Shanghai, China — Kai-Fu Lee, the president of Google’s Greater China operations, a former Microsoft executive and the subject of a resentful employee custody battle between Google and Microsoft, appointed to commence Google’s business in the most populous country in the world, is stepping down in mid-September from the company after working for years to establish the Internet giant as a formidable player in the country to start a new venture in Beijing, Google said Friday.
Lee soon attained a key position in the search industry, delivering numerous press interviews, becoming the face of Google China.
“With a very strong leadership team in place, it seemed a very good moment for me to move to the next chapter in my career,” Lee said in a statement announcing his departure.
Lee will be replaced by two Google executives of Chinese origin, the company said. Boon-Lock Yeo, presently director of Google’s Shanghai engineering office, will handle engineering duties for Google China, and John Liu, who now leads Google’s sales team in greater China, will assume Lee’s business and operational responsibilities.
Lee’s appointment sparked a legal battle between Microsoft and Google. Microsoft, alleging Lee violated his noncompete agreement, filed suit against Google. Google counter sued, accusing Microsoft of “a shocking display of hubris,” according to court documents. The companies settled privately in 2005.
During Lee’s tenure, development of Google products, including its search service, has increased among Chinese users. The company has also introduced some products unique to the market, including an online music service. While announcing Lee’s departure, Google said it was nearly doubling the size of its sales force in China in response to strong growth.
Lee, a proficient in speech recognition technology, Lee established Microsoft’s China research lab in the late 1990s and worked at Silicon Graphics and Apple before joining Microsoft. Before joining Google, Lee had been working at Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters, focusing on new search technologies.
However, some three years after launching its efforts in China, the search giant continues to confront a range of headaches in China, with an uncomfortable working relationship with government censors, which, as the country with the largest number of Internet users, is critical to its growth. Google still trails Chinese search leader Baidu by a wide margin. In the second quarter of 2009, Google drew around 20% of Chinese Internet searches, compared with Baidu’s 76%, according to iResearch, an Internet research concern.
Google also continued to confront with Chinese authorities, who have exclusively blocked services such as its video-sharing site, YouTube.
“Lee has faced a lot of pressure from the government, which has really intensified its censorship efforts, so his departure may be a relief for him personally,” said Isaac Mao, a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. “Google has been too compliant to the Chinese government, and modeling Baidu too closely. It should be more independent-minded and less concerned with short-term results.”
Lee was born in Taiwan and raised in Tennessee. He is a former assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and worked for Microsoft for five years. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates testified in September 2005 that Lee was “one of the top two” people influencing the company’s strategy in China.
“It has been a true honor and privilege to work with such an amazing company,” Lee said in the Google statement. “With a very strong leadership team in place, it seemed a very good moment for me to move to the next chapter in my career.”
“Lee has made an enormous contribution to Google over the last four years, helping dramatically to improve the quality and range of services that we offer in China,” said Alan Eustace, Google’s senior vice president for engineering, in a statement.
Lee’s departure is set for the middle of September, which arrives at a time when Google is moving forward in its battle with Baidu in the world’s largest Internet market by users.
The move could send a strong blow to Google’s attempt to gain ground in China. Google China has also confronted with Chinese authorities, which have sometimes blocked its services, while also coming under criticism by human rights groups. However, Google said in the release that it will nearly double the size of its sales force in China as a result of recent progress.