[weezer]

Why do I keep hearing it repeated that "Google failed in China?" They are second place but with a sizable market share, 43% to Baidu's 56% according to this link.

If your company's goal was to have 100% market share and you 'only' had 43%, would you call yourself a failure?

http://gs.statcounter.com/press

[grandalf]

For highly successful companies, it's expected that they will take dominant market share within a reasonable period of time, or else they are viewed as having failed.

More importantly, Google's market share in China is symbolic of its ability to repeat its success in the US elsewhere.... this is the foundation of much of Google's current stock price.

I asked a Google finance guy what percentage of revenue comes from non-US ads and he got all red and refused to say a word. This is a HOT topic at Google and the firm can't afford to show any weakness whatsoever.

[lenley]

I think it has more to do with the fact goog isn't making a significant amt of money, and growth has flatlined. Beyond that goog is STILL in Hong Kong, and mainland China still has access to the .hk site AFAIK