How Far Is It Between Google To China
Google had a strong financial performance on 2013. They not only had met their financial obligations, but also performed far better than expected. The latest Google financial report (third quarter 2013) shows that Google stock surpasses US$1000 for first time, and according to Siliconrepublic, Google noted a third-quarter net profit of US$2.97bn – a rise of 36.5pc – amounting to US$8.75 per share. The strong financial performance can also been traced on the share price.Google’s stock price rose 58.4 percent in 2013, breaking the $1,000 mark for the first time, while annual revenue increased 21 percent to $55.5 billion. Most of stakeholders are confident and being positive about company’s future because its financial performance. According to CNN, Google revealed Tuesday that its former CEO, Eric Schmidt, will receive $106 million in bonuses based on the search giant’s 2013 performance. This new generated lot of coverage and business review also blogs, mostly of people shows their confidence about Google’s financial performance. Moreover, Socialmention shows the sentiment towards Google is either positive (approximately 50%) or neutral (approximately 80%).
However, the company’s performance in China doesn’t seem to be very optimistic, according to China Internet Watch’s latest report, Google’s China search engine market share by revenue in Q4 2013 accounted for just 11.9%, which was roughly 65 percent lower than Baidu (76.6%), the China search engine giant.
(Source:http://www.chinainternetwatch.com/6527/china-search-engine-market-update-q4-2013/)
The statistic made a striking contrast compare with the search engine market in other counties in the globe market like UK. (See pie chart below)
(Source:http://theeword.co.uk/info/search_engine_market.html)
As the chart shows, Baidu remained its leading position in China search engine market. Both its efforts on PC and mobile devices contributed to its achievements. However, Google China’s market share dropped slightly. As the competition among search engines became more fierce. What’s more, Google had been losing its product managers and IT elites in China, Google’s market share was encroached bit by bit. It’s worth noting that, Prior to pulling out of the country, Google’s search engine controlled 29% of the Chinese market.
This situation is mainly because Google pulled out of China in 2010 as a result of numerous hacking attacks on the U.S. that originated from inside the country. Despite the fact that China has more than 560 million people who use the Internet, Google has no plans to return its services there. CNET reports that during Google’s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt said he was “troubled by continued reports of censorship and spying on people” by the Chinese government. He explained that until China changes the way it treats its citizens, Google has no plans to invest more resources into the country.
Anyway, China is too tempting a market for Google to write off. Many clues shows Google is planning going back to China. According to local media sources, it appears that over the weekend, the homepage of the Chinese Google domain was quietly made accessible. Moreover, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said on January that the tech giant’s encryption services could eventually open up countries with stringent censorship rules, which means China is definitely a jigsaw of company’s future plan.
Reference:
Eden, C. and Ackermann, F. (1998) Making Strategy: The Journey of Strategic Management, London: Sage Publications.
http://www.chinainternetwatch.com/6527/china-search-engine-market-update-q4-2013/
http://www.ibtimes.com/google-china-webpage-temporarily-unblocked-mainland-sign-comeback-1549589
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/nov/09/google-services-blocked-china-gmail
Chuck Gao's PR Blog 