BEIJING, Aug. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Baidu, Inc.
("Baidu" or the "Company"), a leading AI company with strong
Internet foundation, today announced that Xiaodu Technology
("Xiaodu") has closed Series B financing at a $5.1 billion post-money valuation
("Transaction").
"We are pleased to see the rapid growth of Xiaodu, leveraging
Baidu's AI and large content and services mobile ecosystem, to
change the way hardware provides value for consumers. Xiaodu
entered the market in 2018 with sub RMB
100 smart speakers and rapidly became the world's largest
smart-display provider based on shipments," said Herman Yu, CSO and CFO of Baidu. "DuerOS with
voice modality and larger screen is growing Internet usage at home
and becoming the command center for IoTs, with its fast growth of
OEM partnerships. Services revenue surpassed 10% of Xiaodu revenues
in the most recent quarter, encompassing membership, advertising
and skills store revenue share."
Baidu remains a super majority shareholder after the
Transaction. Xiaodu Series A was completed in November 2020 at a post-money valuation of
$2.9 billion.
About Baidu
Founded in 2000, Baidu's mission is to make the complicated
world simpler through technology. Baidu is a leading AI company
with strong Internet foundation, trading on the NASDAQ under "BIDU"
and HKEX under "9888." One Baidu ADS represents eight Class A
ordinary shares.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These
statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as
"may," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends,"
"plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident," "is/are likely to"
and other similar expressions. Among other things, the description
of the proposed offering in this announcement contains
forward-looking statements. Baidu may also make written or oral
forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the SEC, in
its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other
written materials and in oral statements made by its officers,
directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not
historical facts, including but not limited to statements about
Baidu's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and
uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking
statement, including but not limited to the following: Baidu's
proposed use of proceeds from the sale of debt securities; its
operations and business prospects, its business and operating
strategies and its ability to implement such strategies, its
ability to develop and manage its operations and business,
competition for, among other things, capital, technology and
skilled personnel, its ability to control costs, its ability to
identify and conduct investments and acquisitions, as well as
integrate acquired target(s), changes to regulatory and operating
conditions in the industry and geographical markets in which we
operate, its dividend policy. Further information regarding these
and other risks is included in Baidu's annual report on Form 20-F,
Form F-3 and other documents filed with the SEC. Baidu does not
undertake an obligation to update any forward-looking statement,
except as required under applicable law. All information provided
in this press release is as of the date of the press release, and
Baidu undertakes no duty to update such information, except as
required under applicable law.
CONTACT: Jialing Tian,
tianjialing@baidu.com, +86-10-50816958
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SOURCE Baidu, Inc.