Baidu-Owned Qiyi Could Go Private In Deal Valuing Chinese Video Site At $2.8B

China’s online video wars are heating up again. Last year, Alibaba snapped up Youku Tudou, the country’s largest YouTube-like video portal, in a major $3.5 billion deal, and now there’s more happenings in the space after Baidu received an offer to sell its majority share in close rival Qiyi.

Baidu, best known for its search technology and investment in Uber, owns 80.5 percent of Qiyi, and on Friday it disclosed that it received a bid for that stake that values the video content service at around $2.8 billion. The offer is led by Baidu chairman Robin Li and Qiyi CEO Yu Gong, and, if successful, it could lessen Baidu’s financial responsibility to the business and provide new funding options by taking Qiyi public.

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by Techcrunch News (see full article)