Crazy Ivans are usually used as a last resort and can sometimes have the opposite intended effect. Earlier this year, Google employed a last-ditch Crazy Ivan when it aggressively fought China-based cyber-attacks by shutting down some operations in China.

Luckily for Google, its Crazy Ivan paid off. On Friday, July 9, the Chinese government announced that it had renewed its license with the popular search engine. Google can now provide mainland users with a link to the Hong Kong-based search engine that is uncensored while the mainland website is still censored.

As with Crazy Ivans, the risk/reward level was high. Had Google’s license not been renewed, it could have lost out on billions of dollars in future revenue and ceded an entire country’s search result to rival players. But with the benefit of hindsight, Google’s crazy strategy paid off.

Posted by: Alice Hu

Photo Credit: wallydownundy.com