International competition: In Russia, China and Korea Google faces strong competition from domestic search engines.Yandex has 44 percent of the Russian market — 10 points ahead of Google — and is now the No. 2 search outfit in Europe, according to researcher comScore. Yandex is expected to list its shares on Nasdaq this fall, fetching as much as $2 billion. That would be Russia’s largest-ever initial public offering in tech, valuing the company at around $5 billion. Although Yandex declined to comment about the listing, analysts and investors are expecting a blockbuster. “This IPO should be very popular,” especially among investors eager to tap into Russia’s Internet market, says Konstantin Belov, an analyst at Uralsib, a Moscow bank.

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