Russia’s Yandex reportedly holds negotiations with Facebook regarding a potential partnership

The Russian Internet company Yandex and the social network Facebook have begun negotiations about a potential partnership with the goal of exchanging data and bilaterally advancing their services, according to the newspaper Vedomosti, which says the talks are still in the early stages.

According to another source, Facebook is interested in services that are popular in Russia, including taxi services, online shopping, cinema tickets, airline tickets, and hotel booking. Internet users could, in theory, pay for Yandex services or use Yandex.Market directly through Facebook, and that latter would receive revenue from these transactions.

Yet another source informed the newspaper that the companies are involved in discussions regarding the bilateral exchange of user data for marketing purposes. Yandex would be interested in the mobile market that Facebook has successfully entered. Yandex lacks its own mobile platform and currently relies on its competitor—Google Android—to give users access to its services.

Facebook’s spokesperson did not respond to the newspaper's inquiries. Yandex’s spokesperson said that the search engine is always open to talking with various companies.