Baidu

Infobox Dotcom company
company_name = Baidu
百度
company_
company_type = Public (Nasdaq|BIDU)
genre =
foundation = Beijing, China, 2000
founder = Robin Li and Eric Xu
location_city = Beijing
location_country = China
location =
locations =
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 $228 million) increase
operating_income = ¥547.15 million (2007) increase
net_income = ¥628.97 million (2007) increase
owner =
num_employees = 3,313 (March 2008)
parent =
divisions =
subsid = Baidu, Inc. (Japan)
company_slogan =
url = [http://www.baidu.com Baidu.com]


caption = Baidu.com screenshot taken in 2007
website_type =
language = Chinese
Japanese (baidu.jp)
advertising = PPC
registration = Optional
launch_date = October 11, 1999
current_status = Active
footnotes =
intl = yes

Baidu (zh-cp|c=|p=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. [cite web| url=http://www.cnanalyst.com/baidu.html| title=Baidu's 57 Products/Services: Introduction and History| publisher=China Analyst (CNAnalyst.com)] As of March 21, 2008, Baidu is ranked 19^th overall in Alexa's internet rankings. [cite web| url=http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=global&lang=none| title=Alexa Web Search - Top 500| accessdate=2008-01-29] In December 2007 Baidu became the first Chinese company to be included in the NASDAQ-100 index. [cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-baidu10dec10,1,7585164.story?ctrack=1&cset=true|title=LA Times, 10 December 2007, "Baidu search yields success in China"]

Baidu provides an index of over 740 million web pages, 80 million images, and 10 million multimedia files. [cite web| url=http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/research/profile.asp?Symbol=BIDU| title=MSN Money - BIDU| publisher=MSN Money| accessdate=2006-05-11] The domain "baidu.com" attracted at least [http://siteanalytics.compete.com/baidu.com?metric=uv 5.5 million visitors] annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.

History

The name of Baidu was inspired by a Song Dynasty poem constructed in "ci" form, written by Xin Qiji in the 12th century. [cite web|url=http://ir.baidu.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=188488&p=irol-homeprofile|title=Baidu website]

ervices

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. [cite web| url=http://www.gadget4boys.com/index.php?page=articles&catid=3&id=20|title=Google's Lookalike is Expanding in China|publisher=Gadget4boys.com|date=23 January 2007]

Baidu has started its own search engine in Japan found at [http://www.baidu.jp 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. [cite web| url=http://www.infoniac.com/hi-tech/china-google-in-japan.html|title=China's Google in Japan|publisher=Infoniac.com|date=March 23 2007]

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 moreChina-based ‘MP3 search engines’ offering deep links to song files for downloads or streaming.” [cite web|url=http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2007/2007_Special_301_Review/asset_upload_file230_11122.pdf|title=2007 Special 301 Report|publisher=Office of the United States Trade Representative|date=30 April 2007]

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%). [cite web|url=http://www.rockyfp.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/brief-guide-to-baidu-whitepaper.pdf|title=China Search Marketing With Baidu Whitepaper |publisher=Rocky Fu's digital marketing blog|date=14 April 2008]

"See: Intellectual property in the People's Republic of China"

Censorship

In compliance with the Internet censorship policies of China, the Chinese language version of Baidu filters material from its search results as proscribed by the government.

ee also

* Baidu Patents

References

External links

* [http://www.baidu.com/ baidu.com]
* [http://www.baidu.jp/ baidu.jp]
* [http://www.asiaing.com/ceos-letter-baidu.com-2006-annual-report.html Robin Li, CEO's Letter]