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Tag Archives: Baidu
Baidu Company News Baidu 百度, Inc. incorporated on January 2000, is classifed as web services company established by Robin Li and Eric Xu.
Overview of the Chinese high Tech Market by former Chief Editor of Reuters (Doug Young).
Baidu offers many services, including a search engine for websites, audio files and images.
Baidu in Figures
– Ranked 4th overall in the Alexa rankings
– In 2015, Baidu had over 1 billion visits / month
– Baidu offers 57 community services (Chinese encyclopedia, questions/Answers , forums … )
Bottom line: Yahoo’s closure of its Beijing R&D center marks its final withdrawal from China, in a shift mostly related to internal issues but also reflecting the difficulties foreign Internet firms face in the tightly controlled market.
Yahoo closes Beijing R&D center
Nearly 2 years after shuttering its Chinese email service, faded US search giant Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) looks finally set to completely leave the China market, with word that it’s preparing to close up its sizable R&D shop in Beijing. I’m not intimately familiar with Yahoo’s current China assets, but it does appear that this move represents the shuttering of the company’s last major Chinese operation. The move also comes as Yahoo prepares to spin off its sizable stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) into a separate company, bringing an end to the company’s decade-long marriage with China. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 19. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) To Close Beijing R&D Center (Chinese article)
Bottom line: The Baidu-led union of Uber and Yidao in China looks like a smart move for all 3 parties, but could come under strain due to internal and external factors that could ultimately lead Baidu to buy out the venture.
Yidao, Uber to merge in China
China’s rapidly evolving paid car services realm is creating some strange marriages, bringing together e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and social networking giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) last month with a merger of their taxi app services. Now we’re getting word of another unusual marriage, this time as leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) steers domestic heavyweight Yidao into a union with global giant Uber.
This latest deal would come just 3 months after Baidu made a large investment in Uber, reportedly worth $600 million, and would give Baidu a solid foothold in the fast-growing market for Internet-based car hiring services. China’s other 2 Internet majors, Tencent and Alibaba, already had major Internet hired car assets through their strategic stakes in industry leaders Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, respectively, which surprised the industry when they announced a plan to merge last month. (previous post) Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 18. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Uber, Yidao To Merge Under Baidu-Led (Nasdaq: BIDU) Plan – Source (Chinese article)
Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Post-IPO Lock-Up Period Ends, Releasing 340 Mln Shares (Chinese article)
Unicom Proposes Plan To Buy Back Up To 10 Pct Of Shares (HKEx announcement)
Phoenix Satellite TV Announces Full-Year 2014 Results (HKEx announcement)
Solar Power Installation To Hit 17.8 Gigawatts This Year, Ahead Of Forecasts (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Alibaba’s combining of its mapping and web browser units under a single leader marks the start of a necessary rationalization of its many acquisitions over the last 2 years, which could produce some odd pairings.
Alibaba combines UCWeb, AutoNavi units
After nearly 2 years of making billions of dollars in strategic acquisitions, we’re finally seeing an attempt by e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) to integrate and rationalize some of those purchases through new tie-ups and other pooling of assets. In this case the integration is coming in an executive move, which is seeing the founder of its AutoNavi online mapping division leave the company. His former position will be taken over by the founder and head of Alibaba’s UCWeb browser division, combining the 2 units under the leadership of a well-respected tech leader named Yu Yongfu. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Baidu’s temporary halting of updates for its mobile operating system is likely to become permanent, and looks like a smart move as it focuses on more efficient ways to boost its mobile market share.
Baidu stops supporting Yun OS
In a move that seemed inevitable, Internet search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) has put the brakes on its 3-year-old mobile operating system (OS) that was sapping big resources with little or no chance for long-term success. The move comes just a month after Baidu trumpeted the growing contribution of mobile revenue to its overall business, surpassing traditional desktop PC search revenue for the first time in December. There’s no mention in Baidu’s latest quarterly report of how much of its mobile search revenue came from smartphones equipped with its self-developed mobile operating system, Yun OS, but I suspect the answer was “very little”. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 12. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Preparing To Invest $200 Mln In Snapchat – Source (Chinese article)
Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Halts Updates, Maintenance For Mobile OS (Chinese article)
Car Inc (HKEx: 699) Announces Full-Year 2014 Results (HKEx announcement)
Online Listings Site Ganji Launches IPO Process – CEO (Chinese article)
Chinese Shoe Factory Workers Strike Over Benefits (English article)
Bottom line: New smaller acquisitions by 58.com and Tuniu look like smart, focused moves to complement their existing business, and should quickly help to improve their top and bottom lines.
Tuniu buys Taiwan-focused travel agents
A couple of smaller acquisitions are in the headlines today, with word that online travel agent Tuniu (Nasdaq: TOUR) and Internet classified ad site 58.com (NYSE: WUBA) have both made strategic purchases that look like thoughtful, well-targeted moves. In this case Tuniu has announced it will buy 2 travel agencies that will boost its exposure to the Taiwan travel market, while 58.com is buying a site that specializes in home interior decoration products.
Both deals were relatively small, worth less than $40 million, which is generally the kind of purchase I like to see as it indicates a more focused approach to M&A. That contrasts sharply with the much bigger recent purchases by China’s largest Internet companies, most notably by Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China’s Internet companies are expecting a slowdown this year as the nation’s economy slows, but their shares could see some upside if the declines are less severe than many are forecasting.
Qihoo, Phoenix, LITB see slowing growth
It’s not often that we see any major macroeconomic trends when a diverse group of Internet companies all report results on the same day, since individual company and sector factors often have a big influence. But we’re seeing just such a trend emerge in the new results from the high-tech trio of software security specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), e-commerce firm LightInTheBox (NYSE: LITB) and online media firm Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG), which all are forecasting a sharp slowdown in the first quarter of this year. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Youku Tudou’s big bet on original content development could pay dividends in the long term, but will push the company further into the loss column in the short term as it spends heavily on the business.
Original content in focus at Youku Tudou
When the history books are written, the story of China’s online video industry could well be called “A Tale of 2 Business Models”. The most common model is seeing a growing number of players invest big money on development of original content, which is what former leader Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) is doing with a major new announcement in that direction. The other model is seeing players like LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) focus equally or more on distribution by rolling out new products like smartphones and Internet TVs to deliver their content. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: LeTV could be a company to watch as it embarks on a global expansion, drawing on a savvy business model that sells smart TVs and smartphones at low prices in exchange for video subscription contracts.
LeTV makes cryptic debut at trade show
A major telecoms show happening this week in Spain was filled with small bits of news, but one of the biggest surprises came when I stumbled on an area decked out with signage for the racy online video firm LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104). So far as I could tell, none of the company’s many rivals like Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) and iQiyi were at the show, and even global leader YouTube was absent. That’s not hard to understand, since the Mobile World Congress taking place in Barcelona is a telecoms show whose main attendees are telecoms equipment and smartphone makers. Read Full Post…
