Rumor: Baidu Invests in C2C Education Platform Chuanke
Tencent Tech, 12/05/13
According to an industry insider, Chuangke Computing, operator of C2C online education platform Chuanke, received a USD 7-digit strategic investment from Chinese internet company Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) in July. Chuanke is reportedly looking to leverage Baidu traffic to position itself in the online education industry in a similar fashion to Baidu's online travel services subsidiary Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR).
Baidu recorded an estimated RMB 1 bln in education-related advertising revenue in H1 2013, and in September released Chuanke-linked online course streaming services on its document-sharing platform Baidu Wenku.
Other Chinese companies have also showed recent interest in the online education market. Chinese software developer and online entertainment provider Kingsoft (3888.HK) has stated that its online English tutoring website Haowj.com is currently undergoing further development in anticipation of its launch as an independent product. K-12 after-school tutoring services provider TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) has also begun its transition towards the online education market, reportedly allocating USD 8.5 mln to acquire Beijing-based Yiming Tianxia, operator of education news portal Kaoyan.com.
Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, please see "Rumor: Tencent to Invest in C2C Education Platform Chuanke," MD 1/13/13 issue.
Keywords: Kingsoft Internet online education Baidu 3888.HK BIDU Baidu Wenku Chuanke TAL Education XRS Yiming Tianxia
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