EU antitrust cases against Google. So far, Google has been failing to get its way in its war with Vestager, although none of the cases are as yet resolved and some charges may still be yet to come.

Google had not responded to a request for comment on Yandex’s assertions at the time of writing.

This article was updated to note that it remains unclear to what extent Google has changed its practices in Russia.

About the Author
By David Meyer
LinkedIn icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

AIOpenAI
OpenAI plans to almost double its headcount this year, FT says
By Liza Tetley and BloombergMarch 21, 2026
6 hours ago
Politicsarms, weapons, and defense
The U.S. has the world’s most advanced military, but the unforgiving economics of wars in Iran and Ukraine show quantity has a quality all its own 
By Jason MaMarch 21, 2026
7 hours ago
AIAI agents
OpenAI cofounder says he hasn’t written a line of code in months and is in a ‘state of psychosis’ trying to figure out what’s possible
By Jason MaMarch 21, 2026
11 hours ago
david
CommentaryScience
The one skill that separates people who get smarter with AI from everyone else
By David Rock and Chris WellerMarch 21, 2026
16 hours ago
Geoffrey Hinton standing in front of a white and grey background.
AITech
‘Godfather of AI’ says tech companies aren’t concerned with the AI endgame. They’re focused on short-term profits instead
By Sasha RogelbergMarch 21, 2026
17 hours ago
MagazineCoding
Cursor’s crossroads: The rapid rise, and very uncertain future, of a $30 billion AI startup
By Allie GarfinkleMarch 21, 2026
17 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.