Google Buys Russian Ad Company, Begun For $140 Million

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has bought a contextual advertising company called Begun for $140 million.  Begun is a subsidiary of Rambler Media and Bannatyne Limited.  Rambler owns 50.1% and Bannatyne owns 49.9%.

“Google is committed to giving Russian users, advertisers and partners the best possible service and experience,” stated Mohammad Gawdat, an MD for Emerging Markets at Google. “This agreement means more Russian users, advertisers and partners will get better search results and more relevant advertising.”

Begun is expected to be fully migrated by September.  Begun’s current gross assets are about $43.9 million.  Rambler Media is known for their search engine homepage Rambler.ru and online newspaper company, Lentra.ru.

Through the deal, Google will also use search and contextual advertising technology on rambler.ru.  Rambler will be using the money for the acquisition to power their own investments and acquisitions.

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