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Yandex Buys Auto.ru, Russia's Biggest Car Sales Website

Russian search engine Yandex on Monday announced that it had agreed to buy the country's most popular car classified website, Auto.ru, for $175 million.

Yandex expects to complete its purchase of 100 percent of Auto.ru, which will keep its current domain name, by the third quarter of 2014, the company said in a statement.

Internet heavyweight Yandex enjoys a commanding lead over Google in the Russian market, with 62 percent of all search engine queries being submitted to it, and just 27 percent via Google.

Auto.ru has more than 400,000 individual listings for cars on its website, which also features reviews, news, and a forum. It was created in 1996 by a group of car enthusiasts, making it Russia's first online community dedicated to motor vehicles, Yandex's statement said.

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