China's Baidu Inc, the world's No. 2 Internet search engine, bought control of Brazilian rival Peixe Urbano for an undisclosed sum, the latest step in a push to expand in Latin America's largest economy that began more than two years ago. Under terms of the transaction, which were announced in a statement on Thursday, Baidu will let Peixe Urbano's management team, led by co-founder and chief executive officer Julio Vasconcellos, operate autonomously within Baidu's corporate structure. Both firms declined to give the size of Baidu's stake in Peixe Urbano.The Chinese company started operations in Brazil last November although in July 2012 it introduced a Portuguese-language version of its Hao123 link-list website.Baidu CEO Robin Li, who accompanied Chinese President Xi Jinping on a visit to Brazil in July, pledged during the visit that the company would spend 120 million reais ($50 million) in Brazil over the next three years.The purchase of Peixe Urbano's controlling stake will help Baidu grow in a country where the e-commerce market is expected to grow an average 18 percent annually by 2016, according to several consulting firms including E-bit and A.T. Kearney.
Baidu, Inc. (Baidu) is a Chinese-language Internet search provider. Shares of BIDU remained unchanged at $217.54. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $140.66 and as high as $231.41. On average, 3164440 shares of BIDU exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1340.
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