Yandex prepared to enter new markets only with local partners
MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Yandex , a leading Russian Internet company, is happy with the quality of its products in Turkey, but does not see any possibility of monetizing it without help from a local partner.
"Distribution is needed in order to build the business. If you're a foreign player, you need a lot of money in order to build distribution. But we don't want to spend money on distribution," Yandex group head Arkady Volozh said in a conference call with analysts on Tuesday.
He said distribution of products could be established with the help of a local partner and "Yandex remains open to partnerships." The company will also continue to improve the quality of its products in Turkey, navigation and search tools that are "very competitive."
"Yandex has concluded from the experience of working in Turkey that it is technologically capable of expansion on other markets, but local partners are needed there for a successful business," Volozh said.
Yandex entered the Turkish market in 2011 and now has about a 7% share of the country's Internet search market, according to Comscore. Turkey remains the only non-Russian language country in which Yandex works. The company does not currently sell advertising in Turkey.
