Google China chief clarifies rumors

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-07 17:40

BEIJING: As rumors flew following Google China's President Kai-fu Lee's resignation last Friday, Lee said in his blog his reason for leaving was because his new job is "overwhelmingly exciting!"

"I work hard, not because I am poor, but because of my passion for work. To create my new company I will again undergo a process of building up a new career from nothing," Lee wrote in his blog on sina.com on Sunday.

He also denied in the article any connection between his move and Google China's recent rap over the knuckles for allowing access to pornography.

In June, Google China was found to have been illegally spreading pornographic content and its service has since been intermittently blocked.

Lee said he had met with government officials in July who had praised Google China's efforts to crack down on pornography. Further, Lee said, he had not been pressured to leave by Google headquarters.

"Actually, I postponed the resignation for two months just to deal with it appropriately," Lee wrote.

He also denied other rumors, such as tax evasion, receiving an offer of employment from Idealab, or Google's withdrawing from the China market.

On Sunday morning, Lee announced the name of his new company, "Innovation Works", and also its web address, at a news conference held by Google China.

Established to provide assistance to Chinese youth starting undertakings, Innovation Works plans to invest about 800 million yuan ($ 117 million) over the next five years, and it is also trying to attract investment from other enterprises such as Foxconn Technology Group, said an article published on sina.com.cn on Monday.

After Lee leaves Google China in mid-September, his engineering responsibilities will be taken over by Boon-Lock Yeo, director of the company's Shanghai engineering office. Vice president John Liu, who currently heads Google's Greater China sales business, will take on Lee's business and operational roles.

Lee was born in Taiwan in 1961. He was hired by Google in 2005 and helped greatly in its market expansion in China.