Baidu to Launch New Online Video Venture

Online video is becoming big business, especially in the US and other markets are looking to duplicate the success. Baidu, the company behind China's biggest search engine, is announcing it will get behind a new company to create an online video site aimed at the Chinese market. The company will partner with venture capital investors, though the names are just rumored at this point. The site will offer licensed professional content like TV shows, sporting events and so on. The new company will be led by Mr. Yu Gong, formerly president and COO of China Mobile's 12580 business.

"As China's Internet industry evolves, we have seen increasing demand for high-quality video content on our search platform. By establishing this new company, we will be able to better serve our users and customers with superior content and focused resources," Xuyang Ren, Baidu's vice president of marketing and business development, said.

"I am very excited to work with Mr. Gong, who has strong experience in the Internet industry in China, to grow our new company into a leader in the field through product innovation and a robust network of partnerships with leading content providers in China and globally," he added.

The independent company is of yet unnamed and will partner with content providers and possibly take on other investors. The rumor is that the venture has secured about $60 million in funding with about $10 million coming from Baidu and the rest from outside partners. Venture capital firm Providence Equity Parners, also a Hulu investor, is said to hold an important stake in the new company. Baidu hasn't released any sort of financial details or investor structure. Baidu, which runs the dominant search engine on the Chinese market, also has some interest in online video and holds minority stakes in a couple of Chinese video outfits. China is the biggest online market, roughly one third of the entire Internet population, but the online video market is still rather small.