Mixed messages from the search giant.
At the beginning of March, reports flowed in that Google China was hiring again. In fact, those reports were corroborated with actual job listings for Google China.
This came in the wake of January threats that Google would pull out of China due to censorship and internet security concerns.
Now, Bloomberg is reporting China Business News is reporting that an unnamed Chinese sales rep for Google spilled the beans that Google will pull out of China on April 10. This is all supposed to be announced this coming Monday, March 22.
If sales reps are doing planned info leaks, we certainly are in a new age of journalism.
One of Google’s problems in operating in China now is that they lost a bunch of ad dollars after they announced their ultimatum. They already trailed Baidu, now they’re trailing even further behind.
In light of that, I could see Google cutting sales staff in China, which would certainly explain a potentially faulty leak from a sales rep. That’s a little more plausible than trying to reverse centuries of history within a three month time frame. Then again, it’s a bit immature for Google to issue an ultimatum like this for a country such as China in the first place. As with ALL rumors, it’s wait and see.