Shanghai: Google's decision to shut its Chinese search website and redirect users to its Hong Kong-based search page leaves the fate of its 600 China-based employees in the balance.
Apprehension among these employees has been high in the last two months since Google first announced it might withdraw from the market.
According to media reports, a steady stream of employees has left Google China over that time, some concerned about the future of their jobs and others about potential liability if Google is found to be in violation of Chin-ese law.
Operations in China
Google employs about 600 people in mainland China. It has two research and development centres, sales and customer support staff as well as engineers working on its mobile Android platform and other initiatives.
Google's current business in China accounts for a tiny slice of the company's $24 billion (Dh88 billion) in annual revenue. Analyst estimates of Google's annual revenue in China range from $300 million to roughly $600 million.
Future of employees
Google emphasised in its official blog the decision to reroute its search page was made entirely in the US by executives there, and has made protecting its Chin-ese employees a priority.
Beijing has made clear any sudden lifting of censorship is a violation of local laws, but has not commented beyond that on potential liability of Google's employees.
Google said it would continue its research and development work in China and maintain a sales presence there, but added the size of the sales team would depend on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access google.com.hk.
Advertisement resellers
At the end of 2009, Google had around 30 per cent of China's $1 billion search market by revenue. ]
Analysts said it was unclear how Google China's ad resellers would react to the company's decision to shift its China business to google.com.hk. Much also depends on whether Beijing decides to block access to google.com.hk
Baidu alternative
Local media has recently reported many Google China employees are defecting to Baidu, China's domestic search leader.
