diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 67ca2eed46..f98f5281ca 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@
 
 version = ''
 with open('requests/__init__.py', 'r') as fd:
-    version = re.search(r'__version__\s*=\s*[\'"]([^\'"]*)[\'"]',
-                         fd.read()).group(1)
+    version = re.search(r'^__version__\s*=\s*[\'"]([^\'"]*)[\'"]',
+                        fd.read(), re.MULTILINE).group(1)
 
 if not version:
     raise RuntimeError('Cannot find version information')