Google Invests In Chinese Portal
Google today announced an investment in Chinese internet portal Tianya.cn, part of its renewed effort to reverse losses in China. Google bought anywhere from 10-60% of the website, according to conflicting reports, hoping to close the gap with Baidu, which holds 58% market share lead in China over Google’s 22.8&. Google had invested in Baidu in recent years, an investment it eventually sold off.
TechCrunch explains the overall plan:
As reported August 17, Google stated its intention to acquire 1 or 2 China focused internet companies and invest in 5 over the next 12 months. The investment in Tianya.cn would appear to be the first of those 5 investments.
UPDATE: Google is using Tianya as an ICP (Internet Content Provider), that is a company registered with the Chinese government as an authorized internet company. For censorship and other reasons, a company must have an ICP number to provide internet services in China, a problem for foreign companies. Those companies usually partner with Chinese companies that have ICPs, and in this case, Google actually bought part of the company.
Google also launched two services under the Tianya brand: Tianya Laiba (a sort of social network) and Tianya Wenda (a question-and-answer site).
