Google Inc. announced on Thursday that it has sold its 2.6
percent stake in Baidu.com Inc., operator of China's most popular
search engine, so as to focus on its own China Site.
Google, which in January released a version of its search engine
for China, bought the stake in Baidu for US$5 million ars in June
2004, more than a year before the Chinese company's initial public
offering last August.
The 749,625-share stake would have been worth US$63.3 million
based on Baidu's closing price Wednesday.
With 111 million web users, China is the world's second-biggest
Internet market. That number is expected to reach 232 million by
2010, according to market researcher iResearch.
"It looks like Google and Baidu.com will each attack the Chinese
market independently," said Steve Weinstein, an analyst at Pacific
Crest Securities in Portland, Ore. "Both have done a good job to
date to gain share in China and hold off competitors."
Google had disclosed in a June 20 regulatory filing that it
planned to sell the Baidu stake.
Shares of Google fell US$2.18 on Thursday to US$399.95 after
falling 3.6 percent this year. Baidu's US-traded shares fell
US$4.20 to US$80.20 after a27-percent rise this year.?
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(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2006)
