Rumor: Baidu Halts Funding for B2C JV Lekutian

Sina Tech, 11/19/11

An industry source has revealed that poor results have led Chinese internet company Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) to cease investing in Lekutian, its B2C e-commerce joint venture with Japanese firm Rakuten.

A source close to Rakuten, however, has said that the main reason for Lekutian's poor performance lies with Japanese parent company Rakuten's difficulties in localizing operations to adapt to China's business environment.

A source within Rakuten has said that staff at the company have yet to receive any notice of a decision by Baidu, and operations continue as normal. Both Lekutian and Baidu have yet to comment on the situation.

Keywords: e-commerce Internet B2C Baidu JV Rakuten BIDU investment localization

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