Online retail giant has stopped supplying retailers in China with its Kindle e-readers and will shut its Kindle e-bookstore in the country next year
02 June 2022 - 13:34
by Brenda Goh
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
The sign of e-commerce website Amazon China is seen next to a Kindle e-reader displayed in this illustration photo. Picture: REUTERS/FLORENCE LO
Shanghai — Amazon.com will stop supplying retailers in China with its Kindle e-readers from Thursday and will shut its Kindle e-bookstore in the country next year, in the latest retreat by a US tech firm from the restrictive Chinese market.
Amazon announced the decision on its official WeChat account on Thursday. It did not give a specific reason, but said it was “adjusting the strategic focus of its operations” and that its other business lines in China would continue.
The Kindle China e-bookstore will stop selling e-books from June 30 next year, it said, though customers will be able to continue downloading any purchased books for a year beyond that.
It will also remove the Kindle app from Chinese app stores in 2024, it added.
“We remain committed to our customers in China ... we periodically evaluate our offerings and make adjustments, wherever we operate,” a spokesperson for Amazon said in an emailed statement.
“With our portfolio of businesses in China, we will continue to innovate and invest where we can provide value to our customers.” The spokesperson declined to provide further comment on the decision.
Amazon’s remaining businesses in China include cross-border e-commerce, advertising and cloud services. It shut down its China online store in 2019.
Reuters reported in December last year on Amazon’s decade-long effort to win favour in Beijing to protect and grow its business in China. The report detailed how the Kindle business was one it had sought to expand in China, and cited an internal 2018 Amazon briefing document that said by the end of 2017, China had become Kindle’s largest global market, “accounting for 40%+ of our world device sales volume”.
Amazon joins a long line of Western internet companies, including LinkedIn, Yahoo and Airbnb that have cut services in or retreated completely from China in recent months, as the government tightens efforts to control over online content and new laws targeting data sharing and customer privacy.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Amazon extinguishes Kindle in China
Online retail giant has stopped supplying retailers in China with its Kindle e-readers and will shut its Kindle e-bookstore in the country next year
Shanghai — Amazon.com will stop supplying retailers in China with its Kindle e-readers from Thursday and will shut its Kindle e-bookstore in the country next year, in the latest retreat by a US tech firm from the restrictive Chinese market.
Amazon announced the decision on its official WeChat account on Thursday. It did not give a specific reason, but said it was “adjusting the strategic focus of its operations” and that its other business lines in China would continue.
The Kindle China e-bookstore will stop selling e-books from June 30 next year, it said, though customers will be able to continue downloading any purchased books for a year beyond that.
It will also remove the Kindle app from Chinese app stores in 2024, it added.
“We remain committed to our customers in China ... we periodically evaluate our offerings and make adjustments, wherever we operate,” a spokesperson for Amazon said in an emailed statement.
“With our portfolio of businesses in China, we will continue to innovate and invest where we can provide value to our customers.” The spokesperson declined to provide further comment on the decision.
Amazon’s remaining businesses in China include cross-border e-commerce, advertising and cloud services. It shut down its China online store in 2019.
Reuters reported in December last year on Amazon’s decade-long effort to win favour in Beijing to protect and grow its business in China. The report detailed how the Kindle business was one it had sought to expand in China, and cited an internal 2018 Amazon briefing document that said by the end of 2017, China had become Kindle’s largest global market, “accounting for 40%+ of our world device sales volume”.
Amazon joins a long line of Western internet companies, including LinkedIn, Yahoo and Airbnb that have cut services in or retreated completely from China in recent months, as the government tightens efforts to control over online content and new laws targeting data sharing and customer privacy.
Reuters
Twitter to pay $150m for lying to users about how their private info was handled
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
KPMG fined £3.3m over Rolls-Royce audit
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.