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.
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
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”.