Google currently operates individual country offices in Asia, reporting to the US.
"We have been growing very fast in China," said Johnny Chou, Google's president of sales and business development in China, commenting on plans to headquarter the search engine's Asia-Pacific operations in the Chinese capital. "We will increase our headcount from 100 at present to between 200 and 300 by the end of this year."
Apart from corporate expansion plans, the internet portal also aims to boost the number of reselling agents in China in a bid to expand its distribution network and expand sales. "We will, from next month, announce new agents every month. By the end of this year, there will be more than 10 agents available in China," said George Song, director of Google's reseller sales organisation.
Google has so far recruited five companies to act as distributors in China: Splendor and ce.net.cn in Beijing; HotSales in Shanghai; zzy.cn in Xiamen; and Moveage in Shenzhen. Google has also invested in Beijing-based online classifieds company Ganji.com, to launch its local language portal, Google.cn. Interfax
