Baidu Inc.

Baidu, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU and HKEX: 9888) is one of the top technology companies in China.

Talking about technology companies, BAT used to be the acronym that was always referred to in China. But, Baidu has much smaller market cap in recent years. It's been rebuilding its business and now its strength goes well beyond search.

In the field of search, Baidu never lacks challengers.

Considering that the search business is most closely related to the direct needs of users, in recent years, all major Internet companies have focused on the search business while building their own ecology and usage loop.

The recent challenges are ByteDance's Douyin search and Tencent's WeChat search.

According to the latest data, baidu app's monthly active users reached 560 million in March 2021, steadily rising again compared with the end of last year.

Based on its smart search, Baidu is entering more sectors including e-commerce, live streaming, healthcare, etc.

Baidu's core search business once faced a short-term crisis because it missed the general trend of mobile Internet from 2017 to 2019; and, the growth rate of Baidu's core main business search advertising showed a fluctuating downward trend.

2019 was Baidu's year of change. The drastic changes of personnel and organization sent a strong signal of Baidu's "turning around".

After the formal establishment of mobile eco-business group (MEG), SHEN Dou, executive vice president of Baidu group, led the strategic reconstruction of Baidu mobile ecology, with Baidu app as the core, search + newsfeed as the dual engine, relying on Baijiahao content network + smart mini-program framework + landing page tools as the three pillars.

As of March 2021, Baidu app saw 560 million MAU; Baijiahao content network has over 4.2 million creators; and, the number of mini programs reached 660,000 in 271 industries.

Baidu's mobile ecosystem now includes Baidu app, video apps Haokan and iQiyi, social platform Baidu Tieba, and Baidu Maps.