Yandex Reaches Settlement with Russian Classifieds Companies Over Competition Law Dispute

Russian search giant and online classifieds operator Yandex has reached a settlement with the country's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) putting an end to a dispute around the fairness of its search results.

The FAS told Yandex in February that it had used its position as the most popular search engine in Russia as well as the operator of its own stable of online classifieds portals to create unequal conditions for search services and that it was preferentially promoting its own products.

According to Reuters some 20 Russian internet companies, including both Adevinta-owned generalist Avito as well as leading real estate vertical CIAN, signed an open letter supporting the FAS in its investigation. The companies claimed that Yandex was favouring its own internet properties in its enriched search results rather than the results of third parties.

Yandex is the owner and operator of several online classifieds sites through its Yandex.Classifieds division. In the real estate vertical, Yandex's online marketplace is part of the chasing pack behind CIAN and Avito.

As part of the settlement, Yandex will pay 1.5 billion roubles ($19.6 million) to the Russian Fund for the Development of Information Technologies, a state fund that provides financial support to science and technology projects.