Baidu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Baidu 百度 |
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| Type | Public (NASDAQ: BIDU) |
| Founded | Beijing, China, 2000 |
| Founder | Robin Li and Eric Xu |
| Headquarters | Beijing, China |
| Area served | China, Japan |
| Key people | Robin Li (Chair, CEO) Jennifer Li (CFO) Ye Peng (COO) |
| Industry | Internet search |
| Products | Search engine |
| Services | Internet search services |
| Revenue | ¥1.74 billion (2007)(about 16.5648 million US$) ▲ |
| Operating income | ¥547.15 million (2007) ▲ |
| Profit | ¥628.97 million (2007) ▲ |
| Employees | 3,113 (March 2008) |
| Subsidiaries | Baidu, Inc. (Japan) |
| Website | Baidu.com |
| Advertising | PPC |
| Registration | Optional |
| Available in | Chinese Japanese (baidu.jp) |
| Launched | October 11, 1999 |
| Current status | Active |
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Baidu (Chinese: 百度; pinyin: Bǎidù) (NASDAQ: BIDU) is the leading Chinese search engine for websites, audio files, and images. Baidu offers 57 search and community services including an online collaboratively-built encyclopedia (Baidu Baike), and a searchable keyword-based discussion forum.[1] As of March 21, 2008, Baidu is ranked 19th overall in Alexa's internet rankings.[2] In December 2007 Baidu became the first Chinese company to be included in the NASDAQ-100 index.[3]
Baidu provides an index of over 740 million web pages, 80 million images, and 10 million multimedia files.[4] The domain baidu.com attracted at least 5.5 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.
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[edit] History
The name of Baidu was inspired by a Song Dynasty poem constructed in the ci form, written by Xin Qiji in the 12th century.[5]
| “ | Many people have asked about the meaning of our name. 'Baidu' was inspired by a poem written more than 800 years ago during the Song Dynasty. The poem compared the search for a retreating beauty amid chaotic glamour with the search for one's dream while confronted by life's many obstacles. '...hundreds and thousands of times, for her I searched in chaos, suddenly, I turned by chance, to where the lights were waning, and there she stood.' Baidu, whose literal meaning is hundreds of times, represents persistent search for the ideal. | ” |
[edit] Services
Baidu started with a popular music search feature called "MP3 Search" and its comprehensive lists of popular Chinese music based on download numbers. Baidu locates file formats such as MP3, WMA and SWF. The multimedia search feature is mainly used in searches for Chinese pop music. While such works are copyrighted under Chinese law, Baidu claims on its legalese page that linking to these files does not break Chinese law.
Chinese government and industry sources stated that Baidu received a license from Beijing, which allows the search engine to become a fully-fledged news website. Thus Baidu will be able to provide its own reports, besides showing certain results as a search engine. The company is already getting its news department ready. Baidu is the first Chinese search engine to receive such a license.[6]
Baidu has started its own search engine in Japan found at www.baidu.jp; it is the first regular service that the company provides outside of China. It includes a search bar for web page and image searches, user help and advanced services.[7]
Baidu's MP3 Search feature has been criticized by the Office of the United States Trade Representative's Special 301 report stating that “Baidu as the largest of an estimated seven or more China-based ‘MP3 search engines’ offering deep links to song files for downloads or streaming.”[8]
Baidu's brand advertising feature can help the advertisers to show a branded message including images to largely increase brand awareness and click-through rate (up to 75%). [9]
See: Intellectual property in the People's Republic of China
Baidu uses the same "pay-per-click" model for advertising revenues as its main competitor, Google.
[edit] Censorship
In compliance with the Internet censorship policies of China, the Chinese language version of Baidu filters controversial material from its search results.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Baidu's 57 Products/Services: Introduction and History. China Analyst (CNAnalyst.com).
- ^ Alexa Web Search - Top 500. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
- ^ LA Times, 10 December 2007, "Baidu search yields success in China".
- ^ MSN Money - BIDU. MSN Money. Retrieved on 2006-05-11.
- ^ Baidu website.
- ^ Google's Lookalike is Expanding in China. Gadget4boys.com (23 January 2007).
- ^ China's Google in Japan. Infoniac.com (March 23, 2007).
- ^ 2007 Special 301 Report. Office of the United States Trade Representative (30 April 2007).
- ^ China Search Marketing With Baidu Whitepaper. Rocky Fu's digital marketing blog (14 April 2008).
