It may be that the exit of Kai-Fu Lee won't act so much as a stumbling block as a catalyst for Google China. A new report indicates that, following his departure, Google China will double its sales staff and offer cash incentives to 100,000 would-be advertisers.
A few questions surrounding the departure of Kai-Fu Lee from Google China have now been answered. Lee isn't leaving due to any perceived failure - indeed, he thinks Google China is doing rather well - and it turns out that he's landed a position as the head of a venture capital firm.
The man over whom Microsoft and Google practically started a war in 2005 is now quitting that second company. Kai-Fu Lee, the president of Google's operations in China, will leave his post sometime this month.
Google China's about four years old, and to be fair, deserves a bit of recognition for surviving so long under inhospitable conditions. But it's still floundering in terms of market share and profitability, and its president, Kai-Fu Lee, now seems ready to switch focus in response.
The second quarter of this year didn't go so well for Google in China. According to a new report, the American search giant's market share shrunk a bit, while that of its Chinese equivalent, Baidu, managed to get larger.
iResearch found that over three-fourths of all searches in China (specifically, 75.7 percent) were performed using Baidu in the second quarter of 2009. This represents a gain of 1.6 percent compared to the first quarter.
So much for the time, money, and compromises on censorship Google's committed in the region thus far. Plus its new music venture. An analyst said this morning that Google's Chinese arm won't do so well, anyway.
The past year wasn't a bad one for the Chinese search market. A new report from Analysys International points to impressive growth in overall revenues, and the top two players both managed to increase their presence and popularity.
Not long ago, China's top search engine was caught selling high search rankings to unlicensed doctors. The uproar that resulted hurt its reputation, caused earnings estimates to get lowered, and culminated in a personal apology from the CEO. Now, the Chinese arms of Google and Yahoo have been accused of doing something similar.
As long as Baidu's Chinese and Google's American, it seems like that first company will have an advantage in a certain part of the world. There's a sign that Google China is trying to catch up, however, by offering something to compete with Baidu's much-loved MP3 search.
CEOCIO China Magazine, a Chinese business magazine, recently reported on Google's effort to obtain a stronger position in the China market.
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