Russia tells Google to try again

Google's attempt to acquire Russia's second most popular search and advertising company called Begun (which has 20% market share) was refused by the Russian federal anti-monopoly service. They said that Google did not provide information requested, including a list of people who have the ability to influence their economic operations, and a list of owners. Is that really grounds for rejecting a purchase? You would think that if Google really wanted to purchase this company, that information would have been pretty easy to find.

The real reason for the rejection might not be as simple though. It appears that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin isn't too fond of Google -- he has expressed his dissatisfaction with the proposed deal made by the company, and by the sound of it, that's probably all it's going to take to prevent the deal from happening at all.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed dissatisfaction with the proposed deal. The Internet may soon have the same audience and influence as television.

Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said the prime minister did not take part in taking the decision on the deal with Google, which is a prerequisite of [the Fedaral Antimonopoly Service]. -- iRIA Novost

The decision doesn't sound 100% final -- Igor Artemyev said that "Google will have to file a new request" -- but I wouldn't advise holding your breath on this one.