China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba and Qihoo 360 have teamed up to launch 360.etao.com, an online shopping search engine that rivals similar products by Baidu, China’s biggest search engine. → Read More
Chinese Internet companies Baidu, Tencent and Qihoo 360 are reportedly competing to purchase Sogou, Sohu‘s search business. Sina Tech’s report cites unnamed sources in the investment industry (link via Google Translate) and Sogou CEO Wang Xiaoquan has already taken to his Sina Weibo account to brush off the report as “unreliable,” but it’s worth noting that rumors of two recent acquisitions–… → Read More
After weeks of rumors, Baidu finally confirmed today that it has acquired the online video business of Shanghai-based PPS for $370 million. PPS will be merged into iQiyi, Baidu’s video platform Baidu, to form China’s largest online video platform by the number of mobile users and video viewing time. The sale is expected to close in the second quarter of 2013. PPS will continue to… → Read More
Baidu posted double-digit percentage revenue growth in 1Q2013–but its earnings still missed analysts’ expectations as the Chinese search giant’s costs soared. → Read More
Shanghai-based video streaming platform PPStream has reportedly (link via Google Translate) been purchased by iQiyi, the online video unit of Internet search giant Baidu, for around $350 million to $400 million. A Baidu spokesman would not confirm the reports, which have been circulating in Chinese media since the end of last month, but a statement by the head of rival video platform Youku-Tudou… → Read More
Looks like Baidu and Zynga are the most recent victims of a bogus press release stunt. This morning, a company called PR*Urgent put out a press release saying that Baidu — known as the “Google of China” — wanted to acquire Zynga, the social gaming giant. It claimed Baidu offered to pay $10 per Zynga share in cash. But a PR representative for Baidu has categorically denied the news. “Baidu had… → Read More
Baidu, Hillhouse Capital, and GGV Capital have invested a total of $57 million in Chinese travel site Qunar, according to a report by First Financial Daily (link via Google Translate). The news comes as Qunar weathers a boycott by third-party service providers triggered by a change in its operational and pricing policies. South China Morning Post writer Doug Young speculates that Qunar might have… → Read More
Aaaand the joke is up. The flurry of reports about Baidu’s supposed Google Glass competitor, Baidu Eye, are actually based on an April Fool’s joke. Like all of the best April Fool’s, it had just enough realism to it to be believable. In fact, there is a “kernel of truth” to the story, Baidu spokesperson Kaiser Kuo tells TechCrunch. → Read More
China’s technology Ministry has criticised the dominance of Google’s Android platform, according to Reuters. “Our country’s mobile operating system research and development is too dependent on Android. While the Android system is open source, the core technology and technology roadmap is strictly controlled by Google,” a Ministry whitepaper states. → Read More
Baidu, the search behemoth often referred to as “China’s Google,” launched its new English-language Web site for developers today. While the site is still in its infancy–right now there are just a few intros up and no documentation–but it promises to grow up into a valuable resource for developers who want to take a crack at the Chinese market. → Read More
Baidu’s fourth-quarter earnings report presented a mixed bag for the company known as the “Google of China.” Though its profit jumped by 36 percent in the quarter because of an increase in advertising spending, its 41.6 percent year-on-year revenue growth was the slowest since 2009, according to Reuters. → Read More
Qihoo 360 shares slipped after it disclosed today that its iOS apps had been removed from the iTunes stores without warning, reports Bloomberg. The Chinese security software maker also received an unfair competition warning from the Chinese government, according to the Beijing Industrial and Commercial Administration Bureau’s microblog. But Qihoo didn’t let its no good, very bad day keep it from… → Read More
Reports that Baidu, the Internet giant known as “the Google of China,” is planning to become a strategic investor in security software company Kingsoft gained traction today when Kingsoft announced that it is in discussions with “independent third parties relating to a possible disposal,” though it gave very little away in the rest of the release. → Read More
A big step forward for China’s search giant Baidu as it looks to raise its international profile and credibility in mobile: the company has inked an exclusive deal with mobile carrier France Telecom/Orange to co-brand and pre-load its new Baidu mobile browser on Android smartphones sold in Africa and the Middle East, covering 19 countries where Orange operates in the region. → Read More
Baidu shares have fallen 18% over the last quarter as investors worry that the search giant won’t be able to monetize its mobile business quickly enough to outpace domestic competitors like Qihoo 360 and Tencent Holdings. But Baidu, known as China’s Google, is confident that it will be able to remake itself as a platform provider for both mobile and PC. → Read More
Baidu, China’s search behemoth, has announced that it is raising $1.5 billion in a two-part bond sale to write down debt and build up its warchest: Baidu remains the country’s biggest search portal but has of late been feeling the heat of competion from domestic rival Qihoo 360, an antivirus software company that launched its own search engine in August. → Read More
Search is going very strong in China, and leading player Baidu continues to reap the benefits. In its Q2 results, the company reported sales of 5.456 billion yuan ($858.8 million), up 59.8 percent compared to the same quarter in 2011. The company’s chairman and chief exec, Robin Li, said in a statement that Baidu will “maintain momentum” going forward by investing in new technology, new talent… → Read More
It’s been a long time coming — plans for a mobile content partnership between NTT Docomo and China’s search giant Baidu were announced a year ago — but today it’s finally happened: the Japanese telco has announced the completion of their $22.5 million (¥1.78 billion) investment in a joint venture in China, Baidu Yi Xin. Docomo becomes a 20 percent shareholder in the new mobile content… → Read More
Big mobile plans afoot for Baidu, the Google of China that leads in search and has launched a host of other services in the wake of that business. The company today unveiled the first smartphone to be built on its own platform, the Changhong H5018. And while that device is designed on a “forked” version of Android — forked Android devices being very popular in China — Baidu says that it doesn’t… → Read More
Baidu, China’s leading web search company today issued its quarterly earnings report for the first three months of 2012. The company made $677 million in top-line revenue, up 75 percent from the revenue it posted in the first quarter of 2011. Baidu performed just as strongly at the bottom line as well, posting a net income of $299 million, up 75.9 percent year-over-year.
In case you need some… → Read More
Baidu is one of the most known of the Chinese Internet giants. Some of the buzz is admiration for Robin Li, one of the pioneers of the Chinese Web scene who built a global giant that succeeded in a political environment where Google cried “uncle.” Others have painted Baidu as the mirror image of Google’s lofty “do no evil” credo.
So on our recent trip to Beijing, we decided to take our cameras… → Read More
Chinese search engine Baidu posted strong earnings today, with total revenue in the third quarter of 2011 coming in at $654.7 million, an 85.1% increase from the same period in 2010. Baidu’s net income was up 80% to $295 million. Diluted earnings for the third quarter of 2011 were $0.84; non-GAAP earnings were for the $0.86. Baidu beat Wall Street expectations; analysts expected a profit of… → Read More
Hot on the heels of Baidu’s new mobile OS launch, reports are circulating that the Chinese search giant is partnering with Dell to build tablets and mobile phones.
China is a goldmine in terms of potential consumers. With over 900 million mobile subscribers, China is becoming one of the fastest growing tablet markets, as well. As the Google of the Eastern world, Baidu should have no problem… → Read More
Chinese search giant Baidu is reportedly developing a cloud-based smartphone platform in attempt to dip its toes into the mobile pool. Mobile internet users in China totaled 233 million in 2010, projected to reach 957 million by 2014. For some perspective, the total population of both the European Union and the United States was approximately 800 million last year. So in China, mobile is less of a… → Read More
Chinese search giant Baidu’s investment in Qunar officially closed this week, and the two teams are working on integrating Qunar’s search results into Baidu’s travel vertical now. I caught up with Qunar’s CEO Chenchao Zhuang for his first Western interview about the deal to talk about what the deal means for the company and China’s Web scene broadly.
This $306 million deal is not only a big… → Read More
Chinese search engine Baidu has made a $306 million investment in Qunar, travel search engine in China. The investment will make Baidu the majority shareholder of Qunar. Qunar had previously raised $25 million in funding. Previous investors include the Lehman Brothers, GSR Ventures Management, Mayfield Fund, and Tenaya Capital.
Founded in 2005, Qunar is basically the Kayak for China. The portal… → Read More
Boutique tech investment bank Pacific Crest Securities has purchased Pacific Epoch, a Shanghai-based investment research firm specializing in technology. This gives Pacific Crest fifty more bodies on the ground in China to deliver investors better investment research than “This is the (fill-in-the-blank-Western-Internet-company) of China.”
That lazy marketing strategy has helped companies like … → Read More
A Global Mobile Internet Conference kicked off last night in Beijing. The opening event was an on-stage interview with John Liu, head of Google’s China operations, followed by a panel discussion with several entrepreneurs and executives from MSN and Zynga.
The interview was titled “How foreign companies can succeed in China”, a rather amusing title considering that no foreign Internet company… → Read More
Facebook, as I’m sure you know, is blocked in China.
And being banned in a country that boasts roughly 500,000,000 Internet users is, of course, not exactly an ideal situation for a company aggressively looking for growth worldwide.
Now Facebook is rumored to have recently inked a partnership deal with a Chinese Internet giant in a move to enter the country (which, as some have pointed out… → Read More
Leading Chinese search engine company Baidu has led a $50 million financing round for Anjuke, a major real estate marketplace in China. Anjuke, which was founded in Shanghai in 2007, provides a platform that connects property buyers, homeowners and real estate agents to buy and sell secondhand properties online.
Anjuke last year also launched Haozu.com and Aifang.com to expand to property rental… → Read More
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