Yandex Turkiye signals interest in acquiring Google Chrome's Turkish operations if divestment ordered

Yandex Turkiye has expressed interest in acquiring the Turkish operations of Google's Chrome web browser if a US federal court orders the tech giant to divest the asset as part of an effort to curb its alleged illegal monopoly.

In a statement seen by Anadolu, Alexander Popovskiy, general manager of Yandex Turkiye 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 said the impact of these legal reforms would be closely watched by the company.

Citing the latest developments in the US, Popovskiy said the issue of monopolistic control in digital markets has become a global concern. He emphasized that with the growing importance of locally-developed artificial intelligence, resolving the issue has become more urgent.

He said 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—especially when compared to the court-mandated measures still under debate in the US.

The remarks surfaced during the fourth day of a US Justice Department (DOJ) remedies trial aimed at addressing Google's alleged search monopoly. As part of its proposed measures, the DOJ has asked Judge Amit Mehta to consider breaking up Google by forcing it to divest its Chrome browser, which the agency argues is a critical distribution channel for maintaining the company's dominance in search.

Yahoo is among several companies expressing interest in acquiring Chrome, alongside AI firms Perplexity and OpenAI. DuckDuckGo, another alternative search engine, said it would be unable to afford such an acquisition.