‘China’s Google’ Hits It Big On the NASDAQ

The Chineese search engine company, called Baidu (www.baidu.com, ticker symbol: BIDU) more than quadrupled in its IPO today. The shares traded from a low of $27 and topped $151 at one point during trading. BIDU closed the day at $122.54. While this success is rather exciting, it is most likely attributable to a small share offering- only about 4 million shares were sold here on the NASDAQ.

Baidu makes money in much the same way Google does, by selling text based search advertising. And as if the Google guys were not rich enough already, Google happens to own about 2.6% of Baidu’s stock. While the business models are similar, Baidu is quite small when compared to Google, and probably quite a bit more risky. Baidu must follow Chinese government regulations, so there is always the chance that they may have to pull the plug some day. Unlikely, but still a risk.