The Beijing-based internet company said Tuesday that fourth-quarter revenue fell 2.4%, better than analysts’ estimates.

A recent summit for private entrepreneurs in Beijing, attended by tech leaders including Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Huawei founder Zhengfei Ren, has drawn attention to the notable absence of Baidu founder Robin Li.

The Hong Kong shares of Baidu plunged on Monday, wiping $2.4 billion off its market value, after the founder of the Chinese search engine giant was not spotted at a rare meeting between President Xi Jinping and corporate leaders.

Baidu on Friday said the next generation of its Ernie LLM will be open source from June 30, according to a statement from the Beijing-based company, in a 180-degree turn from founder, chairman and chief executive Robin Li Yanhong’s long-held backing of closed-source AI development.

BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese search engine giant Baidu said on Friday it would make its next-generation artificial intelligence model Ernie open-source from June 30, a major shift in strategy as competition heats up.

Baidu's stock fell about 7% in Hong Kong on Monday after CEO Robin Li was not seen at a meeting between China's President Xi Jinping and corporate executives.

The Hong Kong shares of Baidu plunged on Monday, wiping $2.4 billion off its market value, after the founder of the Chinese search engine giant was not spotted at a rare meeting between President Xi Jinping and corporate leaders.

The Beijing-based internet company said Tuesday that fourth-quarter revenue fell 2.4%, better than analysts’ estimates.

A recent summit for private entrepreneurs in Beijing, attended by tech leaders including Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Huawei founder Zhengfei Ren, has drawn attention to the notable absence of Baidu founder Robin Li.

Shares of Baidu fell sharply, losing $2.4 billion in market value, after founder Robin Li was absent from a key meeting with China's President Xi Jinping. This absence, amid strategic shifts towards AI integration,

"One thing we learned from DeepSeek is that open-sourcing the best models can greatly help adoption," said Baidu's Robin Li.

Chinese internet search giant Baidu will make its advanced AI chatbot services free, as competition heats up among global developers following the surging popularity of startup DeepSeek’s models.