Google likely to exit China

Google (GOOG.NASDAQ, GOOG.NYSE) is likely to take action to close the main portion of its China operation within weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an anonymous source familiar with the situation. The news follows the apparent failure of negotiations to allow Google.cn to both remain in China and stop censoring search results. Last Friday Li Yizhong, minister of Industry and Information Technology, said Google would "bear the consequences" if it violated Chinese laws. At present Google has about 36% of China’s search revenue, compared to local rival Baidu’s 58%. Google is reportedly still in negotiations about the future of its affiliated services, such as selling ads to Chinese websites using its Adsense service.