I wonder if an independent facilitator might have been able to get everyone back to the basics on what they wanted to achieve, such that they could accept that they weren't really saying different things… just saying them differently. Perhaps a CEO and some company goals could have been salvaged?

Apologies to all if this was done and there were deeper issues. No criticism is implied.

Where is he going to go now?

It such a flawed argument. How can you attribute the failure of Google in China to homepage alone? OK, lets agree for a moment that it is true. But even that becomes a hypothetical argument. Why? Because you have got it all wrong. Your argument that Baidu's homepage is cluttered and not clean is simply not true. If you are not convinced, go check the homepage of Baidu.com/ baidu.cn/ baidu.com.cn. It is as “clean” as Google's homepage. I hope you do some basic fact-checking before posting.

If I had a company, took it to Mars, hired a Maritan as a CEO, and paid him a CEO salary, you can bet that I would want to hear what he/she/it would have to say.

Instead, they pay him, give him an office, and don't listen.

That's how it works in America, with fat cats in big offices, cashing huge checks, doing no work, and saying YES to keep the status quo. Unfortunately, this is NOT how a successful company should behave. Maybe other corporate entities have enough backing that they can afford this attitude, but I doubt that is the case with most social networking sites.