China’s search giant Baidu has said it will buy 59 percent of Nuomi, a top group buying site in China for $160 million, a move that analysts say will bolster the search giant’s Internet business.According to Baidu, Nuomi would “complement” and help it drive growth in the mobile mapping and location-based services with its over 3.8 million active paying users, 30 percent of them from mobile devices. Baidu’s shift to mobile is partly because of China’s big smartphone population as the world’s largest market for smartphones.Recently, Baidu spend $1.9 billion on 91 Wireless Websoft, to help Baidu distribute more third party apps to mobile devices. It also bought iQiyi, an online video firm for $370 million.
Baidu is also taking shots at its Chinese competitor Alibaba Group, which runs the country’s largest group buying site Juhuasuan, with 33.6 percent market share. Nuomi had a 5.9 share of China’s group buying market in Q1, and ranks fifth. Alibaba, being China’s e-commerce leaders remain big competition for Baidu. The strategy acquisitions will help the firm rake in more talent and revenue to compete with others in the mobile Internet market.
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