Baidu Inc.

[CityFarmer]

Baidu's subsidiary also joining the IPO bandwagon...

Baidu unit Qunar files for S$156m US listing

NEW YORK — Qunar.com, a unit of Chinese search engine giant Baidu, has filed for a US$125 million (S$156 million) initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as investor appetite for Chinese listings in the United States rebounds.

An IPO by Qunar, which operates China’s top-ranked travel search engine, would be the biggest listing by a Chinese company in the US since 2011, when concerns over accounting frauds at US-listed Chinese firms doused interest in these companies. Qunar had aimed for a listing in the US last year.

The firm said on Monday it planned to sell American depositary shares and has appointed Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank as lead underwriters.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/baidu-un...us-listing

[opmi]

used Qunar before to book hotels in PRC. It is like a kayak.com. Just referral. dont hold hotel inventory..

[CityFarmer]

Baidu success is partly due to blocking of Google in China, IMO...

Baidu founder overtakes property tycoon as China’s richest

SHANGHAI — Mr Robin Li (picture) surpassed Mr Wang Jianlin as the richest man in China yesterday by US$64 million (S$80.3 million), according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

As the founder of China’s largest Internet search engine Baidu, Mr Li has become the wealthiest individual in the world’s second-biggest economy, 14 days after he took the No 2 spot.

His net worth has climbed by US$4.8 billion (S$6 billion), or 65 per cent, to US$12.23 billion this year as Baidu shares rallied.

Mr Wang, Chairman of closely held real-estate group Dalian Wanda, has seen his fortune rise by US$2.9 billion to US$12.17 billion this year.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/chinaindia/ch...as-richest

[yeokiwi]

Many China IT companies are imitating western IT companies and succeed within their internal market due to great wall of protection.

Facebook+twitter => weibo?
Ebay, amazon => taobao?
Whatsapp => wechat?
Youtube => youku?

Till date, they are really only catering for their own market which is big.

[brattzz]

For a business to be international, it takes more than just a good biz plan and wealth...

Politics definately matters.

[CityFarmer]

The comment came from a stakeholder. Both Alibaba and Baidu benefited from the "innovation" of selling funds with new mean.

This is a trend worth attention, especially so for those vested in China bank, IMO. It might drain money from banking system, thus reducing the income of banks.

IMO, on top of NPLs, another concern of investing in China bank is the increasing competition, not only between banks, but new player(s) into the game. Let's see how the trend ended-up...

Baidu boss calls for more regulation of online funds

BEIJING — Baidu Chief Executive Robin Li has joined the chorus of Chinese government advisers and banking executives calling for more regulation of the country’s rapidly growing Internet finance industry.

Speaking at a meeting of an advisory body to China’s Parliament, Mr Li said on Monday that he saw potential risk in the sale of financial products by Internet companies and that government oversight should be strengthened.

“People in the Internet industry are not financial experts,” Mr Li said on the sidelines of the meeting of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. A Baidu spokesman confirmed the comments.

People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said yesterday the central bank would not crack down on investment funds sold over the Internet but would improve regulation in the sector, reported Xinhua.

The Chinese authorities are looking at creating tighter regulations for such funds, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

At the same time, the sources said the authorities do not want to squelch innovative products that could shake up the country’s sluggish financial system, which many economists say does a poor job serving smaller businesses and individuals.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/baidu-bo...line-funds

[CityFarmer]

The competition among the trio of "New China", is intensifying...

China’s Baidu launches mobile payment and wealth management app

SHANGHAI — Baidu, China’s leading Internet search provider, has launched a mobile payment and wealth management platform after its main domestic rivals launched similar products.

Alibaba, through its mobile payment arm, Alipay, launched Alipay Wallet in January last year, which included a money-market investment product, Yu’e Bao, marketed as a high-yielding substitute for traditional bank deposits.

Tencent followed in August with WeChat Payment, a payment and investment platform linked to its popular WeChat mobile messaging app.

Baidu offers a variety of wealth management products, but the new Baidu wallet app will add a mobile payment function, giving its investors more options for the use of funds.

Traditional banks, fearing the outflow of low-cost deposit funding into online money-market products, have also started rolling out their own money-market products in recent months. REUTERS
http://www.todayonline.com/chinaindia/ch...gement-app

[cyclone]

Microsoft Veteran Will Help Run Chinese Search Giant Baidu

Baidu Inc. has appointed former Microsoft Corp. executive Qi Lu its group president and chief operating officer, granting the software industry veteran oversight over all aspects of the Chinese search giant’s business from sales to technology development.

Lu, an architect of Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella’s strategy for artificial intelligence and bots at Microsoft, will take up his new post with immediate effect, Baidu said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. Every Baidu business unit head will report to Lu, a respected technologist who ran the Office and search groups during his tenure at Microsoft.

Lu now shoulders responsibility for steering Baidu toward its next phase of growth. China’s largest search engine and its billionaire founder, Robin Li, is seeking to refocus on enhancing search with AI and other technologies, as rivals such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. muscle in on its internet-advertising business. 

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...idu-as-coo

[cyclone]

'Uber for trucks' is latest Chinese unicorn with Baidu-led US$156 million funding
Latest capital injection follows US$115m December fundraising, which crowned Huochebang (Truck Alliance) a ‘Unicorn – a private firm valued at US$1b or more

by Meng Jing
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 02 May, 2017, 6:05pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 02 May, 2017, 11:07pm

An offshoot of Baidu, China’s dominant online search engine operator, has led a US$156 million funding round into the country’s leading online trucking platform, as it ramps up its effort to use artificial intelligence to reshape the booming transportation industry.

Truck Alliance, an ‘Uber-type’ service to book trucks, known locally as “Huochebang (貨車幫)”, said on Tuesday it had completed a new round of financing led by Baidu Capital, the firm’s investment arm which focusses on mid- and late-stage deals in the internet sector.

Huochebang was founded in 2014 in southwest China’s Guizhou province and is also backed by Hong Kong-listed Tencent Holdings and private equity firm All-Stars Investment.

It operates by matching vehicles nationally with commodity producers in need of transport.

It also provides follow-up services, including helping find parking lots, and sells GPS and ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) devices for highway transportation, as well as making money from the sale of toll cards and commissions on the card top-ups, as well as helping truckers with financing.

More details in http://www.scmp.com/business/article/209...-led-baidu

[cyclone]

China's Netflix to Seek at Least $8 Billion Value in IPO

By Lulu Yilun Chen
September 26, 2017, 10:11 AM GMT+8

Baidu Inc.’s iQiyi is targeting a U.S. initial public offering as soon as in 2018 that could value China’s most popular Netflix-style streaming video service at more than $8 billion, two people familiar with the matter say.

The company controlled by search giant Baidu is about to kick off negotiations with banks and deal arrangers and is shooting for a valuation of as much as $10 billion, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is private. Baidu wants to continue holding a controlling stake in iQiyi upon the IPO via dual-class shares, the people said. The IPO process however is in its early stages and the final valuation could change.

IQiyi, the only Chinese service that licenses shows from Netflix Inc., needs to build up its war chest as it battles rival platforms run by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Baidu, which is also investing heavily in artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles, needs to buy and create more content to sustain its lead among online video platforms, based on time spent.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...lue-in-ipo