Google Inc (GOOG.NASDAQ) confirmed that the Chinese government has renewed the license that allows the search-engine to operate in the country, Bloomberg reported. Google, which moved its Chinese search-engine service to Hong Kong last year to avoid the mainland’s online censorship rules, said in an e-mailed statement that its internet content provider license has been renewed, but did not elaborate. Google has steadily lost market share in the mainland search market to local competitor Baidu (BIDU.NASDAQ) since January 2010, when the California-based company said it was no longer willing to comply with Beijing’s requirements for censoring content. China, the world’s largest internet market with 485 million web users, already blocks foreign sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
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