Despite hacking incidents, harsh criticisms, various threats, and all other sorts of unpleasantness, Google still has high hopes for its operations in China and the country in general. One exec described it today as "the heart of the future of the Internet," and another revealed that the company’s revenue in China has increased.
Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President of Engineering Research – and one of only nine people classified as "Executive Officers" on Google’s main "Management team" page – was the man who provided the big compliment. He’s not an official spokesperson, then, but this comes from pretty high up in the organization.
So on to the quotes. According to Bloomberg, Eustace said that the Internet "can be a huge force for good in the world." Then he said, "We’re at the very beginning and China, in my opinion, will lead much of that revolution." Eustace also called China "the heart of the future of the Internet."
As for the financial info, it comes courtesy of Daniel Alegre, Vice President of Asia Pacific and Japan at Google. Bloomberg reported, "Combined revenue in the country from display ads, online search and Chinese companies marketing on Google’s global sites has increased this year, Alegre said, without giving details."
Together, these comments may signal that Google’s trying to make up with the Chinese government. That would frustrate many human rights activists, but perhaps please shareholders who don’t want to see the company cut itself off from over 1.3 billion potential users.
As always, we’ll be sure to report any significant updates.
