Theravada degree has Mahayana degree fighter Li Yanhong

When Google left the Chinese mainland market in 2010, Robin Li's Baidu won without a fight and became the dominant search company in China, forming a monopoly pattern. On the other hand, Robin Li's life was not peaceful in 2011, as he was confronted with a literary copyright dispute and CCTV's attack on his "Phoenix Nest system upgraded from competitive ranking". At the same time, emerging search engines such as Sohu Sogou, Tencent Soso, 360, and Alibaba Yitao to its launched a strong challenge, mobile Internet vigorous development, which will further expand the search industry development space.

January 1, 2012, marks the 12th anniversary of Baidu's founding. Comes at a time when New Year's day, headquarters is located in Beijing change Baidu -- "search-box" building was silent, but on the first-floor hall still work in the big LCD screen, LCD screen display with a map of China, marking the area of the various provinces and cities, from time to time there are some red dots with flashing - every twinkle means this area is a new Internet user access to the Baidu website.

Baidu, which has become a benchmark in China's Internet industry over the past 12 years with its focus on search, needs to reposition itself in the face of the increasingly innovative mobile web.

bidding

"There is no problem with the bidding ranking model, but there are omissions in the operation, which need to be improved."

Twelve years after starting his own business, Robin Li, chairman and CEO of Baidu Group, has faced the biggest question about Baidu's pioneering business model of "competitive ranking" in China, which has brought huge commercial benefits to Baidu and made it an irreparable "original sin".

At the beginning of the business, Baidu's business model is very clear, make the best search engine, sell to portal sites - others on the Internet, Baidu will provide them with a "spade", "do others behind the success of the power". In May 2000, Baidu provided search technology services for the first time for the portal - Silicon Valley Power, and then quickly occupied the Chinese search engine market and became the leading search technology provider. Many well-known Web portals, including Sina and Sohu, have bought Baidu's search technology. Leading in technology, Baidu soon formed a technological monopoly, but it still hasn't solved the problem of how to make profits, and the return on investment has been negative.

After many collisions, Robin Li made two decisions: one is to launch his website, and the other is to try a new business model - bid ranking. Bidding ranking refers to the search engine company charging enterprises according to the order of the names of enterprises or their products appearing in the search results. Therefore, Baidu needs to realize the role change from a background technology provider to an independent search service provider facing the public. On October 22, 2001, Baidu officially released the Baidu search engine.

Robin Li once revealed in an interview the original intention of implementing the bidding ranking. Robin Li found that many of the sites that cost a lot of money to build were not economically profitable, and companies would be willing to pay for it if it could help them make their sites more profitable. Opportunities are in keywords and locations. By the end of 2001, more than 800 websites had joined Baidu's competitive ranking alliance. Bidding ranking let Baidu earn a pot full of a pot full. After listing on NASDAQ in August 2005, the share price soared from $27 at the opening to $155 and closed at $122 on the day of listing. $45, with a market capitalization of nearly $4 billion, making IT China's most valuable IT stock.

But at the same time, for the impartiality of the bidding ranking, and the rationality of the dispute, from the beginning, let Baidu was criticized.

November 17, 2008, is Robin Li's 40th birthday. However, just two days ago, CCTV carried out two consecutive reports on Baidu, questioning the reasonableness of Baidu's competitive ranking business model and the impartiality of Baidu's natural search ranking. These questions were then raised on the issue of business ethics, and Baidu encountered the most serious crisis since the establishment of the company. Within the next month, Baidu's share price fell as low as $102, shedding more than 70% of its value from early 2008. In the face of doubts, Robin Li said, "there is no problem with the bidding ranking model, but there are omissions in the operation, and it needs to be constantly improved."

After that, Baidu quickly launched a newly developed advertising system "Phoenix Nest" to replace the original bidding ranking, and replaced the original theme promotion with the network alliance promotion based on the "Beidou Program", and all Baidu search marketing business aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises will be unified as Baidu promotion.

Mobile change

"Mobile Internet business is a ubiquitous box (smartphone), search business is imminent, it will replace the mobile phone operating system, and will disrupt the Internet industry ecology."

In the past 12 years, the vigorous development of the mobile Internet has brought all IT practitioners into this era. Can Baidu continue to lead the Chinese Internet industry?

Regarding Baidu's positioning in China's Internet industry, Robin Li once privately commented, "Sina is the destination station, not the portal, the search engine is the portal, the only search engine that can guide users to the best place." However, the mobile Internet is changing the way users access the Internet.

First, the smart terminal is changing from PC to smartphone and handheld computer, and the APP-based human-computer interaction mode is replacing the mode based on browser and search engine. Second, social search is becoming a trend. The rise of social networks represented by Facebook and social media represented by Twitter has reorganized information on the Internet based on people, rather than topics or categories. Compared with Sina, Sohu, Tencent, and Alibaba, Baidu is weak. Third, open Internet platforms allow users to have more and more direct choices, which can be solved in a non-search way. For example, Apple AppStore searches for software become a mixture of media, recommendations, and catalogs. The mobile Internet is undermining Baidu's monopoly as a "portal".

Robin Li has seen this trend as well. He believes that the mobile Internet business "is a ubiquitous box (smartphone), the search business is poised to explode, it will replace the mobile operating system, and will revolutionize the Internet industry ecology." In 2011, Baidu has begun to accumulate and pave the way for wireless Internet.

On December 22, 2011, Baidu released its mobile · cloud strategy, which is divided into three gradual processes, and each stage is represented by a core product. The first stage is Baidu · Yi platform, which is reflected in the end; Baidu has teamed up with Dell to launch its first smartphone based on the Baidu Yi operating system, making it a competitor to Apple and Google's Android; The second stage is the formation of cloud ecosystem; The third stage is Baidu cloud operating system, that is, the deep integration of cloud and end.

The footsteps of the pursuers

"It won't be a second identical search that surpasses Baidu."

Baidu must accelerate fast runs because behind it, there is a group of competitors who the desperate to catch up. A report by Analysys joked that Baidu Inc Chairman Robin Li will find it increasingly difficult to fall asleep as more Internet giants begin to cobble up Baidu's search market.

Tencent launched a new round of large-scale search marketing activities, Sina microblog search Xing wind waves, Sogou with search + browser + input method integration effect quickly upper began to profit, Taobao is changing the choice of "Taobao customers", these are just the beginning of the change.

In the official third quarter of 2011, the spin-off Sogou business generated $18.4 million in revenue a year ago, up 244% from the same period in 2010, surpassing the RMB100 million mark for the first time, and becoming the second Chinese search engine company after Baidu to make a profit.

Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan believes that Sogou's strong growth is due to the "input method - browser - search" three-stage rocket mode, the client has become an important entry point for the search. Sogou covered the entire network input method as a breakthrough point and a big success, Sogou in the field of input method market share has reached 83. 6% and Tencent QQ, 360 antivirus software as the client three strong, for the later browser wars occupy a fortress.

"What will surpass Baidu will not be the second identical search," Zhou Hong, chairman and CEO of Qihoo 360, told China Business News. "For example, the biggest feature of our navigation station is a recommendation engine. People use our browser every day, and the browser is getting smarter about what they like. Gradually, instead of having to type in keywords to actively search, the page suggests things the user might like." He sees search and the browser as a result of the portal + platform, which has the potential to create new search genes.

Regarding the future development of the search field, Wang Xiaochuan said that the future of search lies in mobile search and recommendation engines, and will not be the search box input keywords in this form. Sogou has been developed for half a year of an "exploration engine" that began a few days ago, its essence is a new type of personalized search recommendation technology.

Industry veteran the reporter analyzed the different cards: Baidu search ranked first but no browser; 360 browsers ranked first but not searched; Sogou search and browser are both in second place, and the rise is fierce; Tencent has both and ranks lower, but Penguin's IM(instant messaging tool) is no slur; Etro is backed by Alibaba, and Jack Ma's e-commerce empire will not give up on search easily. As the battle rages, Baidu's monopoly profits are likely to be eaten up.

Theravada degree is Mahayana degree

Mahayana and Theravada are a kind of metaphors in Buddhism. Mahayana metaphor can cross all sentient beings, while the Theravada metaphor can cross a few sentient beings. Some difference between Mahayana and Theravada lies in the level of consciousness.

"If knowledge and information are an ocean, Baidu is a ship and a big one at that. Baidu should not only measure itself but also measure many people -- from here to the other side, from ignorance to knowledge, from one-sided to comprehensive, from one point to many points, from success to success, "Robin Li, chairman, and CEO of Baidu Group, said in positioning Baidu's value.

Objectively speaking, the search engine has the nature of "degree people", because it is a free, efficient tool, it leads to the best place for hundreds of millions of Internet users. "Baidu itself is the biggest public good," a vice president of Baidu once proudly told China Business News.

But after all, enterprises are not public welfare organizations, and profit is the prerequisite. Otherwise, how can they even meet the needs of others? Thus, Baidu's core business model, "bidding ranking", came into being. By the end of 2001, more than 800 websites had joined Baidu's competitive ranking alliance. Bidding ranking let Baidu earn a pot full of a pot full at the same time, and also really revitalized a large number of small and medium-sized websites.

"In addition to Baidu, there are no 'media' that manages more than 300 small and medium-sized enterprises to promote customers, many 'media' are not willing to take small and medium-sized enterprises as the main service object, first, small and medium-sized enterprises invest little marketing expenses, second, the content space of 'media' is limited, and the difficulty of management is too great." "Said Xiang Bing, dean of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.

Even so, there are unavoidable omissions in Baidu's business model, which are the source of media skepticism and counterattacks from peers. If too much emphasis on commercial interests, then the search results will be destined to be true and fair there is a certain gap. Baidu needs to make a wise choice between people and itself.

Having studied at Peking University and the State University of New York at Buffalo, as well as six years of working experience on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, Baidu's culture is distinctly Chinese and western. For example, Baidu's name comes from a famous ancient Chinese poem -- "search for him in thousands of Baidu", Baidu's internal advocacy of "engineer culture" with obvious Silicon Valley mark, and Baidu's "self-evaluation of people" value is a kind of interpretation of Chinese classical culture.

In the past 12 years, Robin Li has been focusing on searching and practicing this 12-word management philosophy. But others question whether Baidu has come up with anything imaginative or eye-popping in recent years. On the other hand, the first square on the Internet, Ma Yun is steadily cultivating Taobao Mall and Etro, especially Etro, is likely to become a killer of e-commerce search engines shortly; And Ma Huateng is not in a hurry to follow the "micro innovation" behind the rear, the first copy a, also kill a; Chao has a Sina Weibo account. How long will Robin Li's dominance in search last?

Despite his reserved personality, Robin Li is a proud and confident man at heart, and there have been more than a few successes over the past 40 years to reflect his confidence. Robin Li knows that in the fast-changing Internet industry, change is the norm, and he has a method of self-testing how to keep up with the changing pace of The Times. Every two years, Robin Li revisits his most important questions about Baidu's development, such as corporate strategy, market opportunities, and profit model. "If the answer is the same as it was two years ago, it means companies could be marginalized." "Mr. Li said.

In 2012, Baidu will invest heavily in the mobile Internet market and set off a new war.