Oppenheimer Cuts Price Target on Baidu.com (BIDU) Following Investigation Results Announced by CAC

Baidu.com (BIDU) Will Take Measures to Appease PRC Regulators; Sets RMB 1B Aside for Compensation

May 10, 2016 8:46 AM EDT

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) reports on an examination of its search ranking practices by PRC regulators that followed news reports and critical public comments regarding those practices.

On or around April 30, 2016, Chinese media reported that Zexi Wei, a Chinese college student, had died from cancer following unsuccessful experimental immunotherapy treatment received at a hospital. The media and internet commentaries also reported that Zexi Wei had learned of the hospital and treatment program when a paid listing for it appeared on the first page of Baidu's search results.

Following these... More

Baidu CEO tells staff to put values before profit after cancer death scandal

May 10, 2016 12:41 AM EDT

By Paul Carsten

BEIJING (Reuters) - Baidu Inc's CEO has called on employees to put values before profit in response to a scandal around the death of a student who underwent an experimental cancer treatment he found on the company's search website.

Before his death, student Wei Zexi, 21, criticized the military-run hospital that provided the failed treatment for misleading claims about its effectiveness and accused Baidu, which controls 80 percent of the Chinese search market, of promoting false medical information.

In a... More

Pre-Open Stock Movers 05/09: (KKD) (SSYS) (WATT) Higher; (UNIS) (LC) (SPHS) Lower (more...)

May 9, 2016 9:35 AM EDT

Unilife Corporation (NASDAQ: UNIS) 38.9% LOWER; announced that it is postponing its earnings conference call, originally scheduled to be held at 8:00 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 9, 2016 (Monday, May 9, 2016 at 10:00 p.m. AEST) due to the discovery by the Company's current management team of violations of Company policies and procedures and possible violations of law and regulation by the Company's former Chief Executive Officer and by the former Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors who resigned in 2015.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE:... More

China Regulator Urges Baidu (BIDU) to Change Mechanism for Paid Ads - Bloomberg

May 9, 2016 6:51 AM EDT

Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU) must adjust its paid advertising mechanism and add clear signs to identify commercial ads, said the Cyberspace Administration of China in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

... More

China curbs Baidu healthcare ads business after student's death

May 9, 2016 6:49 AM EDT

By Paul Carsten

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese regulators have imposed limits on the number of lucrative healthcare adverts carried by Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU) following the death of a student who underwent an experimental cancer treatment which he found using China's biggest Internet search engine.

Baidu's Nasdaq-listed shares fell more than 3 percent in morning trade on Monday following the move. Healthcare accounts for 20 to 30 percent of the company's search revenue, analysts at Nomura and Daiwa said, while search revenues represented some 84 percent of the web services firm's total sales in 2015.

Baidu's... More

Reliance on China health sector raises searching questions for Baidu

May 6, 2016 9:36 PM EDT

By Paul Carsten

BEIJING (Reuters) - The death of a student following experimental cancer treatment he found through China's biggest search engine, Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU), has exposed the faultlines in the company's business model, which relies heavily on income from the country's lightly regulated health sector.

Before his death, student Wei Zexi, 21, criticized the military-run hospital that provided the failed treatment for misleading claims about its effectiveness and accused Baidu, which controls 80 percent of the Chinese search market, of promoting false medical information.

This week the health ministry began an... More