GOOCV (MM)

By Olga Razumovskaya 

MOSCOW-- Google Inc. has been found guilty in a rapid Russian antitrust probe, a spokesperson for the country's antitrust regulator told The Wall Street Journal.

In February, Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service opened a probe into Google for alleged anticompetitive practices related to how the company bundles apps with its Android mobile operating system.

The company was found guilty of "abusing its dominant market position," but not of "unfair competition practices," the regulator told The Wall Street Journal. The Russian agency will have 10 business days to issue its ruling on the case in full.

"We haven't yet received the ruling," Google's Russia spokeswoman said. "When we do, we will study it and determine our next steps."

Google has been tied up for several years in an antitrust probe in Europe. The Russian regulator's decision, however, comes just under seven months after the probe was initiated.

The probe follows a complaint from Russia's biggest Internet firm, Yandex NV, which accused Google of unfair practices.

Yandex said that it "welcomes the positive decision by FAS which has figured out this complicated case and having studied the proof, has confirmed Google's violations."

A spokesman for Yandex said the company "believes that [the] FAS decision will help restore competition on the market."

Following the ruling, Google faces possible mandates to change its agreements with phone and other device manufacturers to accommodate the concerns of Yandex and other developers. Google could also face an as-yet-unspecified fine.

Google said in February that device makers "are free to install the apps they choose, and consumers always have complete control over the apps on their devices."

Several device manufacturers that pre-install Yandex apps notified the company in 2014 that they were "no longer able to pre-install Yandex services," such as Yandex's search and map apps on Google's Android devices, prompting Yandex to make a complaint to the antitrust authorities.

Google's bundling practices have put Yandex "under threat," the company said, hurting its search share on mobile devices in favor of Google.

Yandex shares soared over 7% on Nasdaq following the regulator's decision.

Write to Olga Razumovskaya at olga.razumovskaya@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 14, 2015 13:15 ET (17:15 GMT)

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