Google's China Point Man Leaves

Kai-Fu Lee, the man who orchestrated Google's (GOOG) penetration of the Chinese search market, has announced that he will be leaving the company sometime this month. Lee oversaw the introduction of Google into China, significantly expanding the company's reach in Asia, but causing considerable damage to its public image, as Google collaborated with Chinese censorship authorities. As the New York Times reports, Lee's departure will be a blow to Google's ambitions in China; not only will it lose a talented vice president with a lot of Chinese contacts, but Lee reportedly plans to start a venture capital firm in Beijing, possibly competing with his old company.

Of course, we'll always remember Kai-Fu Lee as the man who inadvertently revealed the softer side of Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer. When Lee left the software firm for Google in 2005, Microsoft sued, claiming that Lee was bound by a noncompete clause in his contract. During the lawsuit, former Microsoft executive Mark Lucovsky told the following story in a sworn statement. In 2004, Lucovsky sat down with Ballmer and announced he was leaving. "Just tell me it's not Google," Ballmer allegedly said. When Lucovsky said it was, Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room, screaming about Google CEO Eric Schmidt, "I'm gonna fucking bury that guy! I have done it before, and I'll do it again. I'm gonna fucking kill Google!"

Let's hope Lee's new business partners show a little more restraint.