Amazon announced on Thursday that it will stop distributing its Kindle e-readers to Chinese shops and close its Kindle e-bookstore in the nation next year, marking the latest withdrawal by a US tech major from the country’s tight market.
On Thursday, Amazon announced the decision on its official WeChat account. It did not specify a rationale for the change, but stated it was shifting its strategic focus and that its other business lines in China will continue.
The Kindle China e-bookstore announced that it will stop selling ebooks on June 30 of next year, however users will be able to download any purchased books for another year.
It also stated that the Kindle software would be removed from Chinese app marketplaces in 2024.
“In China, we stay loyal to our customers. We examine our offerings and make adjustments on a regular basis as a global company, regardless of where we operate “In an emailed statement, an Amazon representative stated.
“We will continue to develop and invest where we can deliver value to our consumers with our portfolio of businesses in China.” A spokeswoman for the company declined to speak further on the decision.
Cross-border e-commerce, advertising, and cloud services are among Amazon’s remaining businesses in China. In 2019, it closed its online store in China.
In December of last year, Reuters reported on Amazon’s decade-long attempt to gain favour in Beijing in order to protect and develop its business in China.
According to the article, Amazon intended to increase its Kindle business in China, citing an internal 2018 Amazon briefing document that stated that by the end of 2017, China had become Kindle’s largest global market, “accounting for over 40% of our total device sales volume.”
Amazon joins a long list of Western internet businesses that have curtailed or abandoned services in China in recent months, including Linkedin, Yahoo, and Airbnb, amid government efforts to tighten control over online content and new legislation aimed at data sharing and user privacy.
