Yahoo! China Launches Chinese-Language Search Engine
Yahoo! China Monday launched a Chinese-language search portal, the latest move by the company to gain a stronger foothold in one of the world's biggest Internet markets.
The launch of Yisou, or "No. 1 search," in the increasingly competitive Chinese-language search engine segment comes on the heels of global rival Google Inc.'s (GGL.XX) investment in Baidu.com Inc., one of China's most popular search engines.
"Yahoo! believes the introduction of Yisou will help extend our reach into the rapidly growing search market in China," David Lu, Yahoo! North Asia's vice president of search and marketplace, said in a statement.
Yahoo! China is a unit of Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO). The company already owns Chinese search company 3721, which it acquired last year for $120 million.
Last week, Baidu said Google had bought a minority stake in the Chinese company during its latest fund-raising round.
Google itself has offered Chinese-language search since 2000 and has planned an initial public offering later this year estimated at $2.7 billion.
Baidu has been said to be planning an IPO of its own. But company Chief Executive Robin Li earlier this month played down the likelihood of it taking place soon, saying Baidu planned to stay independent and then go public "at the right time."
China had 79.5 million Internet users at the end of last year, making it the world's biggest Internet market after the U.S.
雅虎中国推出中文搜索引擎
雅虎中国(Yahoo! China)周一推出了一个中文搜索网站，这是雅虎为在中国这个全球最大的互联网市场之一获得更坚实的立足点所做出的最新努力。
这个名为“一搜”的网站是在中文搜索引擎行业竞争日趋激烈的背景下推出的。在此之前，雅虎在全球的主要竞争对手Google Inc. (GGL.XX)刚向中国最著名的搜索引擎公司百度(Baidu.com Inc.)进行了投资。
雅虎北亚区互联网事业副总裁卢大为(David Lu)在一份声明中表示，他们相信一搜网的推出能帮助公司拓展在快速增长的中国搜索市场的业务。
雅虎中国是雅虎公司(Yahoo! Inc., YHOO)的一家子公司。该公司去年刚以1.2亿美元收购了中国的搜索引擎公司3721。
百度公司上周表示，在他们最新一轮的融资活动中，Google购买了其少量股份。
Google自2000年开始就已推出中文搜索服务，并计划在今年晚些时候进行价值27亿美元的首次公开募股(IPO)。
据称百度也在筹备自身的IPO。但该公司首席执行长李彦宏(Robin Li)本月早些时候淡化了有关公司即将进行IPO的猜测。他表示，百度计划保持独立并在合适时机上市。
截至去年年底，中国共有7,950万互联网用户，是仅次于美国的全球第二大互联网市场。
