Rumor: Baidu to Invest USD 100 Mln in Lenovo Subsidiary ShenQi

Leiphone, 2/03/15

An industry insider has revealed that Chinese internet company Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) has made a strategic investment of more than USD 100 mln into online-only retailer ShenQi (also previously referred to as Fancy Maker), a subsidiary of Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer Lenovo (0992.HK).

ShenQi will launch operations on April 1 using its own company name and its own independent brands. The new business will release its first smartphone in the second half of this year.

Editor's Note: If Baidu does take a strategic stake in ShenQi, the search giant would likely gain priority for pre-installation of its suite of mobile apps on ShenQi mobile terminals. Baidu rival Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU) recently made a similar move, investing USD 409 mln in a JV with Chinese handset vendor Coolpad Group (2369.HK) covering Coolpad's online-retail-only Dazen brand. For more background on topics related to this news, please see "Lenovo May List New Smart Device Unit" MD 1/13/15 issue, and "Qihoo to Invest USD 409 Mln in Handset JV with Coolpad," MD 12/16/14 issue.

Keywords: M&A wireless pre-installed hardware Lenovo smartphone Baidu 0992.HK BIDU ShenQi smart terminal handset mobile search

Feedback

Sending

Disclaimer

The information contained in this newsletter is based upon sources that Marbridge Consulting believes to be reliable, and we have made every effort to translate the original articles or article excerpts as faithfully as possible. However, Marbridge Consulting makes no warranty of and assumes no legal responsibility for the accuracy of either the original source material or the English language translations.

Marbridge Daily