The top Chinese language search engine company Baidu.com, Inc., among the most used search Web sites in the world, will offer a new internally-developed Web instant messaging service to be called "Baidu Hi," the Beijing-based company announced Friday in a statement, as it seeks to provide competition to similar services such as Yahoo and MSN. Baidu said that its Baidu Hi instant messaging service has been undergoing testing over the past year and that employees were presently being added to ready the service for launch and continued development.

Looking To Top China Instant Messaging Market

Baidu, sometimes referred to as China's version of Mountain View, California-based search leader Google, has seen growth achieved by no other Chinese high tech company before, and said Friday that it hopes to become a successful player in the growing instant messaging market in China. "The Internet is playing an increasingly important role in people's lives in China, and we are
constantly looking for ways to bring more convenience and functionality to our users," said Haoyu Shen, Baidu's vice president of business operations in the Friday statement. "With Baidu's strengths in creating online communities, and with our suite of popular products such as Baidu Knows, Baidu Post Bar and Baidu Space, we are confident that Baidu Hi will become a strong competitor in
China's IM market," Shen added, refering to the firms knowledge-based search products. Baidu Knows was launched in June 2005 and quickly became the top so-called knowledge site in China, the company said.

Research on Baidu Hi has been done internally at the firm, as have all design and testing functions, Baidu said. During the third quarter of 2007 Baidu made a net profit of over $24 million, a 113.2 percent gain, and led all search engines in China, garnering 60.5 percent of the market during the quarter, followed by Google's 23.7 percent and Yahoo's 10.4 percent, according to Web traffic analysis firm Analysys International.

CEO Lost To Tragic Accident In December

On December 27, 2007 Baidu lost its chief financial officer Shawn Wang, who died in an accident while on vacation during the Christmas holidays, a loss that helped spark fear among some investors. On February 14 Baidu reported profits that bettered analysts' predictions, however, with fourth quarter net income climbing 79 percent to $30.5 million and sales more than doubling, due largely to speculation that it may have acquired Maxthon, a Beijing-based firm that provides an estimated 10 million users in China with a free Web browser.

"Baidu is the dominant search company in China, and no rival is near to overtaking them," said BNP Paribas analyst Eric Wen shortly before the earnings announcement.

China's Top Search Engine Baidu Adds Messaging, Security Services

"We are very excited to enter the IM market in China," Shen said. Baidu also announced Thursday that it has formed a partnership with Beijing-based entertainment and application software maker Kingsoft Corporation Ltd., that will see the firms launch a free Internet security service to be called the Baidu Security Center, Baudu said. The security service is expected to reach as many 200 million users, and will provide anti-virus, browser recovery, and anti-spyware features. Details of the partnership were not disclosed. Kingsoft is one of China's top software makers with locations in four cities in China.

Shares of Baidu were up 0.30%, at $253.77 in Friday NASDAQ trading.