Baidu (百度)

Generated with sparks and insights from 61 sources

Introduction

Baidu, Inc. is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products.
Founded in January 2000 by Robin Li and Eric Xu, Baidu is headquartered in Beijing's Haidian District.
Baidu operates the largest Chinese-language search engine and offers a wide range of other services including Baidu Baike (an online encyclopedia), iQIYI (a video streaming service), and Baidu Tieba (a keyword-based discussion forum).
Baidu's search engine is the most popular in China, with a massive database of Chinese web pages.
The company is also heavily involved in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing.
Baidu is publicly traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol BIDU and on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol 9888.
Baidu's revenue for 2023 was CN¥134.6 billion, with a net income of CN¥20.32 billion.
The company employs approximately 39,800 people as of 2023.

Founding: Baidu was founded on January 18, 2000, by Robin Li and Eric Xu.
Early Development: Robin Li developed the RankDex site-scoring algorithm in 1996, which was a precursor to Baidu's search engine.
IPO: Baidu went public on August 5, 2005, through a variable interest entity based in the Cayman Islands.
NASDAQ-100: In December 2007, Baidu became the first Chinese company to be included in the NASDAQ-100 index.
Partnerships: Baidu has partnered with companies like Sina, Qualcomm, and Snap Inc. for various technological and business ventures.

Baidu Search: The largest Chinese-language search engine.
Baidu Baike: An online encyclopedia similar to Wikipedia.
iQIYI: A popular video streaming service.
Baidu Tieba: A keyword-based discussion forum.
Baidu Maps: A mapping service similar to Google Maps, covering the Greater China region.
Baidu Wangpan: A cloud storage service offering 2 TB of free data storage.
Baidu Translate: An online translation service supporting 200 languages.
Baidu News: Provides links to local, national, and international news.

Revenue: CN¥134.6 billion in 2023.
Operating Income: CN¥21.86 billion in 2023.
Net Income: CN¥20.32 billion in 2023.
Total Assets: CN¥406.8 billion in 2023.
Total Equity: CN¥243.6 billion in 2023.
Market Cap: As of May 2018, Baidu's market cap was US$99 billion.
Stock Listings: Baidu is traded on Nasdaq under BIDU and on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under 9888.

Baidu GBU: Responsible for international products and services.
Products: Includes keyboard apps Simeji and Facemoji Keyboard, content recommendation platform popIn, and augmented reality network OmniAR.
Partnerships: Partnered with Snap Inc. to act as the official ad reseller for Snapchat in Greater China, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore.
Divestment: In 2018, Baidu divested its Global DU business, which now operates independently as DO Global.
International Ventures: Launched a Brazilian version of the search engine, Baidu Busca, in 2014.

Domain Hijacking: In January 2010, Baidu's DNS records were altered, redirecting users to a site claiming to be the Iranian Cyber Army.
Bribery Scandal: In August 2012, three Baidu employees were arrested for accepting bribes to delete forum posts.
Register.com Lawsuit: Baidu sued Register.com for gross negligence after a domain hijacking incident.
Advertising Criticism: Baidu has faced criticism for its pay-for-placement advertising model, which can lead to biased search results.

RankDex Algorithm: Developed by Robin Li in 1996, it was a precursor to Baidu's search engine.
Apollo Project: Launched in 2017, it is a self-driving vehicle platform.
AI Integration: Baidu has increasingly focused on generative AI products during the 2020s.
Ernie Bot: Baidu's ChatGPT-equivalent language model, unveiled in August 2023.
Robocar: In August 2021, Baidu revealed a new Robocar concept capable of Level 5 autonomous driving.