Amazon Kindle to exit China despite phenomenal growth prospects

The company did not specify a reason for the pullback but said it was adjusting the strategic focus of its operations and that its other business lines in China would continue.

Amazon said the Kindle China e-bookstore will stop selling e-books from June 30 next year but readers will be able to download purchased ebooks for a year beyond that.

It will remove the Kindle app from Chinese app stores in 2024.

"We remain committed to our customers in China. As a global business, we periodically evaluate our offerings and make adjustments, wherever we operate," a spokesperson for Amazon said in an emailed statement, according to the Reuters report.

"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, it added.

Amazon closed down its China online store in 2019.

Its existing businesses in the country include cross-border e-commerce, advertising and cloud services.

For over a decade, Amazon channeled efforts to protect and grow its business in China.

By the end of 2017, China had become Kindle's largest global market, one of its businesses the e-commerce company had sought to expand in the country, "accounting for over 40% of its world device sales volume".

The company had given this data in an internal 2018 Amazon briefing document.

With this, Amazon joins a long list of American internet companies, including LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Yahoo, to wind up or cut down operations in China in recent months amid tightening control over online content or new rules targeting data sharing and customer privacy.