$1 billion, at your service

According to Blognation Russia, South African media and internet group Naspers has acquired a 2.6 percent stake in Mail.ru for $26 million.

Like the remarkable value inflation Facebook enjoyed after Microsoft took an equally small cut of its pie, the purchase values Mail.ru at approximately $1 billion.

Mail.ru is the largest free web mail service in Russia. It also provides new media components that, by now, should appear typical to "Web 2.0" junkies: blog functions, photo and video.

In September '07, Mail.ru served about 35.3 million audience members, up 20 percent from March. That month, Russia also led all other European countries in internet adoption growth.