[jsnell]

> There are the public perception costs, the infrastructure and staffing needed to maintain compliance with China's censorship requirements, and the taxes.

Don't be silly. Infrastructure and an ops team aren't meaningful costs in relation to the money to be made there. China is 1/6th of the world economy.

And for example Apple is absolutely minting money there, giving full cooperation to the CCP including handing over user data thousands of times per year, with no PR consequences at all. Even on HN, let alone with the general public.

Now, it is true that there would be PR consequences for Google specifically, since there is a double standard at play. In this case it's a self-inflicted double standard, since they left China in the first place. But would those consequences be durable? It's hard to say. Google's leadership under Pichai has been incredibly risk averse, so it makes sense they're not taking that gamble just like they're taking no other gambles.

But it's definitely not obvious that the costs of operating in China would exceed the benefits.