Search engine giant Google faces losing 77m internet users as it appears to have failed to re-register as an ‘internet content provider’ in China.
There are 388 million internet users in China, where Google currently holds a 20% share of the market.
Google’s failure to re-register this week is a further sign that the search engine will indeed exit from China, due to its unsuccessful attempts to come to an agreement with the
Chinese government over censorship issues.
Last week, the Chinese government labeled Google's plan to end censorship as ''irresponsible.''
Meanwhile, a group of 27 Chinese advertising agencies have sent Google a letter calling for talks over compensation for possible business losses if the internet giant does decide to fully withdraw from China.
Advertisers in the region have also advised clients to start transferring contracts to rivals as Google stands to lose millions of dollars in search revenue.
Advertising resellers have told various reporters that Google has had no consultations with them since it revealed in January it was considering pulling the plug on google.cn.
However, Google UK has denied that it has failed to re-register, saying the ICP licence – required for companies that want to operate a website in China – only has to be renewed annually before the end of March.
Yesterday, Chinese media reported that Google had sent a notice to clients saying google.cn could close at the end of March.
However, The Times reports today that Google is considering a plan to keep many of its operations in China.
The company could keep operating its Beijing research and development centre, advertising sales offices and mobile phone and browser businesses.
Some Google web services may survive, including its Chinese music search business and the popular Chinese version of Google Answers.
The saga continues.
 |
Your comments |
Be the first to comment on this article