“Baidu Inc. (BIDU), owner of China’s most- popular search engine, started displaying links to tweets on microblogs run by Sina Corp. (SINA) and Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700), broadening its services for social-networking users.
Users will also be able to search for posts on the microblogs of NetEase.com Inc. (NTES) andSohu.com Inc. (SOHU), Kaiser Kuo, a spokesman at Baidu, said in an e-mail today. He declined to disclose the commercial arrangements between the companies.
Baidu, which handles more than 80 percent of search-engine queries in China, is boosting spending to offer services targeted at social-networking, online travel and e-commerce users in the world’s biggest Internet market. Sina, based in Shanghai, is the local industry leader for microblogging services, according to BOCOM International. Such services are known as Weibo in Chinese,
“Weibo is popular among mobile-phone users, so this will help Baidu’s mobile business,” said Kelvin Ho, who rates Baidu “buy” at Yuanta Securities in Hong Kong. “Social networking is an area where Baidu is working on.”
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