Yandex NV (YNDX) Made Big Gains At Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Expense

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s own shares were down only marginally, by 0.40% yesterday, as the Russian market accounts for only a small segment of its operations. Nonetheless, the ruling will have some repercussions in terms of how the company operates in Russia, and potentially its growth there. It could also prove to be an ill omen as far as other similar antitrust cases Google is facing in the EU. The FAS will issue a full ruling on the case in the next ten days, including its official sanctions against Google.

Unsurprisingly, Google is one of the most popular stocks among the funds in our database, including among the billionaire investors that we track. 115 funds had positions in Google’s Class A shares (GOOGL) as of June 30, while 107 had positions in its Class C shares (GOOG). While those numbers were down from 121 and 108 respectively, the aggregate value of their holdings in both classes of stock totaled $16.8 billion, well up from the $14.2 billion it amounted to at the end of the first quarter. Those bullish investors in the stock were certainly on to something, as Google’s shares have had a very strong third quarter. Billionaire Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global held the largest position in Google’s Class A shares of those funds within our database, at 2.74 million shares. Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management was the leader of the Class C shareholders, with a position of 1.74 million shares.

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