Mark the date: Google to pull out of China on April 10
Published March 19, 2010
The latest in a series of strong indications that search giant Google is due to shutter its operations in China came today with a report that the company is planning an April 10 exit from the country.
Bloomberg News reports that local Chinese press has cited anonymous sources to show that the company's rumored exit is pending. The news agency also says that some information indicates that Google's business in China might not shut down completely, but that the company's flagship Google.cn web portal is almost certain to be closed.
Former Google executive Peter Lui told Bloomberg that the company has "burnt bridges and they've burnt the Google brand in China. There is no way Google can ever come back."
Should the predicted closure actually come to pass, digital marketing in China will be heavily affected. While some marketers who rely on Google products will doubtless be handicapped by the move, providers of alternate solutions - like indigenous search engine Baidu - could reap great windfalls in Google's absence.