You have to love the communists. In China, to be a news distributor, a company must be approved by the country’s Ministry of Information and Industry. Google (GOOG) got this approval recently, and that will give it the opportunity to mount a bigger challenge against Chinese search leader Baidu (BIDU).
One analyst quoted by Reuters said: "The license to provide content to audiences is critical to attract big advertisers, and also helps them try to have more content."
Although reliable figures are hard to come by, Baidu’s share of the search market in China appears to be about 60% to 25% for Google. Yahoo! (YHOO) is a distant third.
The Chinese obviously like their search home grown. It may be that due to the complexities of the language Baidu will be able to maintain its lead despite the money that Google can pour into a market that now has the second largest number of internet users after the US.
If there is some magic to being a news source in China, perhaps Google will get a break.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
Are You Ahead, or Behind on Retirement? (sponsor)
If you’re one of the over 4 Million Americans set to retire this year, you may want to pay attention.
Finding a financial advisor who puts your interest first can be the difference between a rich retirement and barely getting by, and today it’s easier than ever. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three fiduciary financial advisors that serve your area in minutes. Each advisor has been carefully vetted, and must act in your best interests. Start your search now.
Don’t waste another minute; get started right here and help your retirement dreams become a retirement reality.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.
You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.