In Hong Kong on February 17, the shares of Baidu fell sharply, causing a $2.4 billion drop in its market value, after the founder of the Chinese search engine giant did not appear at a rare meeting between President Xi Jinping and corporate leaders.
During the meeting in Beijing with top tycoons like Alibaba's Jack Ma and Huawei's Ren Zhengfei, Baidu's founder, Robin Li, was reportedly absent, as confirmed by sources who spoke to Reuters.
Following this, Baidu did not provide a response to the inquiry.
Market observers closely monitor the attendance of key executives at such significant gatherings, where the absence of a company leader can spark speculation about the company's status.
Baidu's shares declined by as much as 8.8% before recovering slightly to finish 7% lower. With a market value now at HK$252.05 billion ($32.4 billion), Baidu ranked as the largest decliner on both the Hang Seng Index and Hang Seng Tech Index.
Market analysts noted that Baidu's shares had been under pressure since the morning when it announced plans to integrate its search engine fully with Chinese AI startup DeepSeek and its proprietary Ernie large language model.
Analysts expressed concerns about Baidu potentially losing its competitive edge and needing to catch up with emerging players like DeepSeek after gaining prominence through its development of Ernie.
The absence of Baidu executives at the symposium raised additional speculation about the company's diminishing influence in the market, according to a sales director from a regional brokerage who opted to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The meeting with Xi signaled the government's backing for China's tech industry amid regulatory scrutiny and aims to boost economic growth and manage uncertain relations with the U.S.
On its part, Baidu has intensified its focus on AI to decrease its reliance on advertising revenue from its core search engine business.
In early 2023, Baidu was among the first to introduce a ChatGPT-style chatbot, Ernie 4.0, positioning itself alongside OpenAI's GPT-4 launched late in 2022.
(Note: Exchange rate - $1 = 7.7808 Hong Kong dollars)