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 … )

GAMES: NetEase Keeps Warcraft, New Giant Buys Playtika

Bottom line: Giant Interactive is banking on Playtika to jump-start its stalled growth, while NetEase’s extension of a major licensing deal will further consolidate its position as China’s second largest online game firm.

NetEase extends Blizzard agreement

A couple of gaming stories are making headlines as we head towards the long Chinese national day holiday, with NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) and Giant Interactive both inking major deals that should help cement their place as 2 of China’s top players. The first deal has NetEase extending its long-running licensing deal with top global game designer Blizzard Entertainment (Nasdaq: ATVI) for some of its most popular titles, including the World of Warcraft series. The second has Giant buying Israeli social game maker Playtika, in a deal that was previously reported to be worth around $4.4 billion. Read Full Post…

China News Digest: September 30, 2016

The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on September 30. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) to Try Take-Out Dining, Partner May be Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) (Chinese article)
  • MSCI Still Monitoring China A Shares After ‘Positive’ Signs (English article)
  • China Sees Commercial 5G Telecoms Rollout in 2020, Speeds up to 20 GB/Second (Chinese article)
  • Baic Motor VP Joins Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) Driverless Car Division (English article)
  • Former Qualcomm Exec Joins LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) to Develop US Market (Chinese article)

China News Digest: September 29, 2016

The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on September 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • China Postal Savings Bank (HKEx: 1658) Fails to Make Waves in $7.4 Bln HK Debut (English article)
  • New Century Cruise (Shenzhen: 002558) to Buy Mobile Games Business Playtika (English article)
  • Fosun (HKEx: 656) Joins First Public-Private Funded High-Speed Rail Line Group (Chinese article)
  • Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Picks Beijing for First China R&D Center, to Invest 300 Mln Yuan (Chinese article)
  • Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Self-Driving Car to Debut in 2018, Cost More Than 1 Mln Yuan (Chinese article)

TELECOMS: More Proactive Stance Needed in Telco Fraud Fight

Bottom line: Chinese companies need to become more proactive in ending practices that harm consumers, or risk facing pressure from regulators and hurting their prospects for expansion abroad.

Telcos get tough with real name registration

A campaign requiring all mobile phone users to register with their real names was in the headlines for much of last week, in the latest step to curtail rampant phone fraud in China that has grabbed recent attention due to several high-profile cases. Notably, the real-name registration drive was led by 6 government ministries, rather than the nation’s 3 major wireless carriers whose networks are the primary platform for committing most of the fraud.

Both the government and carriers have known about this kind of fraud for years, but did little to aggressively tackle the problem until the recent wave of negative publicity. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Tencent, Alibaba Take Bite Out of Scandal-Hit Baidu

Bottom line: Alibaba is the biggest beneficiary of business lost by Baidu after a scandal earlier this year, with search rivals Qihoo and Sogou also likely to pick up new business.

Baidu loses digital ad crown to Alibaba
Baidu loses digital ad crown to Alibaba

A couple of news items are showing how Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) core search business is coming under assault from several directions, in an ominous sign for the company’s main revenue source. The first item shows that Baidu has officially lost its crown as China’s top digital adverting platform to e-commerce titan Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), following a scandal earlier this year that wiped out up to a fifth of its revenue. In the other item, reports are saying that China’s other Internet titan Tencent (HKEx: 700) has boosted its stake in Sogou, one of Baidu’s main search rivals, to 45 percent. Read Full Post…

INTERNET: Adjusting NetEase Eyes Cloud, Has BAT Potential

Bottom line: NetEase’s move into cloud computing and closure of its forum service are part of an overhaul positioning it for future growth, and could propel it into China’s top 3 Internet companies in the next 5 years.

NetEase launches cloud service

China’s lowest-key Internet giant NetEase is making some more new adjustments, extending reports last week that it was planning to spin off or sell its old but stagnating web portal business. One of the new moves includes word that the company has shuttered its equally slow-growth web forum business. The other has the company launching a new cloud service, with plans to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the business over the next few years. Read Full Post…

China News Digest: September 22, 2016

The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on September 22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Alibaba Takes Lead in China Digital Ad Market, Baidu Drops to Second (press release)
  • Postal Savings Bank of China IPO Raises $7.4 Bln After Pricing at Low End (English article)
  • China Telecom (HKEx: 728) to Close Accounts Without Real Name Registration (Chinese article)
  • Sony (Tokyo: 6758) Close to Motion Picture Alliance With China’s Wanda (English article)
  • Filing Shows Smartisan Value Drops By 500 Mln Yuan in Half Year (Chinese article)

ENTERTAINMENT: Pokemon Go Coming to China, Set for Flop?

Bottom line: Pokemon Go could launch in China as soon as the end of this year, but is likely to get a tepid reception due to its late arrival and fading buzz in other countries.

After months of silence in the world’s largest mobile market, Pokemon Go, the wildly popular mobile game that debuted this summer in most of the world, may be finally coming to China soon. That’s the word coming from new media reports, which are citing the CEO of Niantic, the San Francisco-based developer of the popular title that takes mobile gaming to a new level by adding global positioning (GPS) technology. But the bigger question is whether Pokemon Go will get much attention from Chinese gamers, since it seems to be well past its prime after making global headlines over the summer. Read Full Post…

MEDIA: Wanda, Baidu Spurned by Film Partners

Bottom line: Wanda will look for new Hollywood assets after being rejected in the bidding for a stake of Paramount, while the departure of a member of the group buying Baidu Video is a minor setback and a new investor will be easily found.

Paramount abandons stake sale plan

A couple of headlines are showing that China’s love affair with the film and video industries isn’t always so smooth, with the collapse of 2 major deals involving cinema giant Wanda and online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). The far larger of the 2 developments has seen leading Hollywood studio Paramount scrap plans to sell a strategic stake in itself, ending a deal that reportedly had seen Wanda emerge as one of the most likely buyers. The Baidu deal is quite a bit smaller, and has seen one of the buyout partners withdraw in a plan to spin off its relatively minor Baidu Video business. Read Full Post…

China News Digest: September 20, 2016

The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on September 20. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Wanda Rejected as Viacom’s (NYSE: VIAb) Paramount Abandons Stake Sale Plan (Chinese article)
  • Internal Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Probe Nets 17 for Corruption, Worst at Nuomi Unit (Chinese article)
  • China Unicom (HKEx: 762) Offers Biggest iPhone 7 Subsidies, Up to 49 Pct (Chinese article)
  • Zeus Entertainment (Shenzhen: 002354) Halts Plan to Invest in Baidu Video (English article)
  • LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) Supercar Completes $1 Bln Funding, Legend Among Backers (Chinese article)

INTERNET: Tencent Takes China’s Corporate Crown on Facebook-Sky Hopes

Bottom line: Tencent’s new crown as Asia’s most valuable company reflects the rapid growth of China’s private sector in the last decade, and could auger an eventual challenge to global social networking leader Facebook. 

Tencent takes crown for most valuable Chinese company

Media are fawning on Chinese Internet sensation Tencent (HKEx: 700), which has just edged past telecoms giant China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) to become the nation’s most valuable publicly traded company. Such a feat would have been unthinkable a decade ago, when the nation’s private sector was still in its infancy and state-run monoliths like China Mobile still dominated China’s corporate landscape. But much has changed over the last 10 years, and Tencent in many ways reflects the huge potential that investors see in a Chinese private sector that has come to dominate many emerging industries like Internet-based products and services. Read Full Post…