Baidu.com is one of the most popular Chinese search engines in the world, and it’s president, Robin Li, has just been named the 11th wealthiest IT Entrepreneur in China.
Baidu.com was founded by Li and his friend Eric Xu in 1999 following Li’s return to China after graduating with a Master’s degree in Computer Science from new York State University and experience working with such illustrious companies as Wall Street Journal’s Website and the big name global search engine InfoSeek.
Having returned to China, Li found that there were many Internet Portals in the country, and building dotcoms had become an important trend. Li, who describes himself as obstinate, wanted to best use his talents, and as a result of this stubbornness, Baidu.com was founded.

After leading the search engine market in China for four years however, Baidu began to face mounting challenges, and in 2003, more and more companies were entering the market, including global companies such as Google and Yahoo who were looking for domestic distributors. As a result of these challenges Li decided on a three pronged approach to the challenge. Firstly, a main advantage for Baidu over the competition is to focus on being a Chinese Language search engine – “Google provides search engine services in more than 80 languages, but Baidu only focuses on the Chinese language, so it’s (Google) investment in the China market is much less than ours” Li says.
Secondly, Baidu concentrates firmly on the domestic competition, and thirdly, but by no means last, Li propounds the use of advanced technology and enrichment of its functions. Li maintains that his company is 4 years ahead of other Chinese competitors in terms of technology and that this is a key weapon in the fight for dominance.

While many Chinese Internet companies are trying to become listed on the NASDAQ or the Hong Kong Growth Enterprise market, Li is in no hurry, preferring to wait for the right time. “We are still a start up company and we should not make a rash IPO until investors fully agree with us on the future path of our company,” he says.
True to his motto, “There is no trying. There is only doing and not doing”, and in keeping with his scientific background and tenacity, Li will only proceed when all the signs are proven to be pointing in the right direction.