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 … )

Ctrip Profit Slows Amid Online Travel Rush 在线旅游热潮中携程利润放缓

By on

A number of interesting news bits are coming from the online travel space, led by the latest quarterly results from industry leader Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) that show competition is rapidly heating up in this space, where another up-and-comer named Tujia.com has just received new venture funding. After dominating China’s online travel space for years, Ctrip and eLong (Nasdaq: LONG) are getting a recent wave of new competition from others finally waking up to the potential of the online travel sector, fueled by demand from more and more Chinese who have extra money and time to spend on travel. That demand has helped to propel a new field of rivals, including online travel site Qunar, which itself received a major investment from online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) late last year. (previous post) Others moving aggressively into the space include e-commerce giant 360Buy, which also calls itself Jingdong Mall, and now Tujia.com, which specializes in vacation packages. (previous post) Let’s take a quick look at Ctrip’s results, which show the company’s revenue grew a respectable 19 percent in the first quarter, even as profit tumbled 28 percent. (results announcement) A look at the numbers shows that reduced commissions are partly behind the profit decline, as hotels and airlines come under pressure to boost their own profits and also have more platforms to sell their products from. But the big reason for Ctrip’s profit decline appears to be sales and marketing expenses, which jumped nearly 50 percent and now account for more than one-fifth of total revenue. Clearly Ctrip is having to spend a lot more to maintain its growth than it did in the past, reflecting the growing competition in the market that is only likely to get worse, putting further pressure on profits. For the moment at least, investors seem to like what they see in these latest results, initially bidding up Ctrip shares as much as 5 percent after the report came out, though now they are up only 2 percent in after-hours trade. From my perspective, this kind of increased sales and marketing spending will be critical for Ctrip to maintain its market-leading position, and for that reason I wouldn’t be too concerned just yet by this profit erosion. But at some point the company will have to return to profit growth, or risk being abandoned by investors. Meantime, Tujia has just landed a new round of venture funding, with Ctrip itself as one of the investors, along with US travel site operator HomeAway (Nasdaq: AWAY) and US investment firms Lightspeed Venture Partners and CDH Investments. (announcement) No terms were given in the announcement, but I would expect this round is probably in the $10-$20 million range, and the presence of so many high-profile investors means that Tujia should be well positioned to grow in its niche area of providing vacation packages, and could make a New York IPO in the next couple of years. With all these fast-rising players in the market, look for everyone to feel the heat in terms of falling margins, and perhaps even a merger or 2 involving one or more of the big names in the next couple of years.

Bottom line: Ctrip’s latest results reflect intensifying competition in the online travel space, with some consolidation likely in the next 2 years.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Baidu’s Qunar: Going Places 百度投资的去哪儿网：前途无量

◙ Jin Jiang Looks for Room at the Global Lodge 锦江集团寻求跻身国际高端酒店之列

◙ 360Buy Losing Focus With Travel Plan 京东商城涉足在线旅行服务业 偏离核心业务

Baidu Smartphones Set to Stumble 百度进军智能手机市场或以失败告终

By on

I don’t like to sound too negative for 2 days in a row, but one day after predicting failure for PC giant Lenovo’s (HKEx: 992) new smart TV initiative I have to give a similar forecast for the recent rush into smartphones by a growing number of Chinese Internet players, with search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) leading the charge. Chinese media have been buzzing for the last few days about Baidu’s new offering, a low-end smartphone that runs on the company’s self-developed operating system and was co-developed with TV maker Changhong (Shanghai: 600839). (Chinese article; English article) Baidu’s move follows the announcement of similar self-developed smartphones from online game specialist Shanda and Internet security firm Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), and the latest reports that online game specialist NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) may also be getting into the space. (English article) Let’s have a closer look at the Baidu smartphone initiative, as that one is the most advanced, following the previous roll-out of an original Baidu model that failed to gain much attention under a partnership with Dell (Nasdaq: DELL). This latest tie-up with Changhong differs from the Dell model in that it is significantly cheaper, costing just 899 yuan, or about $140. I’ve looked at pictures of the new phone, and while a photo doesn’t always tell the full story, the handset truly does look clunky and cheap. I’m a bit surprised that Baidu is partnering with such unexperienced companies, first with Dell and now Changhong, in this initiative that is no doubt costing a lot of money. Dell is more known for its computers than cellphones, though the 2 product types do share some similarities. Changhong is known almost exclusively for its TVs, which have almost nothing in common with smartphones. That said, I really don’t expect much if any success for this new Baidu-Changhong model, which will have to compete with much more attractive low-cost smartphones from fast-growing domestic firms ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and Huawei, which mostly use Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) popular and reliable Android operating system. In fact, Baidu’s initiative looks like an attempt to imitate Google with Android, acknowledging the increasing importance of the mobile Internet. I applaud Baidu for putting big resources into this important new area, but honestly believe its smartphone initiative is set for failure. If Baidu wants to increase its chances of success, it could start by partnering with a major smartphone maker rather than Changhong, though I suspect many such players would be reluctant to form such a tie-up. Meantime, I would make similar predictions for the other smartphone initiatives from Shanda, Qihoo and now NetEase. I’m not sure why all these companies are taking such steps, as the smartphone market is already quite crowded with much more experienced and resource-rich players like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930). Perhaps all these companies just have too much money and are looking for a place to spend it.

Bottom line: Baidu’s smartphone initiative is likely to fail due to competition and inexperience, but could stand a better chance of success with better manufacturing partners.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Huawei Follows ZTE to Lower Profits 继中兴之后华为利润也降低

◙ ZTE Results: Waiting for Returns 中兴坚持低成本手机策略 亟需尽早盈利

◙ Nokia Bets on China Telecom 诺基亚联手中国电信

News Digest: May 12-14, 2012 报摘： 2012年5月12-14日

By on

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 12-14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════

◙ US Senator Questions Fed on Chinese Bank Decision (English article)

◙ Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) Announces Findings of Internal Investigation (PRNewswire)

◙ Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) Qunar Sues Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) for Defamation (English article)

◙ Xueda Education (NYSE: XUE) Buys 60 Pct of Weilan Int’l for 18.9 Mln Yuan (Chinese article)

◙ Home Inns (Nasdaq: HMIN) Reports Q1 Financial Results (PRNewswire)

◙ Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

Sohu’s Sogou Still Looking for Search Bite 搜狗壮志难酬

By on

You have to admire the dogged determination of Sogou, the online search unit of web portal Sohu.com (Nasdaq: SOHU) that, after nearly a decade in business is still just a bit player in its space. Despite its lack of progress, Sogou is now telling the world about its latest strategy to steal market share from Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), the China Internet search giant which controls more than 70 percent of the market. (English article) The only problem with this latest plan is that most of us have heard this kind of talk before from Sogou, and the result is always a lack of any real progress. Let’s look at this latest plan, which has Sogou’s CEO saying the unit will rely on searches that focus on users’ needs rather than the more commonly used keyword approach used by most major search engines. He added that Sogou still isn’t profitable, and gave what looks like an impossible target of controlling 15 percent of China’s online search market by next year. All this sounds remarkably familiar to forecasts Sohu founder Charles Zhang gave me in an interview way back in 2006, a year or 2 after Sogou’s launch. At that time he boldly predicted his new unit could take around a third of China’s online search market within a few years. Of course that never happened, and Sogou now controls just around 2 percent of the market. Zhang loves to trumpet Sogou’s recent gains, which saw his search engine post revenue growth of more than 200 percent last year. Those gains did indeed look impressive, though when you’re coming off such a small base it’s certainly not impossible. But even that growth is showing signs of stalling, with the company recently predicting that Sogou’s revenues would just double in the current quarter. (previous post) I don’t want to dampen Sogou’s aspirations too much, especially since I think that China really needs a good competitor to challenge Baidu. But that said, Sogou might do well to take a look at Soso, the search engine unit of Tencent (HKEx: 700), China’s largest Internet company. Despite gaining success in many of the areas it has entered, Tencent failed to make much of an impact in online search despite major investment in Soso, which 6 years after its founding has even less market share than Sogou. After wavering on the future of Soso, Tencent reportedly decided just a week or 2 ago to sharply cut back the unit rather than close it outright, with plans to slash about half of its workforce. (previous post) Perhaps Sogou would be well advised to make similar plans, though Sohu hasn’t shown any signs of abandoning this money-losing unit. Then again, following a recent online video tie-up between Tencent and Sohu aimed at competing with the new industry leader formed by the marriage of Youku (NYSE: YOKU) and Tudou (Nasdaq: TUDO) (previous post), maybe we’ll see a similar Sohu-Tencent tie-up in online search.

Bottom line: Sohu’s determination to keep funding its money-losing Sogou search engine seems destined to fail, and it might be better served by closing the site or looking for a merger partner.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Sohu Disappoints Again, LDK Cuts Inspire 搜狐再次令人失望，江西赛维裁员鼓舞人心

◙ Tencent Shakes Up Search, Group Buying 腾讯搜搜、高朋网巨

◙ Sohu’s Blowout Earnings: IPO In Store for Video? 搜狐发喜报视频业务或上市

Tencent Shakes Up Search, Group Buying 腾讯搜搜、高朋网巨

By on

Layoffs and resignations are the main story at Tencent (HKEx: 700) these days, with the head of the company’s group buying joint venture reportedly resigning as China’s Internet leader also makes large job cuts at its Soso search engine. Both of these developments should come as a surprise to no one, and reflect an ongoing consolidation gripping the overheated group buying space in the former case, and a rapidly slowing advertising market in the latter. Let’s look at the group buying situation first, which has reportedly seen the CEO resign at Gaopeng, the 1-year-old group buying joint venture between Tencent and global sector pioneer Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN). (English article) In fact, Gaopeng has struggled almost from the start due to its relatively late arrival to China’s group buying space, which is now in the midst of a painful consolidation. Reports of mass layoffs at the company began to emerge as early as last summer, and rumors that the company may actually close or merge with another partner continue to bubble up from frequently, with one such report emerging just weeks ago. (previous post) Gaopeng is hardly alone in this sector-wide crisis, which has started to hit even the industry’s largest players. Late last week reports emerged that a number of top managers had resigned at LaShou, in the latest sign of trouble for the industry’s leader that is facing a major cash crunch. (previous post) Others that have shown signs of major distress include 55tuan, as well as Groupon.cn, a homegrown Chinese player that is no relation to the US Groupon. Meantime, Tencent also appears to be scaling back its plans for Soso, its search engine that it hoped would compete with industry titan Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) for a share of China’s lucrative market. (English article) The reports are relatively vague, saying simply that Tencent was wavering on whether to sharply reduce the size of the 6-year-old Soso, which employs about 1,300, or to simply close it altogether. In the end it decided on the cutbacks, which will begin when people returned from the May Day holiday, according to the reports, citing an unnamed industry source. This latest move spotlights not only the strong grip that Baidu has on China’s online search market, with more than 70 percent share, but also the fact that the online search sector is also on the cusp of a major slowdown, fueled in part by the loss of advertising revenue from struggling companies like Gaopeng. The advertising slowdown led Baidu to report disappointing results last week, and earlier this week Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) also reported a sharp slowdown in the growth of its own online search site, Sogou. (previous post) Look for the painful retrenchment to continue in the group buying space, and for the advertising slowdown to sharply hit the top line of search engines and other companies that depend on such revenues in the months ahead. As the situation deteriorates, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tencent shutter either Gaopeng or Soso, or possibly both, by the end of the year and quite perhaps much sooner.

Bottom line: Shakeups at Tencent’s online search and group buying units reflect broader industry malaise for both, with one or both units set for potential closure by the end of the year.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ LaShou: On the Cusp of Implosion? 拉手网或已面临生死抉择

◙ 55Tuan + Ganji: Group Buying Clean-Up Acclerates 窝窝团携手赶集网：团购洗牌加速

◙ Apple Feasts on China, Baidu Burps 苹果在华享受盛宴，百度盛宴停顿

Sohu Disappoints Again, LDK Cuts Inspire 搜狐再次令人失望，江西赛维裁员鼓舞人心

By on

As China returns to work after a long May Day holiday, the latest earnings released from online portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) and struggling solar firm LDK (NYSE: LDK) are showing that numbers don’t always tell the complete story, or at least not by themselves. In Sohu’s case, many of the numbers look good on the surface, but closer examination points to a sharp advertising slowdown that is already showing signs of hitting the broader Internet sector. Meanwhile, a highly troubled LDK has encouraged investors simply by filing its long-delayed fourth quarter report just before the final deadline, and also by announcing mass layoffs. Let’s look at Sohu first, which reported that revenue rose 30 percent in the first quarter of this year, but that its profit fell by a similar amount. (company announcement) The profit decline obviously wasn’t very helpful, nor was guidance that showed advertising growth would continue to slow. What’s more, Sohu said revenue from its Sogou search engine, hyped in previous quarters as a major new growth area, would roughly double in the current quarter — down sharply from the 184 percent growth in the first quarter and the nearly 250 percent jump in last year’s third quarter. The broader message was clearly not very positive, prompting a sell-off that has seen Sohu shares sink 10 percent since the results were announced. That followed a trend set by online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), whose shares have sagged 5 percent since it delivered a similar message with its latest earnings last week. (previous post) Look for other ad-dependent firms like leading portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and social networking leader Renren (NYSE: RENN) to follow with similar messages in the weeks ahead. Meantime, LDK’s battered shares received a minor but surprising lift from the company’s latest results, in which it reported a massive $600 million loss in last year’s fourth quarter, as net revenue plunged by about half and looked set to tumble further in the current quarter as the global solar industry struggles in its worst-ever downturn. (company announcement) Some might say there was little to be excited about, but clearly some investors saw some light in the report, bidding up LDK’s shares by 7 percent the day after the numbers came out. Investors were apparently encouraged by comments that LDK has cut more than 5,000 jobs this year, and some were also undoubtedly happy that the company managed to file its fourth-quarter report before an April 30 deadline, after which it would have faced possible delisting. The storm is hardly over for LDK, though early signs of improvement for the entire solar sector could eventually help the company to pare its losses if it can managed to stay in business.

Bottom line: Sohu’s latest results point to a sharp advertising slowdown in the months ahead, while LDK will survive for another quarter after managing to report its results just before a deadline.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Slowing Ad Revenue Weighs on Phoenix 凤凰新媒体看淡广告收入前景

◙ Apple Feasts on China, Baidu Burps 苹果在华享受盛宴，百度盛宴停顿

◙ LDK Cuts, Suntech Waits As Solar Winter Nears End 太阳能行业冬季将结束：赛维裁员，尚德等待

LaShou: On the Cusp of Implosion? 拉手网或已面临生死抉择

By on

New developments are happening rapidly at group buying leader LaShou, which appears to be on the cusp of a meltdown as it runs out of money in the brutally competitive sector. As many of us prepare for the May 1 Labor Day holiday that marks the start of spring, many who follow this company may be wondering if LaShou will still be in business by summertime. In the latest development of this fast evolving story, domestic media are reporting a mass resignation of many top LaShou executives in recent days, including its top regional managers in Shanghai and Beijing, as well as a vice president. (Chinese article) That exodus would come only days after the company reportedly cut 40 percent of its technical staff in what looks like a desperate attempt to conserve cash. (previous post) These kinds of drastic cuts and resignations may indeed save cash, but if they continue there may not be any company left to operate. The rapid series of events seems to point to a company in crisis, which has  been building for more than a year as a natural clean-up takes place in China’s overcrowded and unruly group buying space. LaShou made headlines a year ago when the company, then just 1 year old, raised a cool $100 million from a group of investors hoping it would become the next Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN), the US company that pioneered the group buying concept. (previous post) Back then it was saying it wouldn’t make an IPO for at least the next 1 to 2 years. But then investor sentiment abruptly cooled toward the sector as competition heated up, leaving LaShou and many of its peers short of cash after most expanded rapidly earlier in the year. LaShou tried to raise new funds through a New York IPO last fall, but had to indefinitely postpone the plan after the US securities regulator reportedly voiced concerns about its accounting. The company was reportedly trying to relaunch its IPO in the last few weeks; but we have yet to see any public filings and if these latest reports are true I seriously doubt anyone will want to invest even if it does file for an IPO. Clearly things are happening rapidly now, which means we will probably see LaShou either close or merge with a rival in the very near future — in what would be the biggest consolidation move to date in the group buying space. A number of companies have already merged or are on the brink of closure, so LaShou certainly wouldn’t be the first in this latest trend, though it would certainly be the most dramatic. If I were betting, I would predict the chances of a merger are better than 50 percent, with a profitable rival like Dianping or even a non-group buying company like Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) or Tencent (HKEx: 700) stepping in to acquire the company for a very low price. Then again, there is also the very real chance that LaShou could close, though I would put that chance at 30 percent or less. Either way, I would be surprised if this company is still in business as an independent group buying site by the time summer arrives.

Bottom line: A new exodus of top executives at LaShou reflects an accelerating cash crunch, with an an acquisition of the company the most likely outcome within the next 1-2 months.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ IPO Chill Bites LaShou, China Auto 中资企业赴美上市连遭冷遇

◙ 55Tuan + Ganji: Group Buying Clean-Up Acclerates 窝窝团携手赶集网：团购洗牌加速

◙ Investors Shun Struggling Groupon.cn, Yaodian100 投资者规避挣扎中的团宝网和耀点100

News Digest: April 25, 2012 报摘： 2012年4月25日

By on

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 25. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════

◙ Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Announces Q1 Results (PRNewswire)

◙ Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) Quarterly China Sales Reach $7.9 Bln, iPhone Sales Up 4-Fold (Chinese article)

◙ MoneyGram (NYSE: MGI) Available at All 10,000 Bank of China (HKEx: 3988) Locations (Businesswire)

◙ Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICb) Inks Framework Deal With China Mobile (HKEx: 941) (English article)

◙ Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) Officially Launches Forsaken World in Brazil (PRNewswire)

◙ Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

Rumored Tie-Up to Challenge Youku-Tudou 腾讯、搜狐和百度或结盟 挑战优酷-土豆联姻

By on

I’ve saved the most interesting tidbit from the China Internet space for my last posting today, which comes in the form of a report that 3 Internet leaders are preparing to pool their online video businesses in a bid to challenge the industry titan created by the recent merger of Youku (NYSE: YOKU) and Tudou (Nasdaq: TUDO), the sector’s top 2 players. The report cites an unnamed industry source saying that Tencent (HKEx: 700), Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) and Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) Qiyi will announce the deal this week, possibly as early as Wednesday, creating a second major platform that would act as a single buyer of copyrighted content such as popular movies and TV shows. (Chinese article) The fact that the source is saying a deal is so close, and also the proximity to the big Youku-Tudou merger announcement last month (previous post), lead me to believe it’s quite possible this story is true. What’s more, this new tie-up also appears to be a direct response to the Youku-Tudou announcement, meaning the deal was probably arranged very quickly, which is not a good sign for this kind of major tie-up. On paper at least, such a new tie-up would certainly look intriguing. Sohu is currently China’s third largest online video company with 13.3 percent of the market, while Qiyi is sixth with 6.4 percent, while Tencent is a relatively small player, meaning the new platform would have around 20 percent market share. That would be about half of Youku-Tudou, which will have around 40 percent market share when that deal closes. From a purely superficial perspective, the prospect of a Sohu-Qiyi-Tencent tie-up certainly looks attractive and would be the latest much-needed consolidation of this fragmented and money losing industry. These new larger players would have more bargaining power to get rights to the latest movies and TV shows at better prices, helping them in their drive to become profitable. As if to trumpet that fact, Youku has just announced its latest major licensing deal, this time obtaining exclusive China distribution rights for 2 hit TV series, “Survivor” and “America’s Next Top Model”, from US broadcaster and program maker CBS Studios (NYSE: CBS), marking the latest in a string of similar major licensing deals. (company announcement) On the one hand I’m quite encouraged by this kind of M&A activity, as China’s Internet companies have traditionally resisted such tie-ups due to reluctance by their founders to yield control, even though such consolidation is sorely needed to create major players that can keep expanding and perhaps even someday become global names. But at the same time, the presence of so many strong-willed personalities could make such mergers difficult and even ultimately fail in some cases. Early signs indicated that the Youku-Tudou marriage could suffer from the strong personality of Tudou founder Gary Wang. The founders of Tencent, Baidu and Sohu also have equally strong personalities, especially Sohu’s Charles Zhang, who would presumably lead the leader of any new tie-up. All that said, I would still look for Youku and Tudou to complete their merger and for this new tie-up to also move ahead, though there could be many difficult growing pains for both new partnerships in the year ahead.

Bottom line: Reports of a Sohu-Tencent-Baidu video tie-up could well be true, creating a major new player to counter the industry leader formed by the merger of Youku and Tudou.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Sohu’s Blowout Earnings: IPO In Store for Video? 搜狐发喜报视频业务或上市

◙ Baidu Video Tries Blockbuster Licensing

◙ Tudou, Youku: Stormy Marriage Ahead 优酷土豆“联姻”：想说爱你不容易

News Digest: April 24, 2012 报摘： 2012年4月24日

By on

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 25. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════

◙ China Auto Rental Said to Struggle to Attract Investors (English article)

◙ Sohu, Tencent, Baidu Video Channels to Jointly Buy Copyrighted Material – Source (Chinese article)

◙ Huawei Profit Halves; Handset Competition Saps Margins (English article)

◙ Lashou Reported Cutting Staff, Halting Ads, Calls Move “Strategic Adjustment” (Chinese article)

◙ Alibaba.com (HKEx: 1688) Reports Net Profit1 of RMB339.2 million in Q1 2012 (Businesswire)

◙ Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

News Digest: April 21-23, 2012 报摘： 2012年4月21-21日

By on

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 21-23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════

◙ Rakuten (Tokyo: 4755) to Close Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Lekutian JV in Late May (English article)

◙ China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Announces Q1 Results (HKEx announcement)

◙ China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Beijing unit to Provide Wi-Fi on Buses (English article)

◙ China’s No 2 Broker Haitong Prices Hong Kong Offer Near Bottom of Range (English article)

◙ More Than 90 Pct of People Polled Think People’s Daily Website IPO Priced High (Chinese article)

◙ Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)