Google, seemingly torn between Chinese censorship and Chinese opportunity, is now "99.9 percent" certain that it will shut down its Chinese search engine, Google.cn.
According to a Financial Times source "familiar with the company's thinking," the search giant, having reached an apparent impasse with the Chinese government officials, has drafted detailed plans to close the Chinese search business, though it remains optimistic about finding a way to maintain its overall operations in China.
For Google, which, amid an investigation into alleged Chinese hacking of prominent US web properties, expressed in January that it no longer intends to run a censored search engine in China, staying in China after shuttering Google.cn could involve enabling its Chinese sales, software development, and research operations to remain intact.
For more on this story, see Google '99.9 percent' sure to shutter Google.cn on CNET News.
