Search giant Baidu is no longer one of China’s five most valuable companies, as the company struggles to keep up with competitors that encroach further into its primary markets, Bloomberg reports.
Why it matters: Baidu has seen increasing competition from rivals Tencent and Bytedance, which are enticing advertisers and users with their short video and social media apps.
- In May, Baidu reported its first quarterly loss since it listed in 2005.
- The company was previously knocked out of the top three in market value by e-commerce giant JD and lifestyle services company Meituan.
Details: Internet giant NetEase overtook Baidu in market value after posting its earnings last week. Baidu’s share price has fallen by 40% this year, while NetEase, China’s second-largest gaming company, gained 11%.
- Baidu has lost $66 billion in capitalization since May 2018, Bloomberg reported.
- The company is part of the BAT triumvirate, which also includes Alibaba and Tencent. However, Bytedance is quickly taking Baidu’s place in the minds and on the phones of internet users in China.
Context: Baidu has commanded the internet search market in China since Google’s departure in 2010. However, the company is now facing competition from upstart Bytedance, which launched its own search engine this month.
- Baidu has long been criticized for the quality of its search results.
- The company has been accused of promoting results from its own platforms and hosting ads for questionable healthcare services.
- Last month, the company apologized after an employee posted a fake message on its news aggregator in which they claimed to be the father of a girl who went missing and whose body was later found in mid-July.