Head of Google China leaves post, to be replaced by executive from Europe

Google’s leader for its China operations, John Liu, is leaving his position as the company continues to maintain a low-key presence in the nation following heated disputes over online censorship.

Liu has “decided to pursue other opportunities,” Google said in an email on Monday. Liu had been at Google for nearly six years, and originally was head of sales for the company’s Greater China operations. In 2009, he was elevated to head of Google’s Greater China business after the departure of his predecessor, Kai-Fu Lee, a tech entrepreneur well-known in the country.

Liu worked at Google as its search business in China slowly grew to compete with the country’s largest search engine Baidu. But in 2010, Google decided it would no longer agree to China’s demands for online censorship, and initiated a partial retreat from the Chinese market.

Since then, Google’s presence in China has diminished. The company’s market share for search is at 3 percent, according to Chinese analytics site CNZZ.com. In addition, many Google services, such as Google Play, YouTube or Google Plus are either blocked or not offered in the country.

The company, however, sees a major opportunity in helping Chinese companies advertise outside the country through its online services. At the same time, Google’s Android OS dominates the nation’s handset market, and has close to a 90 percent market share.

Scott Beaumont, who leads Google’s partnerships business in Europe will take over from Liu starting in mid-August. “He’ll continue our focus on helping Chinese businesses of all sizes grow locally and globally,” Google said.

Shooting in building where AirBnB is based leaves two dead

The offices of Zynga, Pinterest, AirBnB and other companies in San Francisco's South of Market District were under lockdown Friday after a shooting at a nearby store located in the same building as AirBnB's headquarters.

Two people were killed and one was injured in the incident at a jewelry store at 888 Brannan St. at about 2 p.m. local time Friday, according to local news reports.

The suspect emerged from the store "covered in blood" and fired at police before he apparently ran out of ammunition and surrendered, the San Jose Mercury News reported. No police were injured and no motive had been determined, the paper said.

The jewelry store, near the corner of 8th and Brannan streets, is in the basement of a large building that's also the site of AirBnB's new headquarters a few floors up.

That part of SOMA is also home to a cluster of tech firms that have sprung up over the past few years, including Zynga, which is a block away on 8th and Townsend, Pinterest and Yammer, which is a few blocks up the street.

Several employees at the companies said on Twitter they were told not to leave their building for their own safety. Traffic was backed up for several blocks on adjacent streets and a police helicopter circled for most of the afternoon, but police reportedly think the suspect acted alone.

"For Zyngites safety, Security has a lock down on our building. Until Security receives clearance from SFPD the building will remain on lockdown and exiting will be restricted," Zynga employees were told via email on Friday, according to a screenshot posted to Twitter by an employee.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Leaves The View for Fox News: Her Emotional Goodbye Speech

Elisabeth Hasselbeck gave an emotional goodbye speech during her last day on The View July 10 before heading to work at Fox & Friends. Credit: Lou Rocco/ABC
Elisabeth Hasselbeck gave an emotional goodbye to the ladies on The View Wednesday, July 10. Walking out arm-in-arm with Barbara Walters, the 36-year-old talk show host had tears in her eyes as she confirmed her departure from the show to join Fox & Friends in mid-September.

Walters began the announcement by stating, "Good morning and welcome to The View. I am a little emotional -- or as that other Barbara sometimes says, 'I'm a little verklempt.' Because it was reported last night that our Elisabeth Hasselbeck is leaving us to join the Fox network. As you can see, I'm a little teary but I always want what's best for you, you know how I feel about you. I'm happy that you're going. No, I'm not happy that you're going. I'm happy that it's good for you. You tell us about it."

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"First of all, I'm really happy and excited to confirm that, indeed, I will be joining the Fox & Friends team in September," Hasselbeck said. I would first like to thank . . . . the entire Fox News channel for this incredible opportunity. Today is officially my last day at The View. For a decade, I've been able to work efficiently at this table only because everyone behind the scenes as worked more efficiently." (Us Weekly was first to break news of her departure in March.)

Hasselbeck then gave individual thank-yous to co-hosts Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd and Walters. "Whoopi . . . You are one of the most talented artists on this planet, but . . . you are even more loving than you are talented," she said with tears in her eyes. "You are walking unconditional love . . . and I am just blessed to have gotten to call myself a friend of yours."

"Joy . . . and I have spent the last 10 years sparring over politics," she joked, but added that she has honored those conversations. "I even like when Joy as the ability to throw a one-liner in and make me laugh even when I don't want to. So, I love you. I truly do."

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"Sherri Shepherd, your protest of absence is not working," Hasselbeck joked to the camera of her missing on the show. "You're my sister in Christ, my friend for life."

"Barbara, I did some math last night -- and I could be wrong -- but I think had more than 3,000 days working by your side," she said. "Truly because of all that you have taught me, I was prepared to interview political candidates. I feel more than prepared at this point -- because of all that you have given me -- to move forward. I couldn't have asked for a better leader and mentor."

Lastly, Hasselbeck called the last 10 years working on the show extraordinary and hoped they would be the same for her replacement.

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"I have enormous affection for you," Walters said. "You were still a newlywed when you joined us . . . and three of your children when born when you were here . . . and now that you're going to the early morning hours, I don't know if there will be a fourth!"

But Hasselbeck countered that she will now be "going to bed earlier."

"You're going to leave a big void at this table," Walters said. "We know that."

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Behar then took a turn to thank Hasselbeck, and make one last joke at her expense. "First of all, Fox, gee. Won't you be a fish out of water there?" she quipped to her famously conservative pal. "When we got into it, it was exciting for the show, I think. Everybody always thinks that we were mad at each other, which we never were . . . because we're professionals. I'm glad to see that you're moving into a great job."

"I just think that you're that cat's meow," Goldberg added. "You've been a really good friend to me and I appreciate you. And may we both continue to grow because that's life, right?"

Walters made a point of saying they were in no rush to fill Hasselbeck's chair, and she is always welcome back as a guest.

Chief Leaves Barnes & Noble After Losses on E-Readers

William Lynch Jr., the chief executive of Barnes & Noble, resigned on Monday, two weeks after a devastating earnings report that accentuated the bookseller’s losing battle against powerful rivals like Amazon.

Mr. Lynch’s departure was part of a series of sweeping changes the company announced as it tries to regain its footing after a failed initiative to build up its Nook division and compete in the increasingly crowded market for e-readers. When it revealed its fourth-quarter earnings late last month, Barnes & Noble said it would cease making its own color tablets, an acknowledgment that they were lagging popular brands like Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Apple’s iPad.

Instead, the company said it would form partnerships with third parties to make the color devices, while it continued to make and sell its own black-and-white versions of the Nook.

In a statement late Monday, the company said that Michael P. Huseby had been appointed chief executive of the Nook division and president of Barnes & Noble. Mr. Huseby has served as chief financial officer since joining Barnes & Noble in March 2012; previously he held that position at Cablevision Systems, a media company.

Max J. Roberts, the chief executive of the college division, will report to Mr. Huseby, while Mr. Huseby and Mitchell S. Klipper, the chief executive for the retail stores, will report to Leonard Riggio, the company’s chairman.

The moves on Monday appeared to be a step toward separating the digital and retail divisions, as the company has indicated it might do. Barnes & Noble has been in talks over a potential sale of its digital assets, as well as its 675 bookstores.

Microsoft is one potential buyer of the Nook business; last year it invested hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire 17.6 percent of the division.

Mr. Riggio has expressed interest in taking back ownership of the physical stores that make Barnes & Noble the largest bookstore chain in the country. Mary Ellen Keating, a spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble, declined to provide an update on that offer.

There was no indication that a new chief executive would be named.

“Because the company is in a transition period, we have no immediate plans to name a C.E.O.,” Ms. Keating said.

“We thank William Lynch for helping transform Barnes & Noble into a leading digital content provider and for leading in the development of our award-winning line of Nook products,” Mr. Riggio said in a statement issued Monday. “As the bookselling industry continues to undergo significant transformation, we believe that Michael, Mitchell and Max are the right executives to lead us into the future.”

The financial results for the fiscal fourth quarter underscored the urgency of the need to take action. The Nook unit showed a $177 million loss in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, more than doubling the loss from the period a year earlier. Sales fell 34 percent, to $108 million.

The signs have been ominous for the company since the beginning of the year, when it announced that sales for the nine-week holiday period in late 2012 had declined at both its bookstores and in the Nook unit.

Mr. Lynch joined Barnes & Noble in February 2009, with no previous experience in bookselling. He was executive vice president for marketing at HSN.com and also worked for Gifts.com.

At the time, his arrival was hailed as a forward-thinking move, since Mr. Lynch, a Texas native, was only 39 years old and fluent in e-commerce and technology. Within months, Barnes & Noble introduced its first Nook e-reader.

To publishers, Mr. Lynch had performed a temporary miracle, helping create a product that provided a welcome competitor to Amazon’s Kindle, which dominated the market and offered e-books at a relatively inexpensive price.

The Nook was initially successful, drawing critical praise and capturing consumers who were uneasy about buying an e-reader — at the time a brand-new device — online, without testing it out in person. Barnes & Noble’s hundreds of retail stores allowed potential customers to see and touch what they were buying.

But even though Barnes & Noble quickly gained a sizable piece of the e-book market, it was not enough to ward off Amazon. And as black-and-white e-readers gave way to multifunctional color tablets, Barnes & Noble found itself competing unsuccessfully against companies many times its size, like Amazon and Apple, that have had technology in their DNA from the start.

As chief executive, Mr. Lynch worked from the company’s Ninth Avenue office in Manhattan, across town from the Fifth Avenue building where Mr. Riggio keeps his office. Mr. Lynch threw his energies into the digital side of the business, taking far less of an interest in the retail stores, and frequently flew to Palo Alto to build up Barnes & Noble’s presence in Silicon Valley, where their e-readers are designed.

Mike Shatzkin, the founder and chief executive of the Idea Logical Company, a publishing consultant, said a split of the business could help stave off the company’s decline.

“The Nook business clearly is going to need some global investment to have any kind of chance at all, and it certainly looks possible that they will be better off separate than together,” Mr. Shatzkin said. “There’s a glide path to oblivion, and you can affect the speed of the decline. Nobody’s going to bring back a robust brick-and-mortar book business.”

Dwight Howard Leaves L.A. Lakers: Hollywood Reacts

Despite a Lakers billboard campaign encouraging Dwight Howard to stay with the franchise, the center has chosen the Houston Rockets as his next destination, USA Today first reported.

Howard confirmed the news Friday evening, tweeting:

"I've decided to become a member of the Houston Rockets. I feel its the best place for me and I am excited about joining the Rockets and I'm looking forward to a great season. I want to thank the fans in Los Angeles and wish them the best."

Chalk it up as a win for Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who reportedly made the first pitch to Howard after free agency began on July 1 and even enlisted Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons to make a video selling the team to the all-star center on Friday.

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USA Today reports Howard will earn $88 million for four seasons. Late Friday, Howard changed his Twitter avatar to one of him wearing a Rockets uniform. In the hours before the official announcement, conflicting reports emerged, with some saying Howard was fully committed to the Rockets, while others -- including ESPN -- cited a source saying the player was "50-50" on whether he would stay with the Lakers or go to Houston.

"We have been informed of Dwight's decision to not return to the Lakers. Naturally we're disappointed," Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. "However, we will now move forward in a different direction with the future of the franchise and, as always, will do our best to build the best team possible, one our great Lakers fans will be proud to support. To Dwight, we thank him for his time and consideration, and for his efforts with us last season. We wish him the best of luck on the remainder of his NBA career."

Lakers star Kobe Bryant responded to the announcement by posting a photo of himself and teammate Pau Gasol on Instagram, along with the words "#vamos #juntos #lakercorazon #vino."

Howard had a tumultuous run in Los Angeles, with the Lakers struggling over the course of the season, eventually sneaking into the playoffs as the seventh seed only to be swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.