Seven Google China's advertising partners, whose reseller status are expected to be terminated by the United States giant from October 27, said?Tuesday in Shanghai that they were "unfairly treated" by the world's biggest online search engine.
Google Inc has recently restructured the distribution channels in China after the US-based company's market share plunged in the country because it withdrew from the world's biggest online market.
By the end of the second quarter of this year, Google China's share in the market was 24 percent, a decline of about 6 percentage points from a year ago, according to Beijing-based Analysys International.
"We don't want to be angry with Google, and we are still Google fans," said Fan Meiyong, general manager of Hangzhou eCentral, one of the seven resellers. "We can't accept the termination without any reasons."
The seven resellers, including Hangzhou eCentral, Wenzhou Zhongzi Futou Technology and Ningbo 5ENET Technology, were notified by e-mails on September 27 that their reseller status would be revoked one month later.
In an open letter, the resellers pointed out the coastal region of China is an area where Google sales have been relatively high. Many of them were awarded "Best Reseller" by Google for three consecutive years, and they contributed 41 percent of total advertising revenue of Google China's resellers.
Google said in a statement that "it has recently been making adjustments to reseller channels in China that have led it to terminate its partnership with some resellers. Google is actively seeking new resellers."
Marsha Wang, Google China's spokeswoman, declined to comment further on the issue yesterday.
The seven resellers under threat have more than 10,000 clients, according to eCentral's Fan.