Correspondence
[Letterhead of Baidu, Inc.]
September 30, 2010
VIA EDGAR AND FACSIMILE
Kathleen Collins, Accounting Branch Chief
Melissa Kindelan, Staff Accountant
Stephani Bouvet, Staff Attorney
Matthew Crispino, Staff Attorney
Division of Corporation Finance
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20549
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Re:
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Baidu, Inc. (the Company)
Form 20-F for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2009 (2009 20-F)
Filed March 26, 2010
File No. 000-51469 |
Dear Ms. Collins, Ms. Kindelan, Ms. Bouvet and Mr. Crispino:
This letter sets forth the Companys response to the comment contained in the letter dated
September 20, 2010 from the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Staff)
regarding the 2009 20-F. The comment is repeated below and followed by the response thereto.
Form 20-F for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2009
Item 7. Major shareholders and Related Party Transactions
B. Related Party Transactions
Contractual Arrangements with Beijing Perusal and Its Shareholders, page 83
1. We note your response to prior comment 4; however, it appears that your separate agreements
with each of Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay are required to be filed as exhibits to your Form 20-F.
Refer to Instruction 4(b)(ii) to Exhibits in the Form 20-F. Please amend your Form 20-F to include
these agreements as exhibits or file a schedule that identifies the material terms of each
agreement that have been omitted from the form documents that you have filed.
The Company notes the Staffs comments. The current shareholders of Beijing Perusal are
Jiping Liu (holding 80% of the equity interests) and Yazhu Zhang (holding 20% of the equity
interests). The current individual shareholder of BaiduPay is Hu Cai (holding 9% of the equity
interests). The remaining 91% of the equity interests in BaiduPay is held by Baidu Netcom,
the Companys consolidated affiliated entity. All three individual shareholders are current
employees of the Company. In its Form 20-F for the year ending December 31, 2010, the Company will
disclose the names of the individual shareholders of, and their respective shareholdings in,
Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay and file the agreements with each of Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay as
exhibits.
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The Company hereby acknowledges that
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the Company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in
the filing; |
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Staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to Staff comments do not
foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the filing; and |
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the Company may not assert Staff comments as a defense in any proceeding
initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal securities laws of the
United States. |
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If you have any additional questions or comments regarding the 2009 20-F, please contact the
undersigned at (86 10) 8262-1188, Ext. 8807 or the Companys U.S. counsel, Julie Gao of Skadden,
Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, at (852) 3740-4850.
Thank you very much.
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Very truly yours,
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/s/ Jennifer Li
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Jennifer Li |
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Chief Financial Officer |
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cc:
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Robin Yanhong Li, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Baidu, Inc.
Z. Julie Gao, Esq., Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Hong Kong
Joe Tsang, Partner, Ernst & Young Hua Ming, Beijing |
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