Yandex NV (YNDX), Russia’s largest search-engine company, slumped to an eight-month low after President Vladimir Putin said the government may subject it to more regulation.
Yandex plunged 5.6 percent to $26.69 in New York to the lowest since June 24. Trading volume exceeded the average daily level by 51 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The stock is down 38 percent in 2014, making it the worst performer on the Bloomberg index of the most-traded Russian stocks in the U.S., after doubling last year.
Putin, speaking at a conference in St. Petersburg, said Russia should protect its information in a market dominated by U.S. technology. Yandex, he said, may need to get a media license as it publishes news on its website.
When Yandex started “they were pushed to have a certain number of Americans and Europeans in their management,” Putin said. “Some of their regulation is done abroad, and not only for the purpose of taxation, but for other reasons. That is a complex area.”
Putin’s comments suggest he may try to gain more control of Russia’s online industry as his push into neighboring Ukraine fuels the worst standoff with the U.S. and its allies since the Cold War, said Mansur Mammadov, a money manager at Kazimir Partners in Moscow.
“This was a strong and negative signal,” Mammadov said by phone. “When Putin talks about a private company in such a negative context, that is immediately bad for the stock.”
Yandex, based in The Hague, said its decision to place its headquarters outside of Russia was motivated by corporate law and wasn’t related to its tax structure.
