By Chris Chang, posted Apr 6, 2011 at 3:02 PM, 576 views,

Baidu Looking to Acquire An English Search Engine

According to Marbridge Consulting, Baidu—the most popular search engine in China—may acquire an English-language search engine. This is true, confirmed by Kaiser Kuo, spokesman of Baidu.

Here’s what Kuo told Penn-Olson, a distinguished Asian tech blog, through an email:

“This (acquisition) was something that CEO Robin Li mentioned during an Internet summit in Shenzhen,”

Well, Baidu CEO Robin Li made an appearance at the China IT Leadership Summit held last week, and he informally announced Baidu’s intention to acquire a small-scale English-language search engine company to improve Baidu’s English language search capabilities. Kuo further added,

“We were looking for an English-language search property but weren’t able to find anything at the time. We’ve made clear that we’re developing our search capabilities in multiple languages, and English is among them,”

Here’s a question in front of us: Is Baidu looking to break into the western market? And go head on head with Google? Despite commanding 75% of the search market in China, Baidu is not as popular as Google on the international stage. We all know that Chinese netizens are used to visit Baidu when they need to search something on the Internet. However, westerners will not use Baidu since it’s a Chinese-based search engine. Adopting the English language will potentially give Baidu an opportunity to expand beyond China, especially in neighboring Asian countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea and Vietnam where local languages are still widely used- even in the Internet. Actually, Baidu already started its Japanese search service (www.baidu.jp) in 2007. It is the company’s first regular service outside of China. The site includes a search bar for web pages and image searches, user help and advanced services.

While many westerners may think Baidu is a China clone of Google, Baidu actually has an unique culture. The Chinese Internet search company always follow a nice tactic to work out everything, “copy now, innovate later.” Similar as Google, Baidu has a lot of good features of its own such as MP3 search, digital encyclopedia, and maps. Below is a must-see video from eCorner Stanford back in 2009 where Robin Li explains how the company was able to outperform western Internet giants in China.

If Baidu continues to plan on expanding beyond China, they have one thing to take note. Since the company is located in a country bound by a meddlesome government, the company may meet difficulties on policies while trying to expand and make an appearance in the international stage. Baidu would definitely have to make some adjustments, or maybe they can work something out with Facebook?

As we know, foreign tech companies such as Google and Facebook provide a nice working environment for their employees, so how about Baidu? Below is a video from CNN, featuring a young engineer who joined Baidu right after graduating from one of China’s top universities. He likes Baidu since the company allows him and his co-workers to break free from China’s strict office norms.

Source: TNW Asia