Industry experts predicted that Baidu may finally recover this time around despite beatings over the last few months after its latest move of rehiring a founding member, Shi Youcai, to lead its new unit.
In a statement to krASIA, Baidu confirmed that it has hired Shi again after he left the company in 2011. He has been re-appointed as the sales head of the Mobile Ecology Group unit.
The said unit was established just this year as the arm that should replace the Chinese tech firm's online search department. It is worth noting that Senior Vice President Xiang Hailong announced his resignation shortly after the company posted Q1 2019 earnings that shook the Internet circle due to massive losses.
Baidu quickly recovered from the void that Xiang and four other executives left following the disappointing quarterly report in the form of Shen Dou, who has been promoted to replace the former vice president.
Industry experts have predicted that Shi's return could help Baidu recover after all the beatings it experienced over the last few months. Expectations are high upon Shi's return as he was the one who established the company's sales channels when the firm was new in the market.
Despite huge losses in the previous quarter, the company has been praised for overtaking Jack Ma's Alibaba as China's leading smart speaker provider for the first quarter of this year. In fact, Baidu is close behind Amazon and Google on a global basis.
The breakthrough in the smart speaker market, Shi's grand comeback, and new ventures into the blockchain, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI) are expected to help propel the company towards its original spot as a contender against Chinese tech behemoths.
Aside from rehiring one of its founding members and top leaders for a decade, Baidu has also reportedly launched what it calls the Baidu Blockchain Engine (BBE) that seeks to provide app developers with a reliable operating system.
It appears that the latest venture into blockchain technology is part of the company's efforts in reinstating itself as a leader in China's tech circle. The OS is expected to help make app development easier for technicians.
The company also pledged privacy and security protection to ensure that users will not have their information leaked. Templates, smart contracts, and various service frameworks have been integrated into the system for ease of access.
The new project is expected to help drive sales and revenue from the company. Analysts believe the rise in blockchain systems and big data will attract investors and consumers to patronize the new departments that Baidu is working hard to develop.
