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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: Alibaba’s new mega bond will pressure it to find good uses for its huge cash pile, while Tencent’s Warner Music tie-up is part of a new wave of deals to monetize its SNS platforms.
Alibaba plans mega bond offer
Leading Internet companies Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Tencent (HKEx: 700) are both in the headlines today with major new deals, spotlighting their growing need to stay in the news to remind investors why they are valued so high. The larger of the 2 news bits has Alibaba planning to raise a hefty $8 billion through a bond offer, while the other has Tencent in a major new tie-up with Warner Music, one of the world’s top record labels.
I was mostly impressed by the sheer size of Alibaba’s bond offer plan, which is easily the largest I’ve seen by a Chinese Internet company. Tencent launched its own $5 billion bond program earlier this year, but has had to offer the notes in several tranches due to the huge size. (previous post) Baidu raised its own $1.5 billion in a bond offer 2 years ago, and in June announced plans for another major offering without specifying any specific fund-raising targets. (previous post) Read Full Post…
Bottom line: An anti-corruption crackdown at Baidu is in line with a national campaign, but is unlikely to allay suspicion that the company manipulates search results to benefit itself and advertisers.
Baidu campaign snares 5 for corruption
A new report on an anti-corruption operation that snared 5 workers at Internet search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) caught my attention for a number of reasons. At the broadest level, this campaign casts a spotlight on the kind of corruption that is rampant at many Chinese companies, where employees often use their position to earn extra cash by accepting bribes from people they do business with.
The bust is also the latest sign that private companies are joining the growing national anti-corruption campaign led by President Xi Jinping. Last but certainly not least, this move casts a spotlight on some of the less-than-transparent things that Baidu does to earn money from advertisers, who are often eager to pay extra to see their names appear high on search result lists. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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KKR, Citic (HKEx: 267) In $1.5 Bln Bid For United Envirotech (Singapore: UNIT) (English article)
Bottom line: Xiaomi’s new $1.5 billion funding is smaller than expected but gives it a strong valuation, as its small investments in Youku Tudou and iQiyi look like a smart way to quickly build up its product ecosystem.
Xiaomi gets rich valuation from new funding
There’s no shortage of news this week on hyperactive smartphone sensation Xiaomi, which is showing up at least 3 major headlines as it lands major new funding and explores potential tie-ups with China’s top 2 online video sites as well as faded smartphone pioneer BlackBerry (Toronto: BB). I almost have to catch my breath after writing all of that, as any one of these 3 stories would normally qualify as major news. The fact that all 3 are coming at the same time testifies to Xiaomi’s ability to do big deals, and its charismatic CEO Lei Jun may soon take the title for China’s most hyperactive tech leader from the current holder of that title, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) founder Jack Ma. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Shanda is likely to sell a controlling stake of its Cloudary online literature unit to an outside buyer, possibly Tencent, as part of a drive to hand over management of its major units to strategic partners.
Shanda’s Cloudary in rumored sale
The slow-motion break-up of former online entertainment high-flyer Shanda Interactive is back in the headlines, with reports the company has sold its online literature unit to Internet heavyweight Tencent (HKEx: 700). This particular rumor looks logical enough for reasons I’ll give shortly. But I’ve heard so many rumors about sale of part of all of Shanda over the past year that I’ll only believe this latest report when we hear an official confirmation. What’s clear from these latest reports is that Shanda founder and chairman Chen Tianqiao continues to look for opportunities to sell part or all of his company, as he reportedly grows restless with his lackluster businesses whose growth has stalled. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Shares of Alibaba could be due for a pull-back as investors become aware of its aggressive spending and shrinking profits, which could benefit the more conservative Tencent and Baidu.
Alibaba wows Wall Street with mediocre results
Everyone is buzzing about the maiden earnings report from newly listed e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), which shows strong revenue growth and rapidly shrinking profits. So rather than repeat everyone else by simply reviewing the numbers, I’ll take this occasion to compare the Alibaba figures with those from leading rivals Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), often called the Internet “big 3” of China and increasingly referred to collectively by the name BAT. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Improved working environments are allowing Chinese tech firms to compete with multinationals for top talent, a template that state-run firms and other industries would be wise to follow.
Xiaomi attracts top exec from Spotify
Fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi made headlines last week when it lured away a top western executive from European online music streaming giant Spotify by offering him an attractive new job at its Beijing headquarters. The move marks the latest in a stream of high-profile defections by technology executives from comfortable jobs at major western firms to join up-and-coming Chinese names like Xiaomi and Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU).
The movement reflects a maturation for China’s fast-growing high-tech sector, whose rapid rise and improving working conditions are making companies more competitive with big western names traditionally preferred by many highly-skilled workers. But the trend is still limited mostly to China’s private high-tech sector, and is largely absent in state-run firms and other industries. Read Full Post…
Online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) has just become the first of China’s “big 3” Internet companies to release third quarter results, showing it’s not in any danger of losing its overwhelming share of China’s search advertising revenue anytime soon. Many media like to focus on the fact that Baidu has seen its dominance in China’s search market fall sharply over the last year, as newer rivals backed by Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) and Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) have collectively grown to take nearly half of the market by traffic volume. But while Baidu’s share of traffic may be sinking, it still holds the lion’s share of money that advertisers pay to search engines in China. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 30. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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YYeTs , Xunlei (Nasdaq: XNET) On Hollywood Piracy Blacklist (Chinese article)
The near-monopoly held by Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) WeChat in China’s mobile messaging space could soon get a fresh shot of competition, with word that e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) was in talks for an alliance to revive China Mobile’s (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) fast-fading Fetion text messaging service. Such a powerful tie-up could take direct aim at the current stranglehold on the market held by WeChat, which now has more than 400 million active users and has become an indispensable communications tool for many. Read Full Post…
I previously wrote that Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) plain-spoken CEO Tim Cook should consider buying a second home in China due to his frequent visits to the country, and the same could be said for Facebook’s (Nasdaq: FB) more brash founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. While Cook’s frequent visits are quite official and include many stops at government and company offices, Zuckerberg has been far more low-key in his equally regular visits due to Facebook’s lack of official presence in the country where its website is formally blocked. But Zuckerberg wants desperately to find a way to enter the market, which explains his latest low-key appearance at an event this week in Beijing at Tsinghua University, China’s equivalent of MIT. Read Full Post…
