Baidu.com eyes US$200m IPO

Leading Chinese search engine Baidu.com is looking to raise about US$200m in a US IPO later this year, Reuters reported, citing sources close to the company. Baidu, in which search giant Google has a small stake, is eyeing a listing as early as the first half of 2005 on either the NASDAQ or New York exchanges, the report said, selling about 25% of its capital, which would value the company at about US$800m. Chinese Internet firms have tended to follow their counterparts elsewhere in the world and favor the tech-heavy NASDAQ. Investment banks Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldman Sachs have been lined up to underwrite the IPO, Reuters said, although both banks declined comment. Founded in 1999, Baidu saw its first profit in 2004 with revenue growing at about 150% a year.