Baidu has moved to restore investor confidence with a $1bn share buyback, after $12bn was wiped off the Chinese search engine’s stock market capitalisation in the wake of disappointing quarterly earnings.
百度(Baidu)宣布了使人絕望的季度財報以後，股票市值蒸發120億美元，隨後這家中國搜刮引擎啟動了10億美元的股票回購以規復投資者信念。
The buyback will be funded with existing cash and will take place over 12 months, Baidu said yesterday, after its shares fell 14 per cent over the week. Baidu narrowly missed analysts’ estimates for second-quarter profits and guidance for third-quarter revenues
百度昨日表現，將在接下來的12個月內動用現有資金舉行這次回購。此前，百度股價在一周內下跌了14%。百度第二季度利潤和第三季度營收指引都略低於剖析師的估量。
The company said that the move “demonstrates Baidu’s confidence in the O2O [online-to-offline] opportunity and in our ability to capture it. It’s our commitment with nine zeros”.
該公司表現，此舉“證實百度對O2O(線上到線下)商機，和咱們捕獲該機遇的才能有信念。因而咱們作出10億美元回購的許諾。”
Reporting results on Monday, Baidu forecast revenue growth for the current quarter at 34-37 per cent.
百度在周一宣布營收成果，猜測當前季度營收同比增加應在34%到37%之間。
“Last year, they had a full year of 50 or near 50 per cent year-on-year revenue growth, and now they’ve had two quarters sub-40 per cent and another quarter of guidance suggesting mid-30s. So basically the message is that for search, the party is over,” said Mark Natkin of Marbridge Consulting in Beijing.
北京Marbridge Consulting公司的馬克納特金(Mark Natkins)表現：“客歲，他們整年營收同比增加50%，或靠近50%，而如今他們已有兩個季度的增加低於40%，而且第三季度營收指引在35%上下。以是從中根本可以看出，搜刮行業的狂歡停止了。”
Analysts worry that the slowdown raises doubts about Baidu’s ability to manage the transition from an internet ruled by PC users to one dominated by smartphones, where users pick from a screen full of apps instead of finding content through search engines.
剖析師擔憂百度營收增加放緩會引發人們疑惑，以為百度沒法從小我電腦占主導的互聯網順遂過渡到智妙手機占主導的互聯網。在智妙手機互聯網時期，用戶是在滿屏幕的運用(app)裏舉行選取，而不是經由過程搜刮引擎探求內容。
Robin Li, Baidu’s chairman, announced in June a Rmb20bn ($3.2bn) investment over three years in Baidu Nuomi, its Groupon-like marketplace, to lift its performance in mobile.
百度董事長李彥宏(Robin Li)6月份宣告，將來三年將向百度糯米(Baidu Nuomi)投資200億元國民幣(約合32億美元)，以晉升百度在挪動真個事跡。百度糯米是百度旗下相似Groupon的團購網站。
Nuomi is envisioned as a focal point for services such as movie ticket sales and taxi hailing where physical and virtual commerce are combined in what is known as “online-to-offline” business funnelling users to online payments systems.
百度糯米的假想是成為片子票發賣和打車等辦事的中間，將實體和假造商務聯合成所謂的“O2O”營業，引誘用戶應用在線付出體系。
Analysts have expressed concern that Baidu is losing focus, citing as an example Baidu wallet, the online payment system founded in April 2014 and the weakest of China’s major online payment services.
剖析師擔憂百度正落空存眷，他們援用了百度錢包(Baidu Wallet)的例子。百度錢包建立於2014年4月，是百度旗下在線付出體系，在中國重要同類體系中的競爭力最低。
In data released for the third quarter of 2014 by Analysys, a Beijing-based consultancy, Baidu Wallet, its mobile payments service, was found to have 0.06 per cent of the market. This compared to 79 per cent for Ant Financial’s Alipay, the country’s most popular mobile payments service which is owned by rival Alibaba.
北京一家咨詢公司易觀國際(Analysys)2014年第三季度宣布數據表現，作為百度旗下的挪動付出辦事產物，百度錢包的市場份額為0.06%，而螞蟻金服(Ant Financial)的付出寶(Alipay)的市場份額為79%。付出寶是中國最遍及的挪動付出辦事，其持有者為百度競爭敵手阿裏巴巴(Alibaba)。
The companies published more recent figures which suggest the gap has closed slightly. Baidu said it had 35m active users for Baidu Wallet at the end of June, while Alipay said it had 400m.
依據易觀國際揭櫫的最新數據表現，百度錢包與付出寶之間的差距已有小幅收縮。百度表現至6月尾，百度錢包的活潑用戶到達3500萬名，付出寶則表現同期其活潑用戶為4億名。
“People are concerned that Baidu is not going to be able to move to online-to-offline because their payment system is a lot weaker than Tencent and Alibaba,” said Shaun Rein of China Market Research Group in Shanghai.Investments in things like movie tickets and other “online-to-offline” businesses are “something they haven’t proved they are good at,” he added.
上海咨詢公司中國市場研討團體(China Market Research Group)的雷小山(Shaun Rein)表現：“人們擔憂的是，百度沒法向O2O轉型，由於他們的付出體系比騰訊(Tencent)和阿裏巴巴弱太多。”他還說，百度在片子票和其他“O2O”營業上的投資，“還沒法證實他們擅擅長此”。
“They’re getting hammered because they’re making the investment they need to potentially thrive in the next five to 10 years. The concern is, are they making the right investments, and are they going to be good at those new businesses?”
“他們受到了聲討，由於他們須要這一投資在將來5年到10年內都堅持發達成長的潛力。值得存眷的是，他們是不是做出了準確的投資?另有他們是不是能做好這些新營業?”
市場價：HK$ 110
