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Google Taps 3 Chinese Firms to Sell Ads(AP) Google Taps 3 Chinese Firms to Sell Ads NEW YORK Google Inc. stepped up the pace of its expansion in China -- and competition with new stock-market star Baidu.com Inc. -- by tapping three Chinese companies to sell advertisements for its China site. Google named China Enterprise, China Source and Hotsales authorized resellers for Google AdWords on Tuesday, adding China to the roster of locales, including the United States, Britain and Latin America, where it has reseller programs. The Mountain View, Calif., search firm said the three companies offer national reach to small and medium-sized businesses and high levels of support to advertising clients. All three will receive training from Google. The step suggests Google feels it needs knowledgeable, established local players to help it effectively penetrate the Chinese market. "There are many Chinese businesses that aren't utilizing the full potential and power that Google Adwords offers its advertisers," said Ben Kirshner, head of search-marketing firm Elite SEM Inc. "Google will soon start to realize much more revenue out of China by setting up local resources for local companies." Google's move comes on the heels of the wildly successful initial public offering of Baidu, Google's top competition in the nascent but highly promising Chinese market. It also follows a flurry of activity by U.S. Internet companies to grab or strengthen footholds in the country, including promises of big investments by eBay Inc. For Google's part, it said last month it planned to step up investment in China with a new product research-and-development center there. The company has also been battling Microsoft Corp. over a former executive of the software company it tapped to lead its Chinese operations. Yahoo Inc. Thursday said it will buy a 40 percent stake in Alibaba.com, China's biggest online commerce firm, for $1 billion. The deal is unusual in that Yahoo will reportedly turn over its China operations to Alibaba in the hopes of boosting its local search market share, reinforcing the notion that U.S. companies need strong local partners to succeed in China. The search advertising market in China remains small, attracting total ad revenue of just $148 million in 2004, according to iResearch Inc. of Shanghai. But strong growth in online advertising more broadly has buoyed Internet portals like Sina Corp. and Sohu.com Inc. and hinted at the promise of the fast-growing, enormous marketplace. In early trading Thursday, shares of Google fell $1.88, or 0.7 percent, to $283.80 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. |