Baidu Inc. and eBay EachNet announced Wednesday a multi-year
agreement to cooperate in advertising, on-line payment and
co-branded toolbar.
According to the agreement, Baidu will promote PayPal, an online
payment tool by eBay EachNet, as the preferred on-line payment
method on Baidu. In return, Baidu will become the exclusive
provider of text-based search advertising on eBay EachNet, eBay's
China subsidiary and a leading e-commerce company in China.
This agreement provides Baidu advertisers with access to one of
the most robust on-line communities in China, said a spokesman with
Baidu.
The two companies plan to begin testing the text-based search
advertising on eBay EachNet in the first quarter of 2007 and expect
to have the full implementation in place during the second quarter
of 2007.
Additionally, eBay EachNet and Baidu will develop a co-branded
toolbar designed to leverage each other's expertise in on-line
safety.
Chang Yanjie, analyst with China Center for Information Industry
Development, said that Baidu tended to develop towards B2C and
would offer more services targeting individual netizens in the
future.
The cooperation also indicated that eBay EachNet would not
withdraw from the Chinese market as expected before and PayPal
would be its key business in China.
Baidu and eBay Eachnet started cooperation in 2000 and they are
mutually attracted by the high traffic population with one being
the world largest Chinese searching engine and the other most
active e-commerce community in China.
Both companies said the agreement would not affect their
financial results during the period of the service agreement.
(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2006)