Yandex NV (YNDX), Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) Jump After Settlement in Anti-trust Case in Russia

Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ:YNDX) jumped 7.08% in active trading to $24.37, after Google reached a settlement in an anti-trust case in Russia that will allow third-party services like Yandex to be pre-installed in Android phones.

The Moscow District Arbitration Court previously ruled that Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google was in violation of anti-monopoly rules when it did not allow producers of mobile phones to install third-party services, including Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ:YNDX).

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation said in a press release:

Within a few months, Google will develop for new devices a new Chrome widget that will replace the standard Google search widget on the home screen. This will allow end users of the devices based on the Android OS with the GMS package to see the new “choice screen” at the first launch of the new Chrome widget. This choice screen enables users to choose Yandex search or Google search or any other search engine of those developers who will sign a commercial agreement on their inclusion to the choice screen.

“Google will unbundle its services from its Android operating system in Russia and pay a fine of 438 million rubles ($7.8 million) under the settlement reached with the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service,” according to a Bloomberg report.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) rose 1.12% in light trading to $832.57 during midday.

What Does The Smart Money Sentiment Say?

The Smart Money pool maintained their positions on Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ:YNDX) with 31 funds holding shares, quarter over quarter. By the end of Q4 2016, 31 funds held shares with a total value of $316 million. Looking closely at specific hedge funds, we saw David Halpert of Prince Street Capital Management increase its activity by 36% by the end of Q4 2016. Halpert currently holds over 1 million shares with a total value of $23 million.

Meanwhile, we saw 126 funds hold their positions of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) with shares valued at over $12.74 billion by the end of Q4 2016, which decreased from 134 funds holding shares valued at $14.23 billion by the end of Q3.

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The Bottom Line

Traders are flocking Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ:YNDX) after a settlement between Google and the Russian government that will allow third-party services like Yandex to be installed by mobile phone producers. For further reading, here are 11 of the worst tech mergers and acquisitions ever.