Baidu was the Chinese search engine that went public on the NASDAQ in 2005.
Founded in Beijing in 2000 by Robin Li and Eric Xu, Baidu launched its search engine in 2001. Its name comes from a classical Chinese poem by Xin Qiji, while its paw-print logo evokes tracking a search trail. The company initially built search technology for Chinese-language users and rapidly expanded into services such as forums, maps, music search and online advertising.
Baidu’s American IPO took place on August 5, 2005, through a Cayman Islands variable-interest entity, a structure commonly used by Chinese companies listing overseas. The shares were priced at $27 and soared on their first trading day, drawing major attention to China’s internet sector.
A common mix-up is confusing Baidu with Alibaba or Tencent. All three became major Chinese technology companies, but Alibaba is chiefly associated with e-commerce and cloud services, while Tencent is known for messaging, gaming and digital platforms. Baidu’s original identity was search.