Google is 99.9% Sure it's Pulling Out of China

Posted 03/14/2010 at 6:48pm | by Justin Kerr

6

Comments

Print

Last week we reported that Google's China talks may soon be coming to a close, and CEO Eric Schmidt even hinted to reporters at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit that "something would be happening soon". Well, if you believe the Financial Times, Google is about 99.9% sure it is going to pull the plug on China. Wired.com attempted to contact a Google spokesman for a comment, however they would neither confirm or deny the report. According to the Times, Google has drawn up a detailed plans for how it will exit the Chinese market, and is poised to execute.

If Google does pull out of China, the action plan is no doubt intended to protect local employees from retaliation by authorities. It is still unknown if they intend to push ahead with their plans to un-filter Google.cn, but Chinese authorities made a very stern and public warning to the company on Friday. "If you don't respect Chinese laws, you are unfriendly and irresponsible, and the consequences will be on you," said China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Li Yizhong.

According to the Financial Times Google is exploring every option to keep its Chinese businesses afloat, but is wary of the backlash from authorities which may make this all but impossible. "It's very important to know we are not pulling out of China," Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, told the Financial Times at the time. "We have a good business in China. This is about the censorship rules, not anything else."