baidu

Baidu, Inc. is a Chinese multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products and artificial intelligence. Headquartered in Beijing, it operates the Baidu search engine, the leading Chinese-language search platform and a major source of online advertising revenue. The company also offers a range of online services including maps, encyclopedias, forums, cloud computing, and AI-enabled platforms.

Founded in 2000 by Robin Li and Eric Xu, Baidu went public in 2005 on the NASDAQ under the ticker BIDU. It has grown into one of China's largest technology firms, with investments in autonomous driving, cloud computing, and AI research.

Key products and platforms include Baidu Maps, Baike (an online encyclopedia), Tieba (a social forum), Baidu Cloud, DuerOS (voice assistant), and PaddlePaddle (an open-source deep-learning framework). Baidu's Apollo platform coordinates its autonomous driving initiatives and related technologies.

Financial and regulatory context: Baidu generates substantial revenue from online advertising tied to its search and other services. It faces regulatory scrutiny in China related to information security, data privacy, and content control, and like other tech companies in the country, operates under government oversight.