Baidu isn't worth the love…

Ever since Google threatened to pull out of the China market back in January, Baidu’s stock price has risen by a lot. As I’m writing this post now, it’s trading over $600 a share. There are even some idiots in the media getting excited over its share price being more than Google’s (and totally forgetting that it’s the market capitalization that determines which is a more valuable company, not the price of a single share).

Give me a break here… When all the fuss over Google’s “exit” from China subsides, Baidu’s share price will go back to normal, too. The current hype over Baidu is non-sense and that really ought to be clear to you.

1. Nothing really changed with Google “leaving.” People can still do their internet search on Google.com. — People in China have been able to access Google.com even after Google officially entered the market and created Google.cn 4 years ago. And even though you still can’t conduct uncensored search (now the GFW is doing the censoring on the Google HK site), it’s not as if Google’s loyal users in China would have to run to Baidu’s site.

The real game changer, of course, is if the Chinese government decided to block access to all of Google’s sites, which it certainly can. If that happens, that’s when Baidu can really grab some of Goog’e's market share in China. But even then Baidu may not have that much to gain…

2. Baidu’s growth potential is fairly limited. — Baidu is already the clear leader in China. No doubt. But it also doesn’t have much of a global business. That means its China business is all it’s got! But outside of China Google is the clear leader (except in certain markets like South Korea, but Baidu would stand no chance in those markets, too). What can Baidu do then? It’s expanded into e-commerce but Taobao is the clear leader in that space. BSP? Sina is the learder. SNS? QQ got that market already. Social games? Again, that’s QQ’s specialty. Yeah… if stock prices are a reflection of people’s expectations on future performance, then people’s expectations on Baidu are definitely misguided by the not-so-real opportunity created by Google’s “exit” from China.

And please, people… Do not see Baidu vs. Google and automatically think China vs. US. Baidu, as you should know, got off the ground in 2000 with American funding. And it is now listed in NASDAQ which means its drawing more capital from non-Chinese investors. So in that regard, Baidu is hardly a Chinese owned company.

The power for us to connect

I’ve always known that the Internet has the power to bring people together. It’s changed social dynamics and inter-personal communication. Recent events proved that point and more to me once again. It’s a very powerful reminder to live in a very inter-connected world.

Back in December a “friend” on Facebook proposed to me to give his EMBA class a lecture on social media marketing. I actually never met him in real life and couldn’t even remember if I had added him first or he added me. In any case, I accepted the offer and conducted the lecture in Shanghai a week ago. I had spent some time putting together the material and I was pleased with how the lecture went. Afterwards I shared the presentation on SlideShare.net, which if you don’t know is a web service that allows people to share presentation documents online on all kinds of topics.

Then today on my way to a Twitter user meet-up (or a tweet-up) I got an e-mail (on my iPhone) from a professor in the US saying that he saw my presentation online and would like my permission to use it in his class. I quickly wrote back and said yes. Of course I would. I believe in the spirit of sharing, not to mention it’d be for a class. Plus, if anyone really wanted to use the content, it’s not that hard to re-create it from scratch – the original file really isn’t necessary.

First I got the opportunity to give that lecture from an online contact. Then the presentation will be seen by a class all the way across the world in a university in Wisconsin, because the professor saw it online. I find this pretty amazing.

The Internet is quickly changing the world and changing the way we live our lives. I’m really glad to be part of this change!