Yandex Türkiye signals intent to acquire Google Chrome’s Turkish ops
ISTANBUL
Yandex Türkiye has expressed interest in acquiring the Turkish operations of Google’s Chrome web browser if a U.S. federal court orders the tech giant to divest the asset as part of an effort to curb its alleged illegal monopoly.
Alexander Popovskiy, general manager of Yandex Türkiye and CEO of Yandex Search internationally, said that while it is understandable that companies such as Perplexity, OpenAI and Yahoo are showing interest in Chrome, transferring such a strategic asset from one tech giant to another would not solve the underlying competition issue.
“Chrome is a cornerstone of Google’s hold on the web,” Popovskiy said. “However, it would not solve the issue, as a too significant strategic advantage would just be passing from one giant to another.”
“Instead, adopting a deeply localized approach and making Chrome evolve as part of the Turkish web ecosystem together with Yandex Search and Yazeka would pave the way for a new way of thinking – letting companies compete fairly locally, instead of just one company owning the most strategically important asset on the global web,” he added.
Yandex is the only company internationally to surpass Google’s market share in its home market in fair competition, Popovskiy said.
He also highlighted that the Turkish Competition Authority has already made significant steps towards limiting the dominance of digital platforms through proposed changes in the Competition Law.
He added that proactive measures by Turkish authorities could attract additional investment, and the reforms proposed under the new law would be perceived as balanced and understandable by both global and local players.
