The search wars are on and the battle field is China. Here are my 5 Reasons why I think Baidu will clobber Google and Yahoo. Followed by 6 more reasons why they may not after all.
1. Baidu has the support of the Chinese government - Google and Yahoo are regularly censored and must abide by strict rules. Baidu knows how to play the censorship game.
2. Baidu has a tradition to uphold - eBay bought bought the largest Chinese auction site at the time and lost market share. Amazon bought the largest online Chinese merchandiser at the time and lost market share. If Google and Yahoo try to buy their way into China (Yahoo already bought into Alibaba) well...
3. Baidu has a loyal base of users - they are the fourth most trafficked site in the world.
4. Baidu knows what its users like - Baidu users want to entertained more than informed. Some 70% of Chinese users are under 30 years of age - single, only children and wanting to be entertained.
5. Baidu has a cool origin to its name - according to The Ledger Baidu gets its name from a Song Dynasty poem written hundreds of years ago that compares the search for a hiding beauty amongst chaotic glamour to the search for one's dream while confronted with many obstacles in life. How cool is that?
Baidu is Chinese. Baidu knows China. Baidu will kick Google and Yahoo's butt at home.
6 reasons why Baidu will get whooped by Google and Yahoo.
1. Baidu's stocks are priced way too high - management is pressing them to continue to grow at an unreasonable pace. The Ledger says Google investors pay abt. $60 for every $1 of profit. Baidu investors pay three times that much.
2. Baidu has legal problems - Baidu allows music sharing. Ah, IP violation. What's new on that front? Baidu says it just offers links...and asks, "What's wrong with that?"
3. Baidu is accused of click fraud...orchestrating a scheme to increase click through and increase ad revenue, an idea Baidu had before Google.
4. Baidu will soon be under attack by Google and the hundreds of million of dollars Google plans to spend.
5. Baidu is already being stormed by Yahoo who has allied with Alibaba.
6. Baidu may not be able to compete with Yahoo and Google on the technical side.
Baidu is likely to get whooped by Google and Yahoo.
What do you think?
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