Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, reiterated the company’s intention to remain in the China market, despite the recent declaration that they would rather shut down their China-based search engine than censor the site. From the Financial Times:
“We have lots of other business opportunities in China – we would like them to be successful,” Eric Schmidt, chief executive, said in an interview with the Financial Times. “That’s not the only thing we’re doing in China.”
He was speaking shortly after Google had reported a solid rebound in its core search advertising business in the final quarter of last year, and revealed that it had increased hiring and marketing spending as it prepares for a renewed burst of growth coming out of the recession.
Mr Schmidt refused to comment on the progress of discussions with the Chinese authorities, though he stressed that Google was still intent on stopping censoring results on its local Chinese search service, and said the company would act “in a relatively short time”.
“It’s very important to know we are not pulling out of China,” Mr Schmidt said. “We have a good business in China. This is about the censorship rules, not anything else.”
