Google's footprint in China

Google Inc moved its China Internet search service to Hong Kong to try and resolve its dispute with Beijing over censored search results, while keeping a foot in the world's largest Internet market.

The following is a look at Google's involvement in the world's largest Internet market by users:

* Google launched its Chinese-language website, Google.cn, in 2006. Lee Kai-Fu ran the company's operations in the country until he resigned in 2009 to start a venture firm. He was succeeded by John Liu, who took over Lee's business and operational responsibilities.

Google reroutes China search

* Its Hong Kong-based search service, Google.com.hk, does not censor results. The former British colony, while a part of China, operates with great leeway in everything from finance to government, and employs a separate judicial and legal system. It is described as a Special Administrative Region of China, similar to the former Portugese colony of Macau.

* The company employs 600 people in three offices located in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In September, it told local newspapers it would double its sales team within six months. Larger rival Baidu Inc, by contrast, employs about 4,000 sales and customer service personnel alone.

Google shifts China search service to Hong Kong

* Google.cn complies with local laws requiring censorship of certain items such as pornography and "vulgar comment." Its flagship English-language site, Google.com, is not required to submit to similar censorship, but analysts say the government filters content through its own Internet firewall.

* The company controls about 30 percent of the Chinese Web search market, compared with 60 percent for Baidu, according to Analysys International.

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* Google does not break out Chinese revenue figures, but analysts estimate that the company gets about 1 to 2 percent of its annual revenue of more than $20 billion from China.