Companies Google should buy in 2010

What it is: The "Google of Russia," Yandex is the largest Internet company and leading search Web site in Russia and its surrounding countries.

Why Google should buy it: Like Baidu in China, Yandex has relegated Google to a distant second in another fast-growing market, Russia. Yandex's search engine has been able to master the wildly complex Russian language much better than Google's engine, so the quality of Google's Russian language results leaves much to be desired. And Yandex is eagerly looking to expand to the United States, building an office in Mountain View, Calif. close to Google's headquarters.

Why Google shouldn't buy it: Yandex won't come cheap, and since it is a mature business, it may be getting a little late for Google to scoop it up.

Will it happen? Wait 'till next year. The financial crisis hurt Yandex's ability to launch an initial public offering, and a financial white knight may be an attractive alternative. But Yandex will probably will want to see how it performs in the global markets before it will listen to deals.

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