Baidu

Baidu, Inc. (, meaning "hundred times" or "hundred degrees", anglicized ) is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products and artificial intelligence (AI), headquartered in Beijing's Haidian District. It is one of the largest AI and Internet companies in the world. The holding company of the group is incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Baidu was incorporated in January 2000 by Robin Li and Eric Xu. The Baidu search engine is currently the fourth largest website in the Alexa Internet rankings. Baidu has origins in RankDex, an earlier search engine developed by Robin Li in 1996, before he founded Baidu in 2000.
Baidu offers various services, including a Chinese search engine, as well as a mapping service called Baidu Maps. Baidu offers about 57 search and community services, such as Baidu Baike (an online encyclopedia), Baidu Wangpan (a cloud storage service), and Baidu Tieba (a keyword-based discussion forum).
Baidu Global Business Unit (GBU) is responsible for Baidu's international products and services for markets outside of China. Baidu GBU's product portfolio includes keyboard apps Simeji and Facemoji Keyboard, content recommendation platform popIn, augmented reality network OmniAR, Japanese smart projector popIn Aladdin, and ad platform MediaGo, which is focused on Chinese advertisers looking to reach overseas users. In 2017, Baidu GBU entered into a partnership with Snap Inc. to act as the company's official ad reseller for Snapchat in Greater China, South Korea, Japan and Singapore. The partnership was extended in 2019.
In 2018, Baidu divested the "Global DU business" portion of its overseas business, which developed a series of utility apps including ES File Explorer, DU Caller, Mobojoy, Photo Wonder and DU Recorder, etc. This business now operates independently of Baidu under the name DO Global.
Baidu has the second largest search engine in the world, and held a 76.05% market share in China's search engine market. In December 2007, Baidu became the first Chinese company to be included in the NASDAQ-100 index. As of May 2018, Baidu's market cap rose to US$99 billion. In October 2018, Baidu became the first Chinese firm to join the United States-based computer ethics consortium Partnership on AI.
History.
Early development.
In 1994, Robin Li (Li Yanhong, 李彦宏) joined IDD Information Services, a New Jersey division of Dow Jones and Company, where he helped develop software for the online edition of "The Wall Street Journal". He also worked on developing better algorithms for search engines and remained at IDD Information Services from May 1994 to June 1997.
In 1996, while at IDD, Li developed the RankDex site-scoring algorithm for search engines results page ranking and received a US patent for the technology. Launched in 1996, RankDex was the first search engine that used hyperlinks to measure the quality of websites it was indexing. Li referred to his search mechanism as "link analysis," which involved ranking the popularity of a web site based on how many other sites had linked to it. It predated the similar PageRank algorithm used by Google two years later in 1998; Google founder Larry Page referenced Li's work as a citation in some of his U.S. patents for PageRank. Li later used his RankDex technology for the Baidu search engine.
Baidu was incorporated on January 18, 2000 by Robin Li and Eric Xu. In 2001, Baidu allowed advertisers to bid for ad space and then pay Baidu every time a customer clicked on an ad, predating Google's approach to advertising. In 2003, Baidu launched a news search engine and picture search engine, adopting a special identification technology capable of identifying and grouping the articles.
Baidu went public on Wall Street through a variable interest entity (VIE) based in the Cayman Islands on August 5, 2005.
On July 31, 2012, Baidu announced they would team up with Sina to provide mobile search results.
On November 18, 2012, Baidu announced that they would be partnering with Qualcomm to offer free cloud storage to Android users with Snapdragon processors.
On August 2, 2013, Baidu launched its Personal Assistant app, designed to help CEOs, managers and the white-collar workers manage their business relationships.
On May 16, 2014, Baidu appointed Dr. Andrew Ng as chief scientist. Dr. Ng will lead Baidu Research in Silicon Valley and Beijing.
On July 18, 2014, the company launched a Brazilian version of the search engine, "Baidu Busca".
On October 9, 2014, Baidu announced acquisition of Brazilian local e-commerce site Peixe Urbano.
In April 2017, Baidu announced the launch of its Apollo project (Apolong), a self-driving vehicle platform in a bid to help drive the development of autonomous cars including vehicle platform, hardware platform, open source software platform and cloud data services. Baidu plans to launch this project in July 2017, before gradually introducing fully autonomous driving capabilities on highways and open city roads by 2020. In September 2017, Baidu launched a $1.5 billion autonomous driving fund to invest in as many as 100 autonomous driving projects over the ensuing three years. At the same time, Apollo open source software version 1.5 was also launched. 
In June 2017, Baidu partnered with Continental and Bosch, auto industry suppliers, on automated driving and connected cars.
In September 2017, Baidu has rolled out a new portable talking translator that can listen and speak in several different languages. Smaller than a typical smartphone, the 140-gram translation device can also be used as a portable Wi-Fi router and is able to operate on networks in 80 countries, it is still under development currently. Baidu will also be inserting artificial intelligence (AI) technology into smartphones, through its deep learning platform. At the same period, it has also led a joint investment of US$12 billion with Alibaba Group, Tencent, JD.com and Didi Chuxing, acquiring 35% of China Unicom's stakes.
In October 2017, According to The Wall Street Journal, Baidu would launch self-driving buses in China in 2018. In the same month, Baidu also announced its first annual Baidu World technology conference ("Bring AI to Life") would be held and live-streamed on November 16, 2017 at China World Summit Wing and Kerry Hotel, bringing together Baidu executives, employees, partners, developers, and media to discuss the company's mission and strategy, technology breakthroughs, new product developments, as well as its open artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem.
Domain name redirection attack.
On January 12, 2010, Baidu.com's DNS records in the United States were altered such that browsers to baidu.com were redirected to a website purporting to be the Iranian Cyber Army, thought to be behind the attack on Twitter during the 2009 Iranian election protests, making the proper site unusable for four hours. Internet users were met with a page saying "This site has been attacked by Iranian Cyber Army". Chinese hackers later responded by attacking Iranian websites and leaving messages.
Baidu later launched legal action against Register.com for gross negligence after it was revealed that Register.com's technical support staff changed the email address for Baidu.com on the request of an unnamed individual, despite failing security verification procedures. Once the address had been changed, the individual was able to use the forgotten password feature to have Baidu's domain passwords sent directly to them, allowing them to accomplish the domain hijacking. The lawsuit was settled out of court under undisclosed terms after Register.com issues an apology.
Baidu workers arrested.
On August 6, 2012, the BBC reported that three employees of Baidu were arrested on suspicion that they accepted bribes. The bribes were allegedly paid for deleting posts from the forum service. Four people were fired in connection with these arrests.
91 Wireless acquisition.
On July 16, 2013, Baidu announced its intention to purchase 91 Wireless from NetDragon. 91 Wireless is best known for its app store, but it has been reported that the app store faces piracy and other legal issues. On August 14, 2013, Baidu announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Baidu (Hong Kong) Limited has signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire 91 Wireless Web-soft Limited from NetDragon Web-soft Inc. for $1.85 billion in what was reported to be the biggest deal ever in China's IT sector.
Name.
The name "Baidu" () literally means "a hundred times", or alternatively, "countless times". It is a quote from the last line of Xin Qiji's () classical poem "Green Jade Table in The Lantern Festival" () saying: "Having searched hundreds of times in the crowd, suddenly turning back, he is there in the dimmest candlelight." ()
Services.
Baidu offers several services to locate information, products and services using Chinese-language search terms, such as, search by Chinese phonetics, advanced search, snapshots, spell checker, stock quotes, news, knows, postbar, images, video and space information, and weather, train and flight schedules and other local information. The user-agent string of Baidu search engine is "Baiduspider".
Advertisements.
Baidu's primary advertising product is called Baidu Tuiguang and is similar to Google Ads and AdSense. It is a pay per click advertising platform that allows advertisers to have their ads shown in Baidu search results pages and on other websites that are part of Baidu Union. However, Baidu's search results are also based on payments by advertisers. This has prompted criticism and skepticism among Chinese users, with People's daily commenting in 2018 on issues regarding reliability of Baidu results. Often as many as the first two pages of search results tend to be paid advertisers.
Baidu sells its advertising products via a network of resellers. Baidu's web administrative tools are all in Chinese, which makes it tough for non-Chinese speakers to use. Recently, a third-party company began to develop a tool with an English-language interface for Baidu advertising programs. Paid advertising can only be used by advertisers with a registered business address either in China or in a list of other East Asian countries.
Pay for placement (P4P).
Baidu focuses on generating revenues primarily from online marketing services. Baidu's pay for placement (P4P) platform enables its customers to reach users who search for information related to their products or services. Customers use automated online tools to create text-based descriptions of their web pages and bid on keywords that trigger the display of their webpage information and link. Baidu's P4P platform features an automated online sign-up process that customers use to activate their accounts at any time. The P4P platform is an online marketplace that introduces Internet search users to customers who bid for priority placement in the search results. Baidu also uses third-party distributors to sell some of its online marketing services to end customers and offers discounts to these distributors in consideration of their services.
Baidu offers certain consultative services, such as keyword suggestions, account management and performance reporting. Baidu suggests synonyms and associated phrases to use as keywords or text in search listings. These suggestions can improve clickthrough rates of the customer's listing and increase the likelihood that a user will enter into a transaction with the customer. Baidu also provides online daily reports of the number of clickthroughs, clicked keywords and the total costs incurred, as well as statistical reports organized by geographic region. However, this too has invited criticism amongst Chinese internet users.
ProTheme.
Baidu offers ProTheme services to some of its Baidu Union members, which enable these members to display on their properties its customers' promotional links that are relevant to the subject and content of such members' properties. Baidu generates revenues from ProTheme services based on the number of clicks on its customers' links and share the revenues with its Baidu Union members in accordance with pre-agreed terms. Baidu's fixed-ranking services allow customers to display query-sensitive text links at a designated location on its search results pages. Its Targetizement services enable customers to reach their targeted Internet users by displaying their advertisements only when their targeted Internet users browse Baidu's certain Web pages.
Baidu TV.
Baidu operates its advertising service, Baidu TV, in partnership with Ads it! Media Corporation, an online advertising agency and technology company. Baidu TV provides advertisers access to the websites of its Baidu Union members, allowing advertisers to choose Websites on which they post their video advertisements with the aid of its advertisement targeting and matching system. It also offers a brand advertising service, Brand-Link. In June 2008, Baidu launched My Marketing Center, a customized platform integrating industry information, market trends and business, and industry news and reports to assist existing customers in their sales and marketing efforts. Other forms of its online advertising services allow customers to display query sensitive and non-query sensitive advertisements on its websites, including graphical advertisements.
Baidu Union.
Baidu Union consists of several third-party websites and software applications. Union members incorporate a Baidu search box or toolbar and match its sponsored links with the content on their properties. Their users can conduct search via the Baidu search box or toolbar and can click the sponsored links located on their properties. Baidu has also launched programs through which it displays the online advertising of its customers on Baidu Union websites, and share the fees generated by these advertisements with the owners of these Baidu Union websites. As of May 2011, there were 230,000 partner websites that displayed Baidu Union ads on their websites.
Competition.
Baidu competes with Google Search, 360 Search (www.so.com), Sogou Search (www.sogou.com), Yahoo! China, Microsoft's Bing and MSN Messenger, Sina, NetEase's Youdao, Tencent's Soso.com and PaiPai, Alibaba's Taobao, TOM Online, and EachNet.
Baidu is the most used search engine in China, controlling 76.05 percent of China's market share. The number of Internet users in China had reached 705 million by the end of 2015, according to a report by the internetlivestats.com.
In an August 2010 "Wall Street Journal" article, Baidu played down its benefit from Google's having moved its China search service to Hong Kong, but Baidu's share of revenue in China's search-advertising market grew six percentage points in the second quarter to 70%, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.
It is also evident that Baidu is attempting to enter the Internet social network market. , it is discussing the possibility of working with Facebook, which would lead to a Chinese version of the international social network, managed by Baidu. This plan, if executed, would face off Baidu with competition from the three popular Chinese social networks Qzone, Renren and Kaixin001 as well as induce rivalry with instant-messaging giant, Tencent QQ.
On February 22, 2012, Hudong submitted a complaint to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce asking for a review of the behavior of Baidu, accusing it of being monopolistic.
By August 2014, Baidu's search market share in China has dropped to 56.3%, where Qihoo 360, its closest competitor who has rebranded its search engine as so.com, has increased its market share to 29.0%, according to report from CNZZ.com.
In February 2015, Baidu was alleged to use anticompetitive tactics in Brazil against the Brazilian online security firm PSafe and Qihoo 360 (the largest investor of PSafe).
In an ongoing competition in AI natural language processing called General Language Understanding Evaluation, otherwise known as GLUE, Baidu took a lead over Microsoft and Google in December 2019.
Research and patents.
Baidu has started to invest in [[deep learning]] research and is integrating new deep learning technology into some of its apps and products, including Phoenix Nest. Phoenix Nest is Baidu's ad-bidding platform.
In April 2012 Baidu JDC long live applied for a patent for its "DNA copyright recognition" technology. This technology automatically scans files that are uploaded by Internet users, and recognizes and filters out content that may violate copyright law. This allows Baidu to offer an infringement-free platform.
Baidu has applied for a utility patent in the [[United Kingdom|UK]], for its proprietary site-wise search technology which is currently available in China.
Baidu has more than 7,000 published AI patent applications in China, the highest in the country. The AI open platform Baidu Brain has made available more than 250 core AI capabilities to over 1.9 million developers, while PaddlePaddle, the largest open-source deep learning platform in China, services 84,000 enterprises. Industries throughout China are using the PaddlePaddle platform to create specialized applications for their sectors, from the automotive industry's acceleration of autonomous vehicles to the health-care industry's applications for fighting COVID-19.
Censorship.
According to the "[[China Digital Times]]", Baidu has a long history of being the most active and restrictive online censor in the search arena. Documents leaked in April 2009 from an employee in Baidu's internal monitoring and censorship department show a long list of blocked websites and censored topics on Baidu search.
In May 2011, activists sued Baidu in the United States for violating the U.S. Constitution by the censorship it conducts in accord with the demand of the Chinese government. A U.S. judge has ruled that the Chinese search engine Baidu has the right to block pro-democracy works from its query results under [[freedom of speech]] rights, dismissing a lawsuit that sought to punish the company for Internet censorship.
In 2017, Baidu began coordinating with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security as well as 372 Internet police departments to detect information related to "anti-government rumors" and then flooding "Baidu-linked web sites, news sites and devices with alerts dispelling the so-called misinformation." This was done using natural language processing, big data and artificial intelligence.
As part of the [[COVID-19 pandemic|coronavirus outbreak]], Chinese regulators instructed Baidu, along with other Internet companies, to "conduct special supervision" on news and information related to the [[Coronavirus disease 2019|virus]]. 
Controversies.
Death of Wei Zexi.
In May 2016, Baidu's P4P search results reportedly caused the death of a student who tried an experimental cancer therapy he found online. The 21-year-old college student was named Wèi Zéxī (魏则西), who studied in [[Xidian University]]. Wei was diagnosed with [[synovial sarcoma]], a rare form of cancer. He found the Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps (武警北京市总队第二医院) through the search engine Baidu, on which the hospital had been promoting itself. The treatment proved unsuccessful and Wèi passed away in April 2016.
After Wei's family spent around 200,000 yuan (around US$31,150) for treatment in the hospital, Wei Zexi died on April 12, 2016. The incident triggered massive online discussions after Wei's death. On May 2, 2016, [[Cyberspace Administration of China]] (CAC), the top watchdog for China's Internet space, dispatched a team of investigators to Baidu. The case is still ongoing. One report claimed medical advertising makes up for 30% of Baidu's ad revenue, much of which comes from for-profit hospitals that belong to the "Putian Network", a collection of hospitals across the country founded by medical entrepreneurs associated with the [[Putian]] region of Fujian province. The investigation led Chinese regulators to impose several restrictions on Baidu, including adding disclaimers to promotional content and establishing channels for complaints about Baidu services. In addition, Baidu's search function now largely directs users to contents published on platforms under Baidu's control, leading Chinese media scholar Fang Kecheng to proclaim that "Search engine Baidu is dead". 
Commercialization of Tieba.
Baidu sold the hemophilia online community, one of the communities of [[Baidu Tieba|Tieba]], to unqualified hospitals. In January 2016, Baidu announced that it will stop selling all of its illness-related Tieba.
DO Global subsidiary ad-fraud in downloaded apps.
On 20 April 2019, it was reported that several applications for [[Android (operating system)|Android]] devices developed by the subsidiary company, DO Global (formerly DU Group), were surreptitiously running revenue enhancing background programs on user devices since at least 2016. These programs, part of six known applications developed by the company, and downloaded hundreds of millions times, were [[Confused deputy problem|clicking on internet ads]] – even when the devices were idle, and unbeknownst to [[end users]], in order to increase [[Pay-per-click|revenue generated by "clicks"]]. Just one of the apps, all of which were available on Google Play Store, had been downloaded 50 million times alone and carried a user rating of 4.5 stars by tens of thousands evaluators.
Google banned DO Global and more than 100 of its apps from the [[Google Play Store]] on April 26, 2019. DO Global was also banned from [[AdMob|Google's AdMob]] Network. Apps from another developer, ES Global, including the [[ES File Explorer]], that were owned by DO Global were banned from the Play Store and the account was suspended.
Blocked in India.
In August 2020, following the [[2020 China–India skirmishes]], Baidu along with other Chinese websites, were banned or blocked in India for national security reasons.
External links.
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[[Category:Internet search engines]]
[[Category:Online companies of China]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 2000]]
[[Category:Companies in the NASDAQ-100]]
[[Category:Science and technology in the People's Republic of China]]
[[Category:Software companies of China]]
[[Category:Multinational companies headquartered in China]]
[[Category:Companies listed on the Nasdaq]]
[[Category:Notorious markets]]
[[Category:Chinese brands]]
[[Category:2000 establishments in China]]
[[Category:Offshore companies in the Cayman Islands]]
[[Category:Electric vehicle manufacturers of China]]