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Google Reported Ready To Leave China April 10

Posted by kdawson on from the so-he-says dept.

A number of readers including tsj5j and bruleriestdenis wrote to alert us to this CNET story: "Google is expected to announce on Monday that it will withdraw from China on April 10, according to a report in a Beijing-based newspaper that cited an unidentified sales associate who works with the company. 'I have received information saying that Google will leave China on April 10, but this information has not at present been confirmed by Google,' the China Business News quoted the agent as saying. The report also said Google would reveal its plans for its China-based staff that day."

20 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. hmm... by Pojut · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ..it will be interesting to see what kind of repercussions google's employees living in China might have to face. This may sound weird, but I'm a bit worried for their workers over there...

    --
    Living With a Nerd
    1. Re:hmm... by Ryvar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm a bit worried about workers in China regardless of who they work for.

      --Ryvar

    2. Re:hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Who wants to raise funds to send this guy there?

    3. Re:hmm... by cyfer2000 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Official language at Taiwan is mandarin, and the language called Taiwanese is the same dialect used in south of Fujian province. So the most part of spoken language is ok. The writing system is the problem. Taiwan use traditional character set, and mainland China use simplified character set.

      --
      There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
    4. Re:hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      GP is justified in his concern. Over a tiff over Australian-Chinese ore trade, China arrested four employees from the Australian firm Rio. Australian officials are banned from the proceedings.

      See:
      http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62I18V20100319

    5. Re:hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      And as a real AC, I make air cooler.

    6. Re:hmm... by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

      If all of this was happening in Japan, the upcoming search engine would be called Moogle.

  2. It's time to chew bubble gum and kick ass... by eagee · · Score: 4, Funny

    And google is all out of bubble gum.

    1. Re:It's time to chew bubble gum and kick ass... by greenguy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Dude, do you know how much money Google has? They never run out of anything.

      --
      What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
    2. Re:It's time to chew bubble gum and kick ass... by hitchhacker · · Score: 4, Informative

      Way to fuck up the real quote dude.
      "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum" -- Roddy Piper
      The quote from 'They Live'

    3. Re:It's time to chew bubble gum and kick ass... by dontbgay · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sooo what you're saying is China doesn't stand a chance?

      --
      Sig not found.
  3. The source is a salesperson by dracocat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why on earth would a salesperson at google be in the know on this one?

    My guess is a memo or something went out saying they would have a meeting on April 10th to discuss things, and the rumor mill starting going full speed inside the department about what it was about.

    I just find it hard to believe that Google's sales department would be let in on too much information.

    1. Re:The source is a salesperson by SoopahMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is at least somewhat irresponsible journalism. I mean, obviously Google needs time to consider first, how to deal with China, and second if it comes to it, how to handle it adequately. They should have the opportunity to plan and deliver the bad news themselves rather than some kneejerk reporter trying to make a name for themselves. Imagine how depressing this must be for Google China employees.

      Screw you, CNet.

  4. What does it mean to "leave"? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So they close up shop there. They are an INTERNET COMPANY!

    As long as they aren't blocked, they can still serve those users in China. And if they aren't blocked, they can still charge for advertising to non-Chinese customers.

    I asked this before, and everyone said something to the effect of "THERE ARE BILLIONS OF CHINESE" as a reason why Google should stay. But I'm still not seeing it. Google can operate from anywhere. A local presence provides them very little unless they intend to expand some China-specific business/technology, which they haven't done at all (for any country they are currently in for that matter).

    1. Re:What does it mean to "leave"? by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But they will be blocked in China. Remember the motto of the Chinese DNS servers: All your search are belong to us.

    2. Re:What does it mean to "leave"? by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My understanding is that they aren't planning on closing their offices in China, they are merely planning on closing down their chinese search engine. It is the requirement to censor that is really bothering them, and they are not going to do it anymore.

      They still will keep their advertising department open, and whatever other programming they do (it's such a pain to start an office in China that it's not a bad idea to keep a small office there, in case you ever do decide to start doing something there, it won't take six months of bribing people to get all the permits etc).

      --
      Qxe4
    3. Re:What does it mean to "leave"? by Sir_Lewk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Being physically located in China or not has nothing to do with China blocking them. China could block them if they kept up shop in China, or they could not block them even though they no longer have employees in China.

      By removing themselves physically from China they might risk upsetting China (so that they are blocked) but that is not a certainty, and they ensure the physical safety of their employees.

      --
      "linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
  5. Re:Google's No Freedom Fighter by Abcd1234 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google didn't come to this decision because they found their moral compass all of a sudden--otherwise they wouldn't have agreed to play censor for the government in the first place.

    Alternatively, like any individual or group, they may have felt, at the time, that they could do some good by operating in China, and then realized, in retrospect, that that simply wasn't the case.

    But you're right. It makes way more sense to ascribe sinister, greedy motivations to them. No company can possibly make a mistake...

  6. Re:Google's No Freedom Fighter by nedlohs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He was saying they made a mistake, they thought something would be profitable, but it turns out it wasn't worth the effort.

    There was no sinister greedy motivations ascribed. Just usual business decisions.

  7. Re:Google's No Freedom Fighter by rutabagaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's less about greed on Google's part and more about the usual cost-benefit analysis of doing business with China's repressive government. Google just stayed until the disadvantages outweighed the benefits.

    --
    (insert witty/esoteric/dumb quote here)