Departing China chief points to more woes at Google
Google said yesterday that John Liu Yun, one of its vice-presidents and its greater China president, had decided to leave the firm. It said he would be replaced by Scott Beaumont, the director of its partnerships business in Europe, next month.
Google's China chief has resigned, creating uncertainty about the online search giant's future on the mainland.
Liu joined Google in 2008 and succeeded Lee Kai-fu, who resigned in September 2009, as its China chief. Three months later, Google accused the central government of hacking its servers. It moved its Chinese search service to Hong Kong in March 2010.
Google's share of the internet search market on the mainland has dropped from more than 30 per cent then to about 2 per cent last month, according to Chinese data firm CNZZ.
Mark Natkin, the managing director of Marbridge Consulting, a China technology research firm, said Google's decision to move its servers out of the mainland had seen its prospects there dim considerably. Natkin also said Google's Android operating system had proven difficult to monetise, despite accounting for 69 per cent of all smartphone sales on the mainland in the three months to April.
Devin Dai Zhikang, the founder of popular internet forum Discuz!, said Liu would have had a hard time in such a job.
Foreign companies found it difficult to cope with the special political and business environment on the mainland, especially cyberspace, Dai said.