Baidu, Inc. is a China-based company with several subsidiaries and is known as the Google of China. The company provides a range of products and services accessible through mobile devices, PCs, and other smart or connected devices. The company offers search and other services on its Baidu platform, which can connect users to relevant information online, including Web pages, news, images, documents, multimedia files, and services through links provided on its Website, apps, and skills store, etc. Baidu is also known for its question-and-answer unrestricted area, where visitors can post queries and questions, and receive an answer from Baidu related to any governmental, enterprise, and professional sector.
The company is engaged in providing Internet-related services, entertainment, products, and artificial intelligence. Baidu, Inc. was the world’s second-largest online and mobile commerce company in terms of product purchase and sale volumes in 2018.
Revenues generated from operations in China accounted for approximately 98%, 98%, and 98% of the company’s total revenues in 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively.
Baidu involves two segments namely iQIYI and Baidu Core:
Baidu Core:
New AI Businesses (Baidu Cloud, Apollo, DuerOS,) Partners of Search and Feed (Baidu Union partners, Baijiahao, or BJH, Other Partners), Products and Services for Customers (P4P., Non-P4P), Baidu Core Search and Feed Products and Services for User (Baidu App, Baidu Search, Baidu Feed, Haokan, Quanmin, Baidu Post Bar, Baidu Knows, Baidu Encyclopedia, Baidu Maps, Baidu Input Method Editor, or Baidu IME, Overseas Products)
Baidu App: Baidu App enables access to short videos, smart mini-programs, improved feed display, enhanced voice input, text-to-speech, and augmented reality search to better cater to users of mobile devices.
Baidu Search: Baidu search provides services such as additional text inputs, visual search, and augmented reality search, and users can also conduct AI-powered voice search. Voice search adds speech recognition and search technologies to enhance the user experience.
Baidu Feed: Baidu Feed is a product within Baidu App that provides users with a personalized timeline based on their demographics and interests.
Haokan: Haokan is a short video app, which offers a variety of user-generated and professionally produced content, often in coordination with multiple platform networks. Haokan allows users to upload, view, search, rate, share, favorite, comment, and follow.
Quanmin: Quanmin is a flash video app to create and share short videos of dance, musicals, comedy, lip-sync, acting, and live videos, usually less than a minute duration, with the following orientation with a special effect like adding some filters and stickers.
Baidu Post Bar: Baidu Post Bar is a social media platform that builds online communities based on topical interests. Baidu Post Bar draws new users through close integration with search and user-generated content and has been a popular platform for celebrity fans, online game players, and online novel readers to build communities for topical discussions, especially about current cultural trends.
Baidu Maps: Baidu Maps provides various services regarding Maps such as navigation, locations, intelligent routing and voice assistant functionality, and multi-road conversation. Baidu Maps collects displaying route timing and estimated costs available travel options.
Baidu Encyclopedia: Baidu encyclopedia has some features namely a digital museum, high-quality columns, and intangible cultural heritage.
Baidu’s total revenue reached 28.1 billion RMB(USD 3929 million) in Q3 2019 including the revenue of Baidu core, which is 21 billion RMB(USD 2939 million)
Baidu Products and Services for Customers:
Baidu services include two services such as P4P (pay for performance) services and non-P4P services. P4P paid service when a user went on Baidu’s website and non-P4P service means the user pays Baidu on the basis of the time duration which the user spent on Baidu’s research page.
P4P: Pay for performance (P4P) services allow customers and offers paid sponsored link to search for information related to Baidu’s services and products.
Non-P4P: Non-pay for performance (P4P) services provide display-based marketing services. Some other online marketing services are based on performance criteria other than cost per click.
Partners of Search and Feed: Baidu has many business partners, which helps Baidu to create opportunities to cooperate with these business partners in research and development and business operations and establish long-term business relationships.
Baidu Union partners: Baidu union involves of different third-party websites and mobile apps. Baidu matches customers’ promotional links to the properties of Baidu Union partners. Baidu allows their Baidu union partners to offer high-quality, significant search results to their users without gaining the cost of development and maintenance for progressive search abilities.
Baijiahao or BJH: Baidu’s network of 1.9 million content provider accounts, aggregates news live videos, articles, photos, short videos, and augmented reality clips from multiple channel networks (MCNs), and media outlets.
Baidu’s Partners: Baidu allow a huge pool of content providers to contribute a broad range of content and resources on their platform, and to provide a rich, valuable content ecosystem to our users. Company providers some content of MCNs, app and smart mini program developers, media outlets, professional content publishers, curators, video and other content copyright holders, and brands and businesses that offer various online contents on our platform.
- iQIYI
iQIYI is an innovative market-leading online entertainment service provider in China. iQIYI’s platform features original content, as well as a comprehensive selection of professionally formed content, partner-generated content or PPC, or user-generated content, PGC, and UGC.
Baidu Inc Professionally Produced Content (PPC):
Original content: iQIYI’s original content consists of high-quality content produced in-house and those produced in collaboration with third parties. iQIYI obtains the intellectual property rights through production, adaptation, or purchase from third parties, while the partners, typically established entertainment production companies, are responsible for content development and production.
Licensed content: iQIYI provides users with a curated selection of high-quality PPC from third parties. iQIYI licenses video content typically at fixed rates for a specified term and pays to license fees generally in installments upon signing of the contacts and during the licenses period.
PGC and UGC: iQIYI cooperates with a large number of selected partners to supplement its video content portfolio with PGC, and incentivizes them to submit high-quality content through our revenue-sharing mechanism. PGC expands iQIYI’s video collection to cover long-tail content to capture a broader user base.
Products
Web Search: Baidu helps for the growth of the mobile Internet, Baidu web search has accomplished the transformation from PC to mobile, and the association between people and information extends to connect services and people
Baidu Maps: Baidu mapping services provides desktop and mobile web service and offers various applications such as street view, satellite imagery, and street maps. Baidu mapping is used for travel-related services including intelligent navigation, intelligent route planning, and real-time road conditions.
Baidu Map (client): Baidu App is a mobile phone search with information client with 700 million users, combined with search function and intelligent information recommendation, relying on Baidu image, Baidu webpage, Baidu know, Baidu Encyclopaedia, Baidu news Baidu map, Baidu Music, Baidu video and additional professional vertical channels “something to search, nothing to look at”, to provide users with more rich and practical functions and services.
Services
Baidu Post Bar: Post Bar is based on a keyword theme communication community. The yearbook of the bar includes entertainment stars, social, life, sports, regional, enterprises, education, and game.
Baidu Encyclopaedia: This is a free and open online platform designed to generate an information collection that covers various areas of knowledge, especially in China.
Baidu Library: Baidu Library is a knowledge platform generated by Baidu for users to share documents online. Baidu library is the largest open platform for Internet learning. The users can read, download and upload documents online on this platform.
Good-looking video: The good-looking video platform has an exclusive short video content source, which covers all kinds of high-quality video content such as funny, music, film, entertainment, games, life, essay, military, automobile, news, etc.
Small Car OS: This is a complete artificial intelligent car networking system with a face vector that includes three characteristics such as open, complete, and multi-mode. This includes large-screen intelligent car machines, LCD instrument panels, streaming intelligent rear-view mirrors, and small cars.
Baidu Inc car networking: Baidu Car Network is the development result of Apollo. It is the builder and core exporter of Baidu AI’s enabling scene. Naidu car networking is the basic component of Baidu’s artificial intelligence strategy. It has some leading primary functions such as driver monitoring, voice semantics, vehicle information security, multi-mode interaction and accelerating the landing of products in the field of artificial smart cars, and providing a full range of vehicle networking ecosystems and services.
Baidu Inc Mobile Assistant: This is a reliable resource platform for Android mobile phones. It has various applications such as wallpaper resources and games to help users to get accurate search, download, and manage easily massive resources.
Baidu network disk: Baidu launched this is a cloud storage service. this not only provides users with free storage space, but also synchronizes and manages videos, photos, contacts, documents, and other data between PC clients and mobile devices. This service also supports creating groups, adding friends, and sharing them anywhere, anytime.
Baidu Inc Smart Cloud: Baidu’s intelligent cloud computing service platform for enterprises and developers, as the carrier and source of Baidu AI strategy, Baidu intelligent cloud is the cloud of Baidu brain, carrying Baidu brain 150 + AI capabilities, and providing technology for Apollo and DuerOS support.
Baidu security: This is a leading security brand under the umbrella of Baidu and is based on AI and big data. It is the summary and refinement of Baidu’s 18 years of best practices in Internet security. Baidu security involves five major matrixes namely mobile security, AI security, data security, business security, and cloud security.
Apolong: Apolong is a driving system of Baidu’s Apollo autonomous, this can complete self-driving operations namely swerve, automatic transshipment, and obstacle avoidance. Apolong will primarily be put to use in last-mile travel scenarios in airports, tourist spots, and other areas.
Baidu declared the latest upgrade to Apollo – Apollo 3.0 – to better support autonomous driving in geo-fenced areas. Apolong, which has 14 people, is ready to take to the roads in overseas markets, targeting Japan as a first destination.
Baidu Inc Background History of the Company:
1994: From 1994-1997 Robin Li worked on developing better algorithms for search engines and continued at IDD information services.
1996: Li developed the RankDex site-scoring algorithm for search engine results and received a US patent for the technology.
2000: Company was co-founded by Internet inventor Robin Li, originator of visionary search engine technology RankDex, which is a method of hyperlink analysis.
2001: Robin Li decided to make his own search engine for the mass population.
2003: Company launched a picture search engine, and news search engine and implemented a special identification technology that is capable of identifying and grouping the articles.
2005: Baidu’s share went from 27 dollars to 122 dollars, valuing the company at more than 4 billion dollars.
2012: Company announced an association with Sina to provide mobile search results.
2013: Baidu launched its Personal Assistant app, designed to help CEOs, managers and white-collar workers manage their business relationships.
2014: the company launched Baidu Busca which is a Brazilian version of the search engine
2017: Baidu would be launching a self-driving bus in China the following year
Baidu Inc Some Recent Milestones:
2000: Baidu Inc was co-founded by Robin Li
2005: Baidu completed its initial public offering on NASDAQ under the symbol “BIDU”
2009: In April 2009, Baidu launched an online marketing system which is called phoenix Nest.
2010: In February 2010, Company established a new Qiyi company also known as iQiyi, which is an online video platform through a joint venture with providence equity partners.
2011: In July 2011, Baidu Inc acquired a large stake in Qunar for US$306 million
2012: In, November 2012, Baidu acquired a controlling interest in the iQiyi company.
2013: In October 2013, Company acquired 100% interest in 91 Wireless from NetDragon for US$1.9 billion. In May Company acquired the online video business of PPS for US$370 million, and merged PPS with Baidu’s subsidiary video platform iQiyi in the same year.
2014: In May 2014, Company launched Baidu Takeout Delivery. In April Baidu launched Baidu Wallet in the same year.
2015: In December 2015, the Baidu map completed 10 years, and monthly active users reached 302 million. In March, the mobile revenue of Baidu reached 50% of total revenue in the same year.
2016: In April, Baidu Encyclopedia celebrates its 10th anniversary.
2018 Financial Highlights
- Baidu Inc is working with the Hainan province to broaden the adoption of blockchain by offering XuperChain, Baidu’s blockchain technology, to a wide range of industries. XuperChain currently processes more than 55,000 transactions per second, far exceeding the industry average.
- Baidu is working with the Hainan province to broaden the adoption of blockchain by offering XuperChain and working with the Beijing Internet Court to develop an electronic-evidence platform using XuperChain.
- Baidu Inc announced the launch of its smart mini-program, which allows mobile apps in the form of a mini-program to directly provide users with a seamless native-app experience through the Baidu App and other major apps in its network, bypassing the additional step of an app download.
- Baidu upgraded its AI-powered ad monitoring system, which can now remove bad ads at a rate of up to 4,500 ads per minute.
- Baidu Inc released DuerOS v3.0, which features an improved interactive user experience, enriched content ecosystem, and upgraded turn-key solutions for the DuerOS Intelligent Device Platform.
- Baidu Announces Proposed Debt Offering.
What’s new in 2019?
- The government of China starts to develop its own search engine in collaboration with China Mobile and the press agency Xinhua.
- The value of Baidu is more than 40 billion dollars, and all the local competitors are dwarfed by the shining data of Baidu.
Fun facts:
- In July 2019, Baidu’s market share was 0.74 percent of the global search market.
- As of September 2019, Baidu App has 189 million daily, active users
- In September 2019, Baidu’s new network increased to 2.4 million publisher accounts
- As of September 2019, Baidu smart mini program’s monthly active users are 290 million
- As of September 2019, over 280 million users have used Baidu Map’s voice feature
- In September 2019, DuerOS monthly voice queries surpassed 4.2 billion
- As of September 2019, the DuerOS skills store offers over 3200 skills in a wide range of genres
- As of September 2019, there are 105.8 million iQIYI subscribers
- In September 2019, Baidu AI has helped 7900 missing persons to reunite with their families
- In September 2019, 300 Chinese charitable organizations have joined Baidu’s charity platform
- Baidu is the largest search engine in China
- Baidu builds driverless cars and sells bikes
