Baidu.com to join NASDAQ

A Chinese web search engine, which models itself on the popular Google, Baidu.com has been valued at more than $850m just before it enters the NASDAQ stock market in the US. The shares of this company are due to begin trading today. Google owns shares in this company and it has been operating in the big market of China since the last 5 years. The search engine has a huge reputation in the Chinese market and it is relying on strong growth in its domestic market for its future expansion.

Market analysts believe that China would be one of the fastest growing Internet communities on the web with the number of web users expected to double in the next 2 years. The shares of the company were priced at $27 each on Thursday and this gives Baidu.com the initial market capitalization of $856m. They further aim to raise $108m through the flotation.

The company would be using these revenues to develop new technology and explore new product areas. They are also going to face growing competition in the coming months as more and more global players tries to enter the Chinese market aiming to get a share of the huge pie. Then, there is the internal competition from rivals like Sohu.com and Sina, which are growing in their own capacities.

Google itself has secured a license sometime back and is now planning to setup an official entity in the Chinese market.