"LatePost" exclusively learned that Li Xiaoyang, the former vice president of 58 Group, has recently joined the Baidu battle investment as the investment director, reporting directly to Baidu chairman and CEO Li Yanhong . Cai Xiang, the former head of investment, will resign in January 2021 for a term of less than half a year.
Li Xiaoyang has a low-key and pragmatic style. He joined 58 Group in 2014 and participated in the establishment of the investment and M&A department. He has led the team to complete the three major M&A projects of Anjuke, China Talent Network and Ganji . 58 Group CEO Yao Jinbo once said, "Li Xiaoyang led the investment and M&A department to integrate internal and external resources and businesses, providing impetus for 58 to move forward to a larger platform." and cast the rear. In recent years, the personnel of the strategic investment department has undergone frequent changes. He Haiwen, the former Baidu strategy consultant , and Baidu veteran Ren Xuyang have all overseen the strategic investment.
"Late Post" previously reported that in March 2021, Lu Yuan, the head of strategy, was transferred, and Qi Fei, the former managing director of of the investment banking department of CICC, took over related businesses. Going forward, He Junjie and Cai Xiang successively took over the investment and M&A department and the back-end investment department, but their combined term of office did not exceed two years.
China's Internet giants have different strategies to invest in styles. The Tencent battle investment has a wide coverage, and seeks win-win cooperation to gain opportunities to enter new fields; Ali battle investment is strong and radical, and the first appeal is that the invested projects can synergize or strengthen Ali's existing business.
In comparison, Baidu’s strategic investment department cannot be compared with Tencent and Ali in terms of quantity, and it is more conservative and cautious in investment style. Technology media 36 Krypton once reported that Li Yanhong’s positioning of the strategic investment department is not for the company. Pathfinders looking for opportunities, but purchasing department which cooperates and serves 's main business development. According to the data of
IT Orange, as of press time, the number of historical investments in Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu War Investments are 1133, 421, and 204 respectively. Since 2021, Baidu Strategic Investment has successively invested in four projects: Jidu Automobile, Wanzhongxing Health, Xiaoling Technology, and CCCC Chewang, focusing on the fields of automobile, medical care and enterprise services. (Wang Wenqing)
