UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 20-F

(Mark One)

or

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.2016.

or

For the transition period from             to 

or

Date of event requiring this shell company report

Commission file number:000-51469

Baidu, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Cayman Islands

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

Baidu Campus

No. 10 Shangdi 10th Street

Haidian District, Beijing 100085

The People’s Republic of China

(Address of principal executive offices)

Jennifer Xinzhe Li, Chief Financial Officer

Telephone: +(86 10) 5992-8888

Email: ir@baidu.com

Facsimile: +(86 10) 5992-0000

Baidu Campus

No. 10 Shangdi 10th Street,

Haidian District, Beijing 100085

The People’s Republic of China

(Name, Telephone, Email and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the Issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

27,113, 54127,325,551 Class A ordinary shares and 7,492,9217,401,254 Class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.00005 per share, as of December 31, 2015.2016.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes   x☒    No  ¨☐

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.    Yes  ¨☐    No  x☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes   x☒    No  ¨☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 ofRegulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes   x☒    No  ¨☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or anon-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” inRule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.

Item 17  ¨☐

Item 18  ¨☐

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined inRule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ¨☐    No  x☒

(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court.    Yes   ¨☐    No  ¨☐

TABLE OF CONTENTS

i

INTRODUCTION

In this annual report, except where the context otherwise requires and for purposes of this annual report only:

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This annual report on Form20-F contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current expectations and views of future events. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,”�� “future,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate,” “is/are likely to” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

We would like to caution you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and you should read these statements in conjunction with the risk factors disclosed in “Item 3D. Key Information—Risk Factors.” Those risks are not exhaustive. We operate in a rapidly evolving environment. New risks emerge from time to time and it is impossible for our management to predict all risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statement. We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law.

PART I

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The following table presents the selected consolidated financial information for our company. The selected consolidated statements of comprehensive income data for the three years ended December 31, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 20152016 and the consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 20142015 and 20152016 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are included in this annual report beginning onpage F-1. The selected consolidated statements of comprehensive income data for the years ended December 31, 20112012 and 20122013 and the selected consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 20132014 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2013,2014, which are not included in this annual report, with certain adjustment being made to the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2013 as a result of our exchange of shares in Qunar Cayman Islands Limited, or Qunar, with Ctrip.com International, Ltd., or Ctrip. Our historical results do not necessarily indicate results expected for any future periods. The selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with, and are qualified in their entirety by reference to, our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” below. Our audited consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Exchange Rate Information

Our business is primarily conducted in China and almost all of our revenues are denominated in RMB. However, periodic reports made to shareholders will include current period amounts translated into U.S. dollars using the then current exchange rates, for the convenience of the readers. The conversion of RMB into U.S. dollars in this annual report is based on the noon buyingexchange rate set forth in New York City for cable transfers in RMB as certified for customs purposes bythe H.10 statistical release of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board.System. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from RMB to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to RMB in this annual report were made at a rate of RMB6.4778RMB6.9430 to US$1.00, the noon buyingexchange rate in effect as of December 31, 2015.30, 2016. We make no representation that any RMB or U.S. dollar amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars or RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate, or at all. The PRC government imposes control over its foreign currency reserves in part through direct regulation of the conversion of RMB into foreign exchange and through restrictions on foreign trade. On April 1, 2016,March 24, 2017, the noon buying rate was RMB6.4776RMB6.8803 to US$1.00.

The following table sets forth information concerning exchange rates between the RMB and the U.S. dollar for the periods indicated.

Source: Federal Reserve Statistical Release

B.	Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Risks Related to Our Business

If we fail to retain existing customers or attract new customers for our online marketing services, our business, results of operations and growth prospects could be seriously harmed.

We generate substantially all of our revenues from online marketing services, a substantial majority of which are derived from ourpay-for-performance, or P4P, services. Our online marketing customers will not continue to do business with us if their investment does not generate sales leads and ultimately consumers, or if we do not deliver their web pages in an appropriate and effective manner. Our P4P customers may choose to discontinue their business with us, which are not subject to fixed-term contracts. We have in the past removed, and may in the future again remove, questionable paid search listings of some customers to ensure the quality and reliability of our search results. Such removal, whether temporary or permanent, may cause the affected customers to discontinue their business with us. In addition, third parties may develop and use certain technologies to block the display of our customers’ advertisements and other marketing products on ourBaidu.com website, Baidu platform, which may in turn cause us to lose customers and adversely affect our results of operations. Furthermore, we adjust pricesas our auction-based P4P services enable our customers to bid for somepriority placement of our online marketing services from time to time. Wetheir paid sponsored links, we may lose customers who decideif they find the bidding mechanism not cost effective or otherwise not attractive. Additionally, if our users do not increase their search frequencies on our platform, or our content ecosystem fails to payoffer rich and quality content that meets users’ tastes and preferences, or our users spend more time with or otherwise satisfy their search demands on competing platforms, or we otherwise experience user traffic decline due to any reason, it would be difficult for our increased prices.us to attract new customers or retain existing customers. Failure to retain our existing customers or attract new customers for our online marketing services could seriously harm our business, results of operations and growth prospects.

In recent years, we have generated an increasing amount of online marketingour revenues from online advertising.advertising have increased. We believe our large user base and traffic provide advertisers with a broad reach and optimal monetization results. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to attract new advertisers or retain our existing advertisers. If our advertisers determine that their expenditures on our websitesplatform do not generate expected returns, they may allocate a portion or all of their advertising budgets to other advertising channels, such as television, and outdoor media and other online marketing platforms, and reduce or discontinue business with us. Since most of our advertisers are not bound by long-term contracts, they may amend or terminate advertising arrangements with us easily without incurring liabilities. Failure to retain existing advertisers or attract new ones to advertise on our websitesplatform may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We have in the past removed, and may in the future again remove, questionable paid search listings of some customers to ensure the quality and reliability of our search results. Such removal, whether temporary or permanent, may cause the affected customers to discontinue their business with us. We also examine the relevant business licenses and bank accounts of prospective customers prior to business engagement, as a quality control measure. In addition, since early May 2016, we have taken steps to implement measures requested by PRC regulatory authorities, such as modifying paid search practices and limiting the amount of displays. We have also proactively implemented numerous additional measures to deliver a better user experience and build a safer and more trustworthy platform for users, including turning down customers who do not meet our new requirements, creating a customer credibility ranking system and weighing customer credibility more highly in the ranking algorithm, reducing the number of sponsored links, and making upgrades to our user feedback system and user

protection programs. Such measures have had a negative impact on the number of customers and our revenues in the short term. PRC regulations on online marketing services are evolving, and uncertainties remain with respect to the implementation of and compliance with new regulations that may emerge, which in turn may have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and growth prospects.

If online marketing does not further grow in China, our ability to increase revenue and profitability could be materially and adversely affected.

The use ofWhile the internet ashas developed to a marketing channel is at a developingmore advanced stage in China. Internet penetration rate in China, is relatively lowcustomers have many channels to do online marketing and promotion. As users may not spend as comparedmuch time on internet search products as they used to, that in most developed countries. Many of ourmany current and potential customers have limited experience withmay not use internet search products as their one of the internet as amain online marketing channel,channels to promote their products and historically haveservices, and thus may not devotedallocate a significant portion of their marketing budgets to online marketing and promotion. As a result, they may not consider thethrough internet to be an effective channel to promote theirsearch products andsuch as our P4P services, as compared to traditional print and broadcast media.other methods of online marketing. Our ability to increase revenue and profitability from online marketing on PC and mobile internet may be adversely impacted by a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

Our business depends on a strong brand, and if we are not able to maintain and enhance our brand, our business and results of operations may be harmed.

We believe that our brand “Baidu” has contributed significantly to the success of our business. We also believe that maintaining and enhancing the “Baidu” brand is critical to increasing the number of our users, customers, and Baidu Union members.members and content providers. We have conducted various marketing and brand promotion activities, but we cannot assure you that these activities will achieve the brand promotion effect expected by us. If we fail to maintain and further promote the “Baidu” brand, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

In addition, any negative publicity about our company, our products and services, our employees, our business practices, or our search results or the websitesplatform to which our search results link, regardless of its veracity, could harm our brand image and in turn adversely affect our business and results of operations. We cannot assure you that we will be able to defuse negative publicity to the satisfaction of our investors, users, customers and business partners. From time to time, there have been negative publicities about our company and our business practice, which adversely affected our public image and reputation during the period of certain intense negative publicities. For example, in 2016, Chinese media reported that a Chinese college student had died from cancer following unsuccessful treatment received at a hospital that the student had found through a paid search listing on Baidu. The negative publicity surrounding this incident has resulted in significant adverse impact on our public image and reputation. Intense negative publicities may divert our management’s attention and may adversely impact our business, and webusiness. We cannot assure you that our brand, public image and reputation will not be materially and adversely affected.affected in the future.

We face significant competition and may suffer from loss of users and customers as a result.

We face significant competition in almost every aspect of our business, including competition from other companies that seek to provide internet search services to users and provide online marketing services to customers, as well as other companies that provide transaction or internet video services. In the Chinese internet market, our main competitors include China-based internet companies, such as Tencent, Alibaba, Sohu, Qihoo 360 and Qihoo 360.ByteDance. We compete with these entities for both users and customers on the basis of user traffic, quality (relevance), safety and user experience of the search results, availability and ease of use of products and services, the number of customers, distribution channels and the number of associated third-party websites/wapsites. For transaction services, our primary competitors include China-based internet companies such as Meituan-Dianping, Elema, Koubei, AutoNavi, Alipay and Koubei.Weixin Pay. For iQiyi, our primary competitors include companies that operate online video websites in China, such as Youku-Tudou and Tencent Video. Some of our competitors have significant financial resources, long operating histories and are experienced in attracting and retaining their users, accommodating their users’ habits and preferences and managing customers. They may use their experience and resources to compete with us in a variety of ways, including by competing more heavily for users and their time, customers, distributors, merchants, content, strategic partners and networks of third-party websites/wapsites, investing more heavily in research and development and making investments and acquisitions. If any of our competitors provides comparable or better Chinese language search experience, transaction services or internet video services, our user traffic could decline significantly. Additionally, if the channels that we use to distribute services or products to our users and customers are no longer available to us, we may experience a decline in user traffic. Any such decline in traffic could weaken our brand and result in loss of users and customers, which wouldcould have a material and adverse effect on our results of operations.

We also face competition from other types of advertising media, such as newspapers, magazines, yellow pages, billboards, other forms of outdoor media, television, radio and mobile applications. Large companies in

China generally allocate, and may continue to allocate, most of their marketing budgets to traditional advertising media and only a limited portion of their budgets to online marketing, as opposed to traditional advertising and other forms of advertising media. If these companies do not devote a larger portion of their marketing budgets to online marketing services provided by us, or if our existing customers reduce the amount they spend on online marketing, our results of operations and growth prospects could be adversely affected.

If our expansions into new internet businesses are not successful, our future results of operations and growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

As part of our growth strategy, we enter into new internet businesses from time to time by leveraging our large internet user base to generate additional revenue streams and through our development of new business lines or strategic investments in or acquisitions of other businesses. Expansions into new businesses may present operating, marketing and marketingcompliance challenges that are differentdiffer from those that we currently encounter. For each new business we enter into, we face competition from existing leading players in that business. If we cannot successfully activate our user base by addressing theaddress new challenges and providing service ofprovide exceptional quality services, we may not be able to compete effectively against the existing leading players,effectively. As a result, we may not be able to recover costs incurred for investing in, developing and marketing new businesses, and eventuallymay not achieve profitability from these businesses, andbusinesses. In that case, our future results of operations and growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected. In addition, we may encounter regulatory uncertainties related to new business we enter into.

If we fail to continue to innovate and provide products, services and services tohigh-quality internet experience that attract and retain users, we may not be able to generate sufficient user traffic levels to remain competitive.

Our success depends on providing products and services to attract users and enable users to have a high-quality internet experience. In order to attract and retain users and compete against our competitors, we must continue to invest significant resources in research and development to enhance our internet search technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving technology improve our existing products and services and introduce additional high-quality products and services. If we are unable to anticipate user preferences or industry changes, or if we are unable to enhance the quality of our products and services on a timely basis or fail

to provide sufficient content, we may lose users.suffer a decline in the size of our user base. Our results of operations may also suffer if our innovations do not respond to the needs of our users, are not appropriately timed with market opportunities or are not effectively brought to market. As search technology, continues to developAI and mobilenew forms of devices and applications are increasingly usedcontinue to access the internet, our competitorsdevelop, we may be able to offer products and services that are, or that are perceived to be, substantially similar to or better than those provided by us. This may force us to expend significant resources in research and development and strategic investments and acquisitions in order to remain competitive.

If our content ecosystem fails to continually offer quality content in a cost effective manner, we may experience declines in user traffic and user engagement, our business and results of operations may be harmed.

We operate a content ecosystem consisting of our core search products, iQiyi, Baidu Maps, Baidu Post Bar, Baidu Knows, Baidu Encyclopedia, Baijiahao, Baidu Newsfeed and various other products. The success of our content ecosystem depends on our ability to attract content owners to contribute quality content to our platform by leveraging our user traffic and enhance user engagement through provision of attractive content, so as to create a virtuous cycle. We have relied and will continue to rely on third parties for part of the content offered in our content ecosystem. As the competition for quality content becomes increasingly intense in China, we cannot assure you that we will be able to manage our content acquisition costs effectively and generate sufficient revenues to outpace future increase in content spending. We may also be unable to renew some of our content licensing agreements upon their expiration or termination and any renewal of the content licensing agreements may involve higher costs or less favorable terms. If we are not able to license popular premium content on commercially reasonable terms or renew our content licensing agreement, our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. In addition, we have users contribute their originally produced content to our various products, such as Baidu Post Bar, Baidu Knows and Baidu Encyclopedia, and we also invite self-media professionals to set up Baijiahao accounts on our platform and publish their content on our platform. If these parties fail to develop and maintain high-quality and engaging content, if our desired premium content becomes exclusive to our competitors, or if a large number of our existing relationships are terminated, the attractiveness of our content offerings to users may be severely impaired. If we are unable to offer content that meets users’ tastes and preferences on a continuing basis and in a cost effective manner, our user experience may deteriorate, we may suffer from reduced user traffic, our business and results of operations may be harmed.

Our expansion into financial services may subject us to regulatory, credit, operational and reputational risks, each of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We began to provide financial services in China in recent years. Our financial services mainly include Baidu Consumer Credit, through which we offer education loans and consumer financing in industry sectors such as travel, beauty, home decoration and home rentals.

PRC laws and regulations concerning the internet finance industry, particularly those governing credit lending, are evolving. Although we have taken careful measures to comply with the laws and regulations that are applicable to the financial services that we offer, the PRC government authorities may promulgate new policies, rules and regulations regulating the internet finance industry. If our financial services, especially our innovative solutions, were deemed to violate any PRC laws or regulations, our business, financial conditions and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. We cannot assure you that our practices would not be deemed to violate any PRC laws or regulations. Moreover, developments in the internet finance industry may lead to changes in PRC laws, regulations and policies or in the interpretation and application of existing laws, regulations and policies that may limit or restrict online consumer financing services like those we offer, which could materially and adversely affect our business and operations. Furthermore, we cannot rule out the possibility that the PRC government will institute a new licensing regime covering our financial services in the future. If such a licensing regime were introduced, we cannot assure you that we would be able to obtain any newly required license in a timely manner, or at all, which could materially and adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations.

As part of our financial services, we have adopted what we believe to be a new approach to credit risk management, through leveraging our big data and computing analytical capabilities, and have taken various other measures to monitor and limit credit risks. However, the risk of nonpayment of loans is inherent in the finance business, and we are subject to credit risks resulting from defaults by consumers. While we employ statistical modelling and big data to carefully assess credit risks, credit risks are exacerbated in microcredit and consumer financing because there is relatively limited information available about the credit histories of the borrowers. There can be no assurances that our credit assessment and risk management are or will be sufficient to result in lower delinquencies. As we expand into newsub-sectors of consumer financing, our limited operational experience and lack of familiarity with the new areas may render our risk management less effective, thus exacerbating our credit risks. Furthermore, our ability to manage the quality and the associated credit risks of our loan portfolio may have significant impact on our results of operations. Deterioration in the overall quality of loan portfolio and increased exposure to credit risks may occur due to a variety of reasons, including factors beyond our control, such as a slowdown in the growth of the PRC or global economies or a liquidity or credit crisis in the PRC or global financial sectors, which may adversely affect the liquidity of our borrowers or their ability to repay or roll over their debt. Any significant deterioration in the asset quality of our financial services business and significant increase in associated credit risks may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our financial services business also faces additional operational risks with respect to illegal or fraudulent activities, such as illegally accessing and using another’s Baidu Wallet account, and providing false credit and other information or creating fictitious or “phantom” transactions with collaborators in order to obtain loans from us. Although we have implemented various measures to detect and reduce the occurrence of illegal or fraudulent activities, there can be no assurance that such measures will be effective in combating fraudulent activities. Significant increases in illegal or fraudulent activity could negatively impact our brand and reputation, lead us to take additional steps to reduce such risks, and cause us to incur additional expenses and costs, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Negative publicity about our partners, outsourced service providers or other counterparties, such as negative publicity about their debt collection practices and any failure by them to adequately protect the information of borrowers, to comply with applicable laws and regulations or to otherwise meet required quality and service standards could harm our reputation. Furthermore, any negative development in the internet finance industry, such as bankruptcies of companies providing similar services, or negative perception of the industry as a whole, could compromise our image, undermine the trust and credibility we have established and impose a negative impact on our business and results of operations.

If we fail to keep up with rapid changes in technologies and user behavior, our future success may be adversely affected.

Our future success will depend on our ability to respond to rapidly changing technologies, adapt our products and services to evolving industry standards and improve the performance and reliability of our products and services. Our failure to adapt to such changes could harm our business. In addition, changes in user behavior resulting from technological developments may also adversely affect us. For example, the number of people accessing the internet through mobile devices, including mobile phones, tablets, digital assistants and other hand-held devices, and televisionset-top devices, has increased in recent years, and we expect this trend to continue while 3G/4G4G/5G and more advanced mobile communications technologies are broadly implemented. If we fail to develop products and technologies that are compatible with all mobile devices and operating systems, or if the products and services we develop are not widely accepted and used by users of various mobile devices and operating systems, our further penetrationposition in the mobile internet market may be hindered.adversely affected. In addition, the widespread adoption of new internet, networking or telecommunications technologies or other technological changes could require substantial expenditures to modify or integrate our products, services or infrastructure. If we fail to keep up with rapid technological changes to remain competitive, or consequently fail to retain users with products and service of exceptional quality, our future success may be adversely affected.

Interruption or failure of our own information technology and communications systems or those of third-party service providers we rely upon could impair our ability to provide products and services, which could damage our reputation and harm our results of operations.

Our ability to provide products and services depends on the continuing operation of our information technology and communications systems. Any damage to or failure of our systems could interrupt our services. Service interruptions could reduce our revenuesrevenue and profitsprofit and damage our brand if our systems are perceived to be unreliable. Our systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption as a result of terrorist attacks, wars, earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures, undetected errors or “bugs” in our software, computer viruses, interruptions in access to our websitesplatform through the use of “denial of service” or similar attacks, hacking or other attempts to harm our systems, and similar events. Some of our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning does not account for all possible scenarios. In May 2014,February 2017, the service of ourMobile Baidu Cloud was inaccessible to some users for approximately four hoursforty-three minutes due to a system failure, of the internet infrastructure.which adversely affected our user experience then.

Our servers, which are hosted at third-party or our own internet data centers, are vulnerable tobreak-ins, sabotage and vandalism. The occurrence of natural disasters or closure of an internet data center by a third-party provider without adequate notice could result in lengthy service interruptions. In addition, our domain names are resolved into internet protocol (IP) addresses by systems of third-party domain name registrars and registries. Any interruptions or failures of those service providers’ systems, which are beyond our control, could significantly disrupt our own services.If we experience frequent or persistent system failures on our websites,platform, whether due to interruptions and failures of our own information technology and communications systems or those of third-party service providers that we rely upon, our reputation and brand could be severely harmed. The steps we take to increase the reliability and redundancy of our systems may cause us to incur heavy costs and reduce our operating margin, and may not be successful in reducing the frequency or duration of service interruptions.

More people are using devices other than personal computers to access the internet. If users do not widely adopt versions of our web search technology, products and services developed for these devices, our business could be adversely affected.

The number of people who access the internet through devices other than personal computers, including mobile phones, smartphones, handheld computers, smart home devices and other tablets such as iPad, and television set-topsmart devices, is increasing dramatically. The varying display sizes, functionality, and memory associated with some alternative devices may require us to tailor the user experience and interfaces to those devices and the versions of our products and services developed for these devices may not be compelling to users, manufacturers, or distributors of devices. Each manufacturer or distributor may establish unique technical standards for its devices, and our products and services may not work or be accessible on these devices. Some manufacturers may also elect not to include our products on their devices. In addition, user time spent on search queries isare increasingly being divided across “apps”conducted through apps and services tailored to particular devices or social media platforms.devices. A shift in user behavior to perform search queries on other devices or apps rather than a search engine could affect our share of the search market over time. As new devices and new platforms are continually being released, it is difficult to predict the future channels to access search. We may encounter challenges in developing versions of our products and services for use on these alternative devices, and we may need to devote significant resources to the creation, support, and maintenance of our products and services tailored for such devices. If we are unable to attract and retain a substantial number of alternative device manufacturers, distributors, and users to adopt and use our products and services, or if we are slow to develop products and technologies that are more compatible with alternative devices, we may fail to capture a significant share of an increasingly important portion of the market for online services, which could adversely affect our business.

We may not be able to manage our expanding operations effectively.

We have significantly expanded our operations in recent years. We expect this expansion trend to continue as we grow our user and customer base and explore new opportunities. To manage the further expansion of our

business and growth of our operations and personnel, we need to continually improve our operational and financial systems, procedures and controls, and expand, train, manage and maintain good relations with our growing employee base. We have experienced labor disputes in the past. Although these disputes were resolved promptly, we cannot assure you that there will not be any new labor dispute in the future. In addition, we must maintain and expand our relationships with other websites, internet companies and other third parties. Our current and future personnel, systems, procedures and controls may not be adequate to support our expanding operations. In addition, as we expand into certain new businesses, such as internet finance, we may be required to apply for specific operation permits to be qualified to conduct the business. We are in the process of applying for such permits but we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain them in a timely manner, if at all.

We may face intellectual property infringement claims and other related claims that could be time-consuming and costly to defend and may result in an adverse impact over our operations.

Internet, technology and media companies are frequently involved in litigation based on allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights, unfair competition, invasion of privacy, defamation and other violations of other parties’ rights. The validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property in internet-related industries, particularly in China, are uncertain and still evolving. As we face increasing competition and as litigation becomes more common in China in resolving commercial disputes, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims. We may be subject to administrative actions brought by the PRC State Copyright Bureau and in the most severe scenario criminal prosecution for alleged copyright infringement, and as a result may be subject to fines and other penalties and be required to discontinue infringing activities. Furthermore, as we expand our operations outside of China, we may be subject to claims brought against us in jurisdictions outside of China.

Our search products and services such as Baidu Video Search, link to materials in which third parties may claim ownership of trademarks, copyrights or other rights. Our audio and video player, Baidu Media Player, enables users to play multimedia files, which may be protected by copyright or other intellectual property rights. In addition, as we adopt new technologies and roll out new products and services, we face the risk of being subject to intellectual property infringement claims that may arise from our use of new technologies and provision of new products and services. Our products and services including those based on cloud computing technology, such as Baidu Cloud,Netdisk, Baidu WenKu and Baidu Post Bar, allow our users to upload, store and share documents, images, audios and videos on our servers, or share, link to or otherwise provide access to contents from other websites, and we also operate distribution platforms whereby developers can upload, share and sell their applications or games to users. Although we have made commercially reasonable efforts to request users or developers to comply with applicable intellectual property laws, we cannot ensure that all of our users or developers have the rights to upload or share these contents or applications. In addition, we have been and may continue to be subject to copyright or trademark infringement and other related claims from time to time, in China and internationally.

We have been making continuous efforts to keep ourselves informed of and to comply with all applicable laws and regulations affecting our business. However, PRC laws and regulations are evolving, and uncertainties still exist with respect to the legal standards as well as the judicial interpretation of the standards for determining liabilities of internet search and other internet service providers for providing links to contents on third-party websites that infringe upon others’ copyrights or hosting such contents, or providing information storage space, file sharing technology or other internet services that are used by internet users to disseminate such contents. The Supreme People’s Court of China promulgated a judicial interpretation on infringement of the right of dissemination through internet in December 2012. This judicial interpretation, like certain court rulings and certain other judicial interpretations, provide that the courts will place the burden on internet service providers to remove not only links or contents that have been specifically mentioned in the notices of infringement from right holders, but also links or contents they “should have known” to contain infringing content. The interpretation further provides that where an internet service provider has directly obtained economic benefits from any contents made available by an internet user, it has a higher duty of care with respect to internet users’ infringement of third-party copyrights. A guidance on the trial of audio/video sharing copyright disputes promulgated by the Higher People’s Court of Beijing in December 2012 provides that where an internet service

provider has directly obtained economic benefits from any audio/video contents made available by an internet

user who has no authorization for sharing such contents, the internet service provider shall be presumed to be at fault. These interpretations could subject us and other internet service providers to significant administrative burdens and litigation risks.

We conduct our business operations primarily in China. There might be claims that we are subject to U.S. copyright laws, including the legal standards for determining indirect liability for copyright infringement, although we believe such claims are without merits. We cannot assure you that we will not be subject to copyright infringement lawsuits or other proceedings in the U.S. or elsewhere in the future.

Intellectual property litigation is expensive and time-consuming and could divert resources and management attention from the operations of our business. We are currently named as a defendant in somecertain copyright infringement suits in connection with our Baidu Music, P4P,Netdisk, Baidu Post Bar, Mobile Baidu, Cloud, Baidu Nuomi, iQiyi and certain other products or services. See “Item 8.A. Financial Information—Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.” There is no guarantee that the competent courts will accept our defenses and rule in our favor. If there is a successful claim of infringement, we may be required to discontinue the infringing activities, pay substantial fines and damages and/or enter into royalty or license agreements that may not be available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. Our failure to obtain a license of the rights on a timely basis could harm our business. Any intellectual property litigation by third parties and/or negative publicity alleging our intellectual property infringement could have an adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition or results of operations. To address the risks relating to intellectual property infringement, we may have to substantially modify, limit or terminate some of our search services. Any such change could materially affect user experience and in turn have an adverse impact on our business.

We have been and may again be subject to claims and investigations based on the content found on our websites,platform, the results in our paid search listings or other products and services we offer.

In addition to the content developed by ourselves and posted on our websites,platform, our users are free to post information on Baidu Post Bar, Baidu Knows, Baidu Encyclopedia, Baidu WenKu and other sections of our websites,platform, and our P4P customers may create text-based descriptions, image descriptions and other phrases to be used as text, image or keywords in our search listings, and users can also use our personal cloud computing service, Baidu Cloud,Netdisk, to upload, store and share documents, images, audios and videos on our cloud servers. We have been and may continue to be subject to claims and investigations for intellectual property infringement, defamation, negligence or other legal theories based on the content found on our websites,platform, the results in our paid search listings or our other products and services, which, with or without merit, may result in diversion of management attention and financial resources and negative publicity on our brand and reputation. See “Item 8.A. Financial Information—Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.” Furthermore, if the content posted on our websitesplatform or found, stored or shared through our other products and services contains information that government authorities find objectionable, our websitesplatform or relevant products or services may be shut down and we may be subject to other penalties. See “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Regulation and censorship of information disseminated over the internet in China may adversely affect our business, and subject us to liability for information displayed on or linked to our websitesplatform and negative publicity in international media.”

Under PRC advertising laws and regulations, we are obligated to monitor the advertising content posted on our websites to ensure that such content is fair and accurate and in compliance with applicable law. In addition, where a special government review is required for specific categories of advertisements before posting, we are obligated to confirm that such review has been performed and approval has been obtained. See “Item 4.B. Information on the Company—Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations on Advertisements.” Our P4P services are not subject to PRC advertising laws and regulations, because PRC laws and regulations and administrative authorities currently do not classify P4P services as a form of online advertising. However, in July 2015, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce promulgated the Interim Measures for the

Supervision and Administration of Online Advertising (Draft for Comment), or the Draft Online Advertising Measures, for seeking comments. The Draft Online Advertising Measures classifies “paid search results” as a form of online advertising and require search engine service providers to clearly identify any paid search results to avoid causing any confusion to customers. The Draft Online Advertising Measures also requires internet information service providers to examine business licenses of advertisers, advertising operators and advertising distributors using the service providers’ internet media resources and other qualifications that the goods or services being advertised are subject to. If an internet information service provider has the right to decide the content of the online advertisements or the online advertisements are directly displayed or stored on the internet service provider’s websites or other internet media resources, the internet information service provider will also be obligated to examine content of the online advertisements in accordance with PRC advertising laws and regulations. There are substantial uncertainties as to if and when the Draft Online Advertising Measures will be adopted into law and what further changes will be made to such measures prior to or during such adoption. If our P4P services are classified as a form of online advertising and we meet the conditions requiring internet information service providers to examine the content of the online advertisements under the new regulations adopted in the future, we would be obligated to examine the content of our P4P customers’ listings on our websites, which could be excessively burdensome such that we may have to stop posting certain categories of listings on our websites or otherwise cease our P4P services for certain categories of customers. If advertisements shown on our websites are in violation of relevant PRC advertising laws and regulations, or if the supporting documentation and government approvals provided to us by our advertising clients in connection with the advertising content are not complete or accurate, we may be subject to legal liabilities and our reputation could be harmed.

We have been, and in the future may again be, subject to claims, investigations or negative publicity based on the results in our paid search listings. Claims have been filed against us after we allowed certain customers to register keywords containing trademarks, trade names or brand names owned by others and displayed links to such customers’ websites in our paid search listings. While we maintain a database of certain well-known trademarks and continually update our system algorithms and functions aiming at preventing customers from submitting a keyword containing the well-known trademarks that we know are owned by others, it is not possible for us to completely prevent our customers from bidding on keywords that contain trademarks, trade names or brand names owned by others. ThereIn 2016, PRC regulatory authorities required that we take several remedial measures, including: (i) immediately modifying our practice of providing online marketing services to medical,

pharmaceutical, health care and other similar businesses, and refraining from providing online marketing services to medical organizations that do not have requisite qualifications from competent regulatory authorities; (ii) modifying our existing auction-based paid search practices, indicating clearly paid search results and the associated risks, and limiting the percentage of marketing information to no more than 30% on each web page; and (iii) establishing and enhancing user protection mechanisms and establishing a system to compensate users harmed by fraudulent marketing information. Such measures have had a negative impact on the number of customers and our revenues in the short term. In addition, there has been negative publicity about fraudulent information in our paid search listings. Although we have been continually enhancing our technology, control and oversight to prevent fraudulent websites, web pages and information from our paid search listings, there is no guarantee that the measures we have taken are effective at all times. Claims, investigations and negative publicity based on the results in our paid search listings, regardless of their merit, may divert management attention, severely disrupt our operations, adversely affect our results of operations and harm our reputation.

Our business may be adversely affected if we were found to have failed to fulfill the additional obligations under the new online advertising rules.

Although the PRC Advertising Law has not specified “paid search results” as a form of advertising, the Interim Administration Measures of Internet Advertising, or the Internet Advertising Measures, which was promulgated by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and became effective on September 1, 2016, characterizes “paid search results” as a form of internet advertising from the perspective of regulating online advertising business. Pursuant to the Internet Advertising Measures, we are subject to additional legal obligations to monitor our P4P customers’ listings on our website during the course of our provision of P4P services. For example, we must examine, verify and record identity information of our P4P customers, such as name, address and contact information, and maintain an updated verification of such information on a regular basis. Moreover, we must examine supporting documentation provided by our P4P customers. Where a special government review is required for specific categories of advertisements before posting, we must confirm that the review has been performed and approval has been obtained. If the content of the advertisement is inconsistent with the supporting documentation, or the supporting documentation is incomplete, the advertisement cannot be published. Failure to comply with these obligations may subject us to fines and other administrative penalties. If advertisements shown on our platform are in violation of relevant PRC advertising laws and regulations, or if the supporting documentation and government approvals provided to us by our P4P customers in connection with the advertising content are not complete or accurate, we may be subject to legal liabilities and our reputation could be harmed. See “Item 4.B. Information on the Company—Business Overview—Regulations—Regulations on Advertisements and Online Advertising.”

We may be subject to patent infringement claims with respect to our P4P platform.

Our technologies and business methods, including those relating to our P4P platform, may be subject to third-party claims or rights that limit or prevent their use. In June 2005, we applied for a patent in China for our P4P platform, but our application was rejected on the ground that it is not patentable. Certain U.S.-based companies, including Overture Services Inc., have been granted patents in the United States relating to P4P platforms and similar business methods and related technologies. While we believe that we are not subject to U.S. patent laws since we conduct our business operations primarily in China, we cannot assure you that U.S. patent laws would not be applicable to our business operations, or that holders of patents relating to a P4P platform would not seek to enforce such patents against us in the United States or China.

Many parties are actively developing and seeking protection for internet-related technologies, including patent protection. They may hold patents issued or pending that relate to certain aspects of our technologies, products, business methods or services. Any patent infringement claims, regardless of their merits, could be time-consuming and costly to us. If we were sued for patent infringement claims with respect to our P4P platform and

were found to infringe upon the patents and were not able to adoptnon-infringing technologies, we may be severely limited in our ability to operate our P4P platform, which would have a material and adverse effect on our results of operations and prospects.

Our business may be adversely affected by third-party software applications or practices that interfere with our receipt of information from, or provision of information to, our users, which may impair our users’ experience.

Our business may be adversely affected by third-party malicious or unintentional software applications that make changes to our users’ computers and interfere with our products and services. These software applications may change our users’ internet experience by hijacking queries to our websites,platform, altering or replacing our search results, or otherwise interfering with our ability to connect with our users. The interference often occurs without disclosure to or consent from users, resulting in a negative experience, which users may associate with our websites.platform. These software applications may be difficult to remove or disable, may reinstall themselves and may circumvent other applications’ efforts to block or remove them.

In addition, our business may be adversely affected by the practices of third-party website owners, content providers and developers which interfere with our ability to crawl and index their web pages and contents including applications. The ability to provide a superior user experience is critical to our success. If we are unable to successfully combat malicious third-party software applications that interfere with our products and services, our reputation may be harmed. If a significant number of website owners, content providers and developers prevent us from indexing and including their high-quality web pages and contents including applications in our search results, or if we cannot effectively combat web spam fromlow-quality and irrelevant content websites, the quality of our search results may be impaired.impaired, which may damage our reputation and deter our current and potential users from using our products and services.

We may not be able to prevent others from unauthorized use of our intellectual property, which could harm our business and competitive position.

We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as nondisclosure agreements and other methods to protect our intellectual property rights. The protection of intellectual property rights in China may not be as effective as those in the United States or other countries. The steps we have taken may be inadequate to prevent the misappropriation of our technology. Reverse engineering, unauthorized copying or other misappropriation of our technologies could enable third parties to benefit from our technologies without paying us. Moreover, unauthorized use of our technology could enable our competitors to offer products and services that are comparable to or better thancompete with ours, which could harm our business and competitive position. We have in the past resorted to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, and may have to do so from time to time in the future. There is no guarantee that the competent courts will accept our claims and rule in our favor. Such litigation may result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention.

Our success depends on the continuing and collaborative efforts of our management team and other key personnel, and our business may be harmeddisrupted if we lose their services.services and are not able to find their successors in a timely manner.

Our future success depends heavily upon the continuing services of our management team, in particular our chairman and chief executive officer, Robin Yanhong Li. If one or more of our executives or other key personnel are unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions and we mayare not be able to replace them easily or at all,find their successors in a timely manner, and our business may be disrupted and our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Competition for management and key personnel is intense, the pool of qualified candidates is

limited, and we may not be able to retain the services of our executives or key personnel, or attract and retain experienced executives or key personnel in the future.

If any of our executives or other key personnel joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may losenot be able to successfully retain customers, distributors,know-how and key personnel. Each of our executive officers and key employees has entered into an employment agreement with us, containing confidentiality andnon-competition provisions. If any disputes arise between any of our executives or key personnel and us, we cannot assure you the extent to which any of these agreements may be enforced.

We rely on highly skilled personnel. If we are unable to retain or motivate them or hire additional qualified personnel, we may not be able to grow effectively.

Our performance and future success depend on the talents and efforts of highly skilled individuals. We will need to continue to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly skilled personnel for all areas of our organization and business operations. Competition in the internet industry for qualified employees is intense. Our continued ability to compete effectively depends on our ability to attract new employees and to retain and motivate our existing employees. As competition in the internet industry intensifies, it may be more difficult for us to hire, motivate and retain highly skilled personnel. If we do not succeed in attracting additional highly skilled personnel or retaining or motivating our existing personnel, we may be unable to grow effectively.

Our strategy of investments and acquiring complementary businesses and assets may fail.

As part of our business strategy, we have pursued, and intend to continue to pursue, selective strategic investments and acquisitions of businesses and assets that complement our existing business. In the past year,business and help us execute our growth strategies. For example, we invested in Ctrip by exchanging our shares in Qunar for shares of Ctrip.Ctrip and subscribed for additional Ctrip shares in 2015 and 2016. We intend to make other strategic investments and acquisitions in the future if suitable opportunities arise. Investments and acquisitions involve uncertainties and risks, including:

Any failure to address these risks successfully may have a material and adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Investments and acquisitions may require a significant amount of capital

investment, which would decrease the amount of cash available for working capital or capital expenditures. In addition, if we use our equity securities to pay for investments and acquisitions, we may dilute the value of our ADSs and the underlying ordinary shares. If we borrow funds to finance investments and acquisitions, such debt instruments may contain restrictive covenants that could, among other things, restrict us from distributing dividends. Moreover, acquisitions may also generate significant amortization expenses related to intangible assets. We may also incur impairment charges to earnings for investments and acquired businesses and assets which are determined to be impaired, and recognize the proportional share of the net losses of the investees to the extent of the amount of the investments for the equity method investments.

We are subject to risks and uncertainties faced by companies in a rapidly evolving industry.

We operate in the rapidly evolving internet industry, which makes it difficult to predict our future results of operations. Accordingly, you should consider our future prospects in light of the risks and uncertainties experienced by companies in evolving industries. Some of these risks and uncertainties relate to our ability to:

If we are unsuccessful in addressing any of these risks and uncertainties, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Our historical growth rate may not be indicative of our future growth rate.

We have experienced substantial growth in recent years. Our total revenues and net income attributable to Baidu, Inc. grew at a compound annual growth rate of 46.3% and 50.1%, respectively,33.4% from 20112012 to 2015.2016. Our growth was driven in part by the growth in China’s internet and online marketing industries, which may not be indicative of future growth or be sustainable. Our past growth rate may not be indicative of our future growth rate.

Our indebtedness could adversely affect our financial condition and our ability to obtain additional capital on reasonable terms when necessary.

As of December 31, 2015,2016, we had an aggregate of US$5.56.4 billion of outstanding indebtedness that will mature between 20162017 and 2025 and we may incur additional indebtedness in the future. Our current and future

debt requires us to dedicate a portion of our cash flow to service interest and principal payments and may limit our ability to engage in other transactions. Our ability to pay interest and repay the principal for our indebtedness is dependent upon our ability to manage our business operations, generate sufficient cash flows to service such debt and the other factors discussed in this section. There can be no assurance that we will be able to manage any of these risks successfully.

We may require additional capital to support our business growth or to respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances. Our ability to obtain additional capital, if and when required, will

depend on our business plans, investor demand, our operating performance, the condition of the capital markets, and other factors, and our indebtedness may limit our ability to borrow additional funds. We may have difficulty incurring new debt on terms that we would consider to be commercially reasonable, if at all. In addition, we may also need to refinance a portion of our outstanding debt as it matures. There is a risk that we may not be able to refinance existing debt or that the terms of any refinancing may not be as favorable as the terms of our existing debt.

Our results of operations may fluctuate, which makes our results difficult to predict and could cause our results to fall short of expectations.

Our results of operations may fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control. For these reasons, comparing our results of operations on aperiod-to-period basis may not be meaningful, and you should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance. Our quarterly and annual revenues and costs and expenses as a percentage of our revenues may be significantly different from our historical or projected figures. Our results of operations in future quarters may fall below expectations. Any of these events could cause the price of our ADSs to fall. Any of the risk factors listed in this “Risk Factors” section, and in particular the following factors, could cause our results of operations to fluctuate from quarter to quarter:

Because of the rapid growth of our business, our historical results of operations may not be useful to you in predicting our future results of operations. Our user traffic tends to be seasonal. For example, we generally experience less user traffic during public holidays and other special event periods in China. In addition, advertising and other marketing spending in China has historically been cyclical, reflecting overall economic conditions as well as budgeting and buying patterns. Our rapid growth has lessened the impact of the cyclicality and seasonality of our business. As we continue to grow, we expect that the cyclicality and seasonality in our business may cause our results of operations to fluctuate.

A severe and prolonged global economic recession and the slowdown in the Chinese economy may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The global macroeconomic environment is facing challenges, including the escalation of the European sovereign debt crisis since 2011, the end of quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the economic slowdown in the Eurozone in 2014. The growth of the Chinese economy has slowed since 2012 and such slowdown may continue. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, China’s gross domestic

product (GDP) growth slowed to 6.9%6.7% in 2015.2016. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including the United States and China. There have been concerns over unrest and terrorist threats in the Middle East, and Africa, which have resulted in volatility in oil and other markets, and over the conflicts involving Ukraine and Syria. There have also been concerns onabout the tensions in the relationship amongbetween China and other countries, including surrounding Asian countries, which may resultpotentially lead to foreign investors closing down their business or withdrawing their investment in or intensify potential conflicts in relation to territorial disputes.China and thus exiting the China market, and other economic effects. Economic conditions in China are sensitive to global economic conditions, as well as changes in domestic economic and political policies and the expected or perceived overall economic growth rate in China. Any prolonged slowdown in the global or Chinese economy may have a negative impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition, and continued turbulence in the international markets may adversely affect our ability to access the capital markets to meet liquidity needs. Our customers may reduce or delay spending with us, while we may have difficulty expanding our customer base fast enough, or at all, to offset the impact of decreased spending by our existing customers. In addition, to the extent we offer credit to any customer and the customer experiences financial difficulties due to the economic slowdown, we could have difficulty collecting payment from the customer.

Because we rely to a large extent on distributors in providing our online marketing services, failure to retain key distributors or attract additional distributors could materially and adversely affect our business. Moreover, there is no assurance that our direct sales model in some key geographic markets will continue to be successful.

Online marketing is at a development stage in China and is not as widely accepted by or available to businesses in China as in the United States. As a result, we rely, to a large extent, on a nationwide distribution network of third-party distributors for our sales to, and collection of payment from, our customers. If our distributors do not provide quality services to our customers or otherwise breach their contracts with our customers, we may lose customers and our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Since most of our distributors are not bound by long-term contracts, we cannot assure you that we will continue to maintain favorable relationships with them. If we fail to retain our key distributors or attract additional distributors on terms that are commercially reasonable, our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We have transitioned to using our direct sales force to serve customers in some key geographic markets, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou and major cities in Guangdong Province. There is no assurance that our direct sales model in those markets will continue to be successful. If we fail to maintain an adequate direct sales force, retain existing customers and continue to attract new customers in those markets, our business, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

We rely on our Baidu Union members for a significant portion of our revenues. If we fail to retain existing Baidu Union members or attract additional members, our revenue growth and profitability may be adversely affected.

We pay Baidu Union members a portion of our revenues based on click-throughs by users of Baidu Union members’ properties. Some of our Baidu Union members, however, may compete with us in one or more areas of our business. Therefore, they may decide in the future to terminate their relationships with us. If our Baidu Union members decide to use a competitor’s or their own internet search services, our user traffic may decline, which

may adversely affect our revenues. If we fail to attract additional Baidu Union members, our revenue growth may be adversely affected. In addition, if we have to share a larger portion of our revenues to retain existing Baidu Union members or attract additional members, our profitability may be adversely affected.

There is no assurance that our expansions into services provided by Baidu Nuomi and Baidu Deliveries will be successful.

Baidu Nuomi and Baidu Deliveries are important components of our transaction services. We have limited experiences in operating these services, as we started to participate in the relevant market in recent years. The success of Baidu Nuomi and Baidu Deliveries depends on our ability to:

We operate Baidu Nuomi and Baidu Deliveries in a highly competitive market. The players in this market may compete with us in a variety of ways, including adopting more aggressive pricing policies, devoting greater resources to marketing and promotional campaigns, investing more heavily in research and development, and making acquisitions for the expansion of their products and services. Increased competition such as the price war in the market may force us to lower the price we charge local merchants or provide more subsidized discounts to users, and require us to increase our marketing and promotional efforts and capital commitment, which would negatively affect our profitability. There can be no assurance that we will be able to compete effectively against current or future competitors, and such competitive pressures may have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our overseas operations may not be successful.

We have launched products and services in local languages to internet users in several countries. It is uncertain when the operation will become profitable, if at all. In particular, we rely on local telecommunication operators and service providers to provide us with network services and data center hosting services, and our systems for these international products and services are not redundant across different regions and data centers. Any interruption to the internet infrastructure or any data center may render our products and services in the region unavailable.

We face certain risks inherent in doing business internationally, including:

One or more of these factors could harm our overseas operations and consequently, could harm our overall results of operations.

If we are unable to adapt or expand our existing technology infrastructure to accommodate greater traffic, content or additional customer requirements, our business may be harmed.

OurBaidu.com website Baidu platform regularly serves a large number of users and customers and delivers a large number of daily page views. Our technology infrastructure is highly complex and may not provide satisfactory service in the future, especially as the number of users and customers increases. We may be required to upgrade our technology infrastructure to keep up with the increasing traffic on ourBaidu.com website,ourBaidu platform, such as increasing the capacity of our servers and the sophistication of our software. If we fail to adapt our technology infrastructure to accommodate greater traffic or customer requirements, our users and customers may become dissatisfied with our services and switch to our competitors’ websites, which could harm our business.

If we fail to detect fraudulent click-throughs, our customers’ confidence in us could be damaged and our revenues could decline.

We are exposed to the risk of click-through fraud on our paid search results. Click-through fraud occurs when a person clicks paid search results for a reason other than to view the underlying content of search results. Although our anti-spam algorithms and tools can identify and respond to spam web pages quickly and effectively and thus capture and prevent some fraudulent click-throughs, there is no assurance that our anti-spam technology is able to detect and stop all fraudulent click-throughs. If we fail to detect fraudulent clicks or otherwise are unable to prevent this fraudulent activity, the affected customers may experience a reduced return on investments, or ROI, in our online marketing services and lose confidence in the integrity of our systems, and we may have to issue refunds to our customers. If this happens, we may be unable to retain existing customers or attract new customers for our online marketing services, and our online marketing revenues could decline. In addition, affected customers may also file legal actions against us claiming that we have over-charged or failed to refund them. Any such claims or similar claims, regardless of their merits, could be time-consuming and costly for us to defend against and could also adversely affect our brand and our customers’ confidence in the integrity of our systems.

The We experienced a number of incidents involving fraudulent or fictitious transactions perpetrated by third-party sellers or service providersclick-throughs in recent years. Although the amount of revenue involved in these incidents was immaterial, such cases of fraudulent click-throughs, if occurring on a large-scale and widespread manner, may damage the reputation of our transaction platforms could damage our brand and reputation.

We face the risks that third-party sellers or service providers may engage in fictitious or fraudulent transactions with themselves or collaborators in order to artificially inflate their own ratings and search result rankings on our platforms, and obtain sales-based monetary incentives provided by our platforms. Theseecosystem.

activities may harm other sellers and service providers by enabling the perpetrating sellers and service providers to be favored over the legitimate ones, and may harm buyers by deceiving them into believing that a seller or service provider is more reliable or trusted than it actually is.

If we fail to detect fraudulent transactions or otherwise are unable to prevent these fraudulent activities, our brand and reputation as an operator of trusted transaction platforms may be compromised and the incentives provided by our platforms may become ineffective.

The successful operation of our business depends upon the performance and reliability of the internet infrastructure and fixed telecommunications networks in China.

Our business depends on the performance and reliability of the internet infrastructure in China. Almost all access to the internet is maintained through state-owned telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or the MIIT. In addition, the national networks in China are connected to the internet through international gateways controlled by the PRC government. These international gateways are the only channels through which a domestic user can connect to the internet. It is unpredictable whether a more sophisticated internet infrastructure will be developed in China. We may not have access to alternative networks in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with China’s internet infrastructure. In addition, the internet infrastructure in China may not support the demands associated with continued growth in internet usage.

We rely heavily on China Telecommunications Corporation, or China Telecom, China United Network Communications Group Company Limited, or China Unicom, and China Mobile Communications Corporation, or China Mobile, to provide us with network services and data center hosting services. We have entered into contracts with various local branches or subsidiaries of China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile to obtain data communications capacity. We have limited access to alternative services in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with the fixed telecommunications networks of these companies, or if these companies otherwise fail to provide the services. In May 2014, the service of our Baidu Cloud was inaccessible to some users for approximately four hours due to a failure of the internet infrastructure. In March 2015, our search services to some users were interrupted for over ten minutes as a result of a temporary malfunction of regional telecommunications infrastructure. Any unscheduled service interruption could damage our reputation and result in a decrease in our revenues. Furthermore, we have no control over the costs of the services provided by these telecommunication companies. If the prices that we pay for telecommunications and internet services rise significantly, our gross margins could be adversely affected. In addition, if internet access fees or other charges to internet users increase, our user traffic may decrease, which in turn may harm our revenues.

Failure of information security and privacy concerns could subject us to penalties, damage our reputation and brand, and harm our business and results of operations.

The internet industry is facing significant challenges regarding information security and privacy, including the storage, transmission and sharing of confidential information. We transmit and store over our systems confidential and private information of our users, customers, distributors and Baidu Union members, such as personal information, including names, accounts, user IDs and passwords, and payment or transaction related information.

We are required by PRC law to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, availability and authenticity of the information of our users, customers, distributors and Baidu Union members, which is also essential to maintain their confidence in our online products and services. We have adopted strict information security policies and deployed advanced measures to implement the policies, including, among others, advanced encryption technologies. However, advances in technology, increased level of sophistication and diversity of our products and services, increased level of expertise of hackers, new discoveries in the field of cryptography or others could still result in a compromise or breach of the measures that we use. Because of our leading market position in the internet industry in China, we believe we are a particularly attractive target for security breaches and hacking attacks. We have experienced in the past, and may experience in the future, such attacks. In December 2012, the Standing Committee of the PRC National People’s Congress promulgated the Decision on Strengthening Network Information Protection, or the Network Information Protection Decision, to enhance the legal protection of information security and privacy on the internet. The Network Information Protection Decision also requires

internet operators to take measures to ensure confidentiality of information of users. In July 2013, the MIIT promulgated the Provisions on Protection of Personal Information of Telecommunication and Internet Users to regulate the collection and use of users’ personal information in the provision of telecommunication service and internet information service in China. However,In November 2016, the effectStanding Committee of these laws on curbing hackingthe National People’s Congress promulgated the PRC Cyber Security Law, which requires, among others, that network operators take security measures to protect the network from unauthorized interference, damage and other illegal online activities still remains to be seen.unauthorized access and

prevent data from being divulged, stolen or tampered with. Significant capital, managerial and human resources are required to comply with legal requirements, enhance information security and to address any issues caused by security failures. If we are unable to protect our systems, hence the information stored in our systems, from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction, such problems or security breaches could cause loss or give rise to our liabilities to the owners of confidential information, such as our users, customers, distributors and Baidu Union members, subject us to penalties imposed by administrative authorities, and disrupt our operations. In addition, complying with various laws and regulations could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices, including our data practices, in a manner adverse to our business.

Furthermore, concerns have been expressed from time to time about whether our products, services or processes could compromise the privacy of users and others. Concerns about our practices with regard to the collection, use, disclosure, or security of personal information or other privacy related matters, and any negative publicity on our information safety or privacy protection mechanism and policy, even if unfounded, could damage our reputation and brand and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may lose investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.

We are subject to reporting obligations under the U.S. securities laws. The SEC, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, adopted rules requiring every public company to include a management report on the company’s internal control over financial reporting in its annual report, which contains management’s assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, an independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. We have been subject to these requirements since the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006.

Our management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2015.2016. See “Item 15. Controls and Procedures.” Our independent registered public accounting firm has issued an attestation report, which has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective in all material aspects as of December 31, 2015.2016. However, if we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, our management and our independent registered public accounting firm may not be able to conclude that we have effective internal control over financial reporting at a reasonable assurance level. This could in turn result in loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and negatively impact the trading price of our ADSs. Furthermore, we have incurred and anticipate that we will continue to incur considerable costs, management time and other resources in an effort to comply with Section 404 and other requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

We have limited business insurance coverage.

The insurance industry in China is still at a relatively early stage of development.development stage. Insurance companies in China offer limited business insurance products. We do not have any business liability or disruption insurance coverage for our operations in China. Any business disruption may result in our incurring substantial costs and the diversion of our resources.

We face risks related to health epidemics, severe weather conditions and other outbreaks.

Our business could be adversely affected by the effects of avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the influenza A virus, Ebola virus, severe weather conditions or other epidemic or outbreak. Health or other government regulations adopted in response to an epidemic, severe weather conditions such as

snow storm, flood or hazardous air pollution, or other outbreaks may require temporary closure of our offices or internet cafes where many users access our websites.platform. Such closures may disrupt our business operations and adversely affect our results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

PRC laws and regulations governing our businesses and the validity of certain of our contractual arrangements are uncertain. If we are found to be in violation, we could be subject to sanctions. In addition, changes in PRC laws and regulations or changes in interpretations thereof may materially and adversely affect our business.

The PRC government restricts or imposes conditions on foreign investment in internet, value-added telecommunication-based online advertising, online audio and video services and mobile application distribution businesses. We and our PRC subsidiaries are considered foreign persons or foreign-invested enterprises under PRC foreign investment related laws. As a result, we and our PRC subsidiaries are subject to PRC legal restrictions on or conditions for foreign ownership of internet, value-added telecommunication-based online advertising, online audio and video services and mobile application distribution businesses. Due to these restrictions and conditions, we operate our websitesplatform and conduct value-added telecommunication-based online advertising, online audio and video services and mobile application distribution businesses in China through our consolidated affiliated entities. As all the nominee shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities are either PRC citizens or PRC domestic enterprises, these entities are therefore considered as PRC domestic enterprises under PRC law. The “nominee shareholders” refer to those shareholders who have pledged their equity interest in our consolidated affiliated entities to us and entered into exclusive equity purchase and transfer option agreements with us as part of the contractual arrangements. Our contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities and the nominee shareholders allow us to have the power to direct the activities of these entities that most significantly impact their economic performance. These contractual arrangements demonstrate our ability and intention to continue to exercise the ability to absorb substantially all of the profits and the expected losses of the affiliated entities. In 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2015,2016, we derived approximately 28%27%, 27%31% and 31%35% of our total revenues, respectively, from our consolidated affiliated entities through contractual arrangements.

There are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of PRC laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, the laws and regulations governing our business, or the enforcement and performance of our contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities, including but not limited to Baidu Netcom and the nominee shareholders. These laws and regulations may be subject to change, and their official interpretation and enforcement may involve substantial uncertainty. New laws and regulations that affect existing and proposed future businesses may also be applied retroactively.

Although we believe we comply with current PRC laws and regulations, we cannot assure you that the PRC government would agree that our contractual arrangements comply with PRC licensing, registration or other regulatory requirements, with existing policies or with requirements or policies that may be adopted in the future. The PRC government has broad discretion in determining penalties for violations of laws and regulations. If the PRC government determines that we do not comply with applicable law, it could revoke our business and operating licenses, require us to discontinue or restrict our operations, restrict our right to collect revenues, block our websites, require us to restructure our operations, impose additional conditions or requirements with which we may not be able to comply, impose restrictions on our business operations or on our customers, or take other regulatory or enforcement actions against us that could be harmful to our business. Any of these or similar occurrences could significantly disrupt our business operations or restrict us from conducting a substantial portion of our business operations, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If any of these occurrences results in our inability to direct the activities of any of our consolidated affiliated entities that most significantly impact its economic performance, and/or our failure to receive the economic benefits from any of our consolidated affiliated entities, we may not be able to consolidate the entity in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

If the PRC government were to classify P4P services as a form of online advertising or as part of internet content services, our effective tax rate may increase and we might be subject to sanctions and required to pay delinquent taxes.

PRC laws and regulations and administrative authorities currently do not classify P4P services as a form of online advertising or as part of internet content services that require an ICP license, or ICP services. However, we

cannot assure you that the PRC government will not classify P4P services as a form of online advertising or as part of ICP services in the future. If new regulations characterize P4P services as a form of online advertising or as part of ICP services, our tax liability may increase, given the advertising revenues are subject to a 3% construction fee for culture undertakings in addition to the 6% value-added tax, or VAT, which has replaced the original 5% business tax for advertising revenues. See “Item 5.A. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results—Taxation” for more information on PRC business tax and VAT. Moreover, if the change in classification of P4P services were to be retroactively applied, we might be subject to sanctions, including payment of delinquent taxes and fines. In addition, the classification of P4P services as a form of online advertising could subject us to an obligation to examine the content of our P4P customers’ listings on our websites and the associated risks. See “—Risks Related to Our Business—We have been and may again be subject to claims based on the content found on our websites, the results in our paid search listings or other products and services we offer.” Such examinations could be burdensome and increase our operating costs and expenses. Any change in the classification of P4P by the PRC government may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities in China and the individual nominee shareholders may not be as effective in providing control over these entities as direct ownership.

Since PRC law restricts or imposes conditions on foreign equity ownership in internet, value-added telecommunication-based online advertising, online audio and video services and mobile application distribution companies in China, we operate our websitesplatform and conduct our value-added telecommunication-based online advertising, online audio and video services and mobile application distribution businesses through our consolidated affiliated entities in China. We have no equity interest in any of these entities and must rely on contractual arrangements to control and operate the businesses and assets held by our consolidated affiliated entities, including the domain names and trademarks that have been transferred from our subsidiaries to our consolidated affiliated entities in accordance with requirements of PRC law. These contractual arrangements may not be as effective in providing control over these entities as direct ownership. For example, our consolidated affiliated entities and the individual nominee shareholders could breach their contractual arrangements with us by, among other things, failing to operate our business, such as using the domain names and trademarks our subsidiaries have transferred to them or maintaining our websites,platform, in an acceptable manner or taking other actions that are detrimental to our interests. If our consolidated affiliated entities or the individual nominee shareholders fail to perform their obligations under these contractual arrangements, we may have to incur substantial costs to enforce such arrangements, and rely on legal remedies under PRC law, including contract remedies, which may not be sufficient or effective. If we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, or if we suffer significant delay or other obstacles in the process of enforcing these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to have the power to direct the activities that most significantly affect the economic performance of our consolidated affiliated entities, and we may lose control over the assets owned by our consolidated affiliated entities, including ourBaidu.com domain name and website, and any other domain names and websites we have access to may not attract a large number of users and customers at the same level asBaidu.com. As a result, our ability to conduct our business may be materially and adversely affected, and we may not be able to consolidate the financial results of the relevant affiliated entities into our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, which may materially and adversely affect our results of operations and damage our reputation. In addition, we are in the process of updating the registration of new nominee shareholders of some consolidated affiliated entities with PRC governmental authorities, and we may not be able to claim against any third parties who acquire equity interests in good faith in the relevant consolidated affiliated entities from the original nominee shareholders before the new nominee shareholders are registered.

Our contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities in China may result in adverse tax consequences to us.

As a result of our corporate structure and the contractual arrangements between our subsidiaries and each of our consolidated affiliated entities in China, we are subject to VAT at a rate of 6% as a result of the VAT reform program on both revenues generated by our consolidated affiliated entities’ operations in China and revenues derived from our subsidiaries’ contractual arrangements with these consolidated affiliated entities.Where our consolidated affiliated entity is qualified as a VAT general taxpayer, the VAT charged by our subsidiaries on the revenues obtained from such consolidated affiliated entity based on the contractual arrangement between our

subsidiaries and such consolidated affiliated entity will constitute input VAT for the consolidated affiliated entity, and will be creditable against output VAT arising in connection with VAT taxable activities carried out by the consolidated affiliated entity. See “Item 5.A. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results—Taxation” for more information on the VAT reform program. Moreover, we would be subject to adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities were to determine that the contracts between our subsidiaries and these consolidated affiliated entities were not on anarm’s-length basis and therefore constituted a favorable transfer pricing. Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the EIT Law, an enterprise must submit its annual tax return together with information on related-party transactions to the PRC tax authorities. The PRC tax authorities may impose reasonable adjustments on taxation if they have identified any related party transactions that are inconsistent witharm’s-length principles. For example, the PRC tax authorities could request that our consolidated affiliated entities adjust their taxable income upward for PRC tax purposes. Such adjustment could

adversely affect us by increasing our consolidated affiliated entities’ tax expenses without reducing our subsidiaries’ tax expenses, which could subject our consolidated affiliated entities to interest due on late payments and other penalties for under-payment of taxes.

We may have exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities.

We are subject to enterprise income tax, or EIT, business tax, VAT, and other taxes in many provinces and cities in China and our tax structure is subject to review by various local tax authorities. The determination of our provision for income tax and other tax liabilities requires significant judgment. In the ordinary course of our business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. For example, if our P4P service is classified as a form of advertisement distribution service, we may be required to pay a cultural business construction fee, which is a 3% surcharge in addition to the applicable value-added tax. In addition, if this classification of P4P services were to be retroactively applied, we might be subject to sanctions, including payment of delinquent fees and fines for the revenues generated from our P4P services prior to the classification. Moreover, under the EIT Law, the PRC tax authorities may impose reasonable adjustments on taxation if they have identified any related party transactions that are inconsistent witharm’s-length principles. Particularly, the State Administration of Tax issued a Public Notice, or Public Notice 16, on March 18, 2015, to further regulate and strengthen the transfer pricing administration on outbound payments by a PRC enterprise to its overseas related parties. In addition to emphasizing that outbound payments by a PRC enterprise to its overseas related parties must comply witharm’s-length principles, Public Notice 16 specifies certain circumstances whereby such payments are not deductible for the purpose of the enterprise income tax of the PRC enterprise, including payments to an overseas related party which does not undertake any function, bear any risk or has no substantial operation or activities, payments for services which do not enable the PRC enterprise to obtain direct or indirect economic benefits, or for services that are unrelated to the functions and risks borne by the PRC enterprise, or relate to the protection of the investment interests of the direct or indirect investor of the PRC enterprise, or for services that have already been purchased from a third party or undertaken by the PRC enterprise itself, and royalties paid to an overseas related party which only owns the legal rights of the intangible assets but has no contribution to the creation of such intangible assets. Although we believe all our related party transactions, including all payments by our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities to ournon-PRC entities, are made on anarm’s-length basis and our estimates are reasonable, the ultimate decisions by the relevant tax authorities may differ from the amounts recorded in our financial statements and may materially affect our financial results in the period or periods for which such determination is made.

The individual nominee shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may adversely affect our business. We do not have any arrangements in place to address such potential conflicts.

We have designated individuals who are PRC nationals to be the nominee shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities in China. For example, Robin Yanhong Li, our chairman, chief executive officer andco-founder, is also the principal nominee shareholder of Baidu Netcom, which is our principal consolidated affiliated entity.

Although the individual nominee shareholders are contractually obligated to act in good faith and in our best interest, they may still have potential conflicts of interest with us. For example, some individual nominee shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities do not have a significant equity stake in our company other

than the share options granted to them. We cannot assure you that when conflicts of interest arise, any or all of these individuals will act in the best interests of our company or such conflicts will be resolved in our favor. In addition, these individuals may breach, cause our consolidated affiliated entities to breach or refuse to renew, the existing contractual arrangements with us. Currently, we do not have any arrangements to address potential conflicts of interest between these individuals and our company, except that we could exercise our transfer option under the exclusive equity purchase and transfer option agreement with the relevant individual nomine shareholder to request him/her to transfer all of his/her equity ownership in the relevant consolidated affiliated

entity to a PRC entity or individual designated by us. We rely on Mr. Robin Yanhong Li, who is also a director of our company, to abide by the Cayman Islands law, which provides that directors owe a fiduciary duty to the company, and those who are also directors or officers of our PRC subsidiaries to abide by PRC law, which provides that directors and officers owe a fiduciary duty to the company. Such fiduciary duty requires directors and/or officers to act in good faith and in the best interests of the company and not to use their positions for personal gains. There are, however, no specific provisions under the Cayman Islands or PRC law on how to address potential conflicts of interest. If we cannot resolve any conflict of interest or dispute between us and the individual nominee shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which could disrupt our business, distract management and subject us to substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.

We may be unable to collect long-term loans to the nominee shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities in China.

As of the date of this annual report, we have made long-term loans in an aggregate principal amount of RMB4.3RMB7.7 billion (US$665.7 million)1.1 billion) to the nominee shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities. We extended these loans to enable the nominee shareholders to fund the capitalization of these entities. As of the date of this annual report, all of the registered capitalCertain of our consolidated affiliated entities are currently going through governmental registrations and filings in China has been fully funded.connection with their recent increase of registered capital, which we anticipate will be completed in the next few months, and the increased portion of the registered capital will be funded promptly afterwards. We may in the future provide additional loans to the nominee shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities in China in connection with any increase in their capitalization to the extent necessary and permissible under applicable law. Our ability to ultimately collect these loans will depend on the profitability of these consolidated affiliated entities and their operational needs, which are uncertain.

We are in the process of registering the pledges of equity interests by nominee shareholders of some of our consolidated affiliated entities, and we may not be able to enforce the equity pledges against any third parties who acquire the equity interests in good faith in the relevant consolidated affiliated entities before the pledges are registered.

The nominee shareholders of each of our consolidated affiliated entities have pledged all of their equity interests in the relevant consolidated affiliated entities to our subsidiaries pursuant to equity pledge agreements under the contractual arrangements. An equity pledge agreement becomes effective among the parties upon execution. However, according to the PRC Property Rights Law, an equity pledge is not perfected as a security property right unless it is registered with the relevant local administration for industry and commerce. We are in the process of registering the pledge relating to each of Baidu Netcom, and Beijing Perusal Technology Co., Ltd., or Beijing Perusal, as well as certain other consolidated affiliated entities, relating to recent increases of their registered capital and equity interest transfer, which we anticipate will be completed in the next few months. We are also in the process of registering the pledge relating to certain newly established consolidated affiliated entities. Prior to the completion of the registration, we may not be able to successfully enforce the equity pledge against any third parties who have acquired property right interests in good faith in the equity interests in the relevant consolidated affiliated entities.

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

Changes in China’s economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material and adverse effect on our business and operations.

Most of our business operations are conducted in China. Accordingly, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects are affected by economic, political and social conditions in China generally and by continued economic growth in China as a whole.

China’s economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the level of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation

of resources. Although the Chinese government has implemented measures emphasizing the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the reduction of state ownership of productive assets, and the establishment of improved corporate governance in business enterprises, a substantial portion of productive assets in China is still owned by the government. In addition, the Chinese government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development. The Chinese government also exercises significant control over China’s economic growth through allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy, and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.

Growth of China’s economy has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy, and the rate of growth has been slowing. Since 2012, growth of the Chinese economy has slowed down.down since 2012. Some of the government measures may benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may have a negative effect on us. For example, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations. Any stimulus measures designed to boost the Chinese economy may contribute to higher inflation, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. For example, certain operating costs and expenses, such as employee compensation and office operating expenses, may increase as a result of higher inflation. Additionally, because a substantial portion of our assets consists of cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments, high inflation could significantly reduce the value and purchasing power of these assets.

Uncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could adversely affect us.

We conduct our business primarily through our subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities in China. Our operations in China are governed by PRC laws and regulations. Our subsidiaries are generally subject to laws and regulations applicable to foreign investments in China. The PRC legal system is based on written statutes. Prior court decisions may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value.

PRC laws and regulations have significantly enhanced the protections afforded to various forms of foreign investments in China for the past decades. However, China has not developed a fully integrated legal system and recently enacted laws and regulations may not sufficiently cover all aspects of economic activities in China. In particular, because these laws and regulations are relatively new, and because of the limited volume of published decisions and their nonbinding nature, the interpretation and enforcement of these laws and regulations involve uncertainties.

Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis or at all. As a result, we may not be aware of our potential violation of these policies and rules. In addition, any litigation in China may be protracted and result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention.

We may be adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of internet and related business and companies.

The PRC government regulates the internet and related industry extensively, including foreign ownership of, and the licensing and permit requirements pertaining to, companies in the internet industry. These internet-related laws

and regulations are relatively new and evolving, and their interpretation and enforcement involve significant uncertainty. As a result, under certain circumstances it may be difficult to determine what actions or omissions may be deemed to be violations of applicable laws and regulations. Issues, risks and uncertainties relating to PRC government regulation of the internet industry include, but are not limited to, the following:

entities may be subject to challenge, or we may not be able to obtain or renew certain permits or licenses, including without limitation, a Value-Added Telecommunication Business Operating License, which is issued by the MIIT, an Internet News License, which is issued by the State Council News Office, a Short Messaging Service Access Code Certificate, which is issued by the MIIT, an Online Audio/Video Program Transmission License, which is issued by the State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television, or the SAPPRFT, a Radio and Television Program Production License, which is issued by the SAPPRFT, a Surveying and Mapping Qualification Certificate for internet map services, which is issued by the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping andGeo-information, an Internet Culture Business Permit with the permitted scope of business covering online game operation and online game virtual currency issuance or trading, which is issued by the Ministry of Culture, an Internet Publication License, which is issued by the SAPPRFT, a Payment Service Permit, which is issued by the People’s Bank of China, a Qualification Certificate for Internet Drug Information Services, which is issued by provincial branch of the State Food and Drug Administration, and a China Air Transport Sales Agency Services Certificate, which is issued by China Air Transport Association. Failure to obtain or renew these permits and licenses may significantly disrupt our business, or subject us to sanctions, requirements to increase capital or other conditions or enforcement, or compromise enforceability of related contractual arrangements, or have other harmful effects on us.

We provide value-added telecommunications services through our consolidated affiliated entities, which hold the required licenses. In July 2006, the MIIT issued the Notice of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Intensifying the Administration of Foreign Investment in Value-Added Telecommunications Services. This notice prohibits domestic telecommunication service providers from leasing, transferring or selling telecommunication business operating licenses to any foreign investor in any form, or providing any resources, sites or facilities to any foreign investor for their illegal operation of a telecommunication business in China. According to this notice, either the holder of a Value-Added Telecommunication Business Operating License or its shareholders must directly own the domain names and trademarks used by the license holder in its provision of value-added telecommunications services. The notice also requires each license holder to have the necessary facilities, including servers, for its approved business operations and to maintain these facilities in the regions covered by its license. Baidu Netcom Beijing Perusal and Beijing BaiduPay Science and Technology Co., Ltd., or BaiduPay, our consolidated affiliated entities, own the necessary domain names and trademarks, including pending trademark applications and have the necessary personnel and facilities to operate our websites.

We offer online games provided by our game operator partners on our websites ownedoperate application and operated by our consolidated affiliated entities. We have also acquired 91 Wireless, which operates two leading smartphone application distribution platforms in China as well as a mobile game platformplatforms through itscertain of our consolidated affiliated entities. In September 2009, the GAPP (currently known as the SAPPRFT) together with several other

government agencies issued a notice, or the Circular 13, prohibiting foreign investors from participating in online game operating businesses through wholly-owned enterprises, equity joint ventures or cooperative joint ventures in China. Circular 13 expressly prohibits foreign investors from gaining control over or participating in PRC operating companies’ online game operations through indirect means, such as establishing joint venture companies, entering into contractual arrangements with or providing technical support to the operating companies, or through a disguised form, such as incorporating user registration, user account management or payment through game cards into online game platforms that are ultimately controlled or owned by foreign investors.form. Other government agencies that also have the authority to regulate online game operations in China, such as the Ministry of Culture and the MIIT, did not join the GAPP in issuing the Circular 13. To date, neither the GAPP nor the SAPPRFT has issued any interpretation of the Circular 13. Due to the ambiguity among various regulations on online games and a lack of interpretations from the relevant PRC authorities governing online game operations, there are uncertainties regardingit is uncertain whether PRC authorities would consider our relevant contractual arrangements to be foreign investment in online game operation businesses. While we are not aware of any online game companies whichthat use the same or similar contractual arrangements assimilar to ours having been penalized or ordered to terminate operation by PRC authorities claiming that the contractual

arrangements constitute control over, or participation in, the operation of online game operations through indirect means, it is unclear whether and how the various regulations of the PRC authorities might be interpreted or implemented in the future. If our relevant contractual arrangements were deemed to be “indirect means” or “disguised form” under the Circular 13, the relevant contractual arrangements may be challenged by the SAPPRFT or other governmental authorities. If weour operation of mobile game platforms were found to be in violation of the Circular 13, to operate our mobile game platform, the SAPPRFT, in conjunction with relevant regulatory authorities, would have the power to investigate and deal with such violations, including in the most serious cases, suspending or revoking the relevant licenses and registrations. If we were found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations, including the MIIT notice and the Circular 13, the relevant regulatory authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violations.

As we enter into new businesses, we may encounter additional regulatory uncertainties. For example, it remains unclear whether the provision of online payment services by BaiduPay will require BaiduPay to apply for a Value-Added Telecommunication Business Operating License for “online data processing and transaction processing businesses” as provided in the Catalog of Telecommunication Businesses promulgated by the MIIT. However, Baidu Netcom, parent company of BaiduPay, has applied forreceived a Trans-Regional Value-Added Telecommunication Business Operating License which would coverwith a permitted operation scope covering online data processing and transaction processing businesses. Baidu Netcom plans to submit an application to allow its subsidiary BaiduPay to operate online data processing and transaction processing businesses.businesses in 2017. Another example, the current PRC legal framework on traffic and transportation does not cover autonomous cars or autonomous driving. Therefore, it remains uncertain what additional compliance requirements we need to meet in order to undertake a public road testing of our autonomous driving cars in China. There is also no guarantee that the public road testing of our autonomous driving cars in other locations fully complies with local laws and regulations. If our public road testing is deemed by local enforcement authority as a violation of the applicable traffic and transportation laws, we may have to suspend the testing, and the progress of our research and development of autonomous cars may be adversely affected.

The interpretation and application of existing PRC laws, regulations and policies and possible new laws, regulations or policies relating to the internet industry have created substantial uncertainties regarding the legality of existing and future foreign investments in, and the businesses and activities of, internet businesses in China, including our business.

Substantial uncertainties exist with respect to the enactment timetable, interpretation and implementation of draft PRC Foreign Investment Law and how it may impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations.

The Ministry of Commerce published a discussion draft of the proposed Foreign Investment Law in January 2015 aiming to, upon its enactment, replace the trio of existing laws regulating foreign investment in China, namely, the Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprise Law and the Wholly Foreign-invested Enterprise Law, together with their implementation rules and ancillary regulations. The draft Foreign Investment Law embodies an expected PRC regulatory trend to rationalize its foreign investment regulatory regime in line with prevailing international practice and the legislative efforts to unify the corporate legal requirements for both foreign and domestic investments. TheWhile the Ministry of Commerce is currently solicitingsolicited comments on thisthe draft, and substantial uncertainties exist with

respect to its enactment timetable, interpretation and implementation. The draft Foreign Investment Law, if enacted as proposed, may materially impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations in many aspects.

Among other things, the draft Foreign Investment Law expands the definition of foreign investment and introduces the principle of “actual control” in determining whether a company should be treated as a foreign-invested enterprise, or an FIE. According to the definition set forth in the draft, Foreign Investment Law, FIEs refer to enterprises established in China pursuant to PRC law that are solely or partially invested by foreign investors. The draft Foreign Investment Law specifically provides that entities established in China (without direct foreign equity ownership) but “controlled” by foreign investors, through contract or trust for example, will be treated as FIEs. Once an entity falls within the

definition of FIE, it may be subject to foreign investment “restrictions” or “prohibitions” set forth in a “negative list” to be separately issued by the State Council later. If an FIE proposes to conduct business in an industry subject to foreign investment “restrictions” in the “negative list,” the FIE must go through a market entry clearance by the Ministry of Commerce before being established. If an FIE proposes to conduct business in an industry subject to foreign investment “prohibitions” in the “negative list,” it must not engage in the business. However, an FIE, during the market entry clearance process, may apply in writing to be treated as a PRC domestic enterprise if its foreign investor(s) is/are ultimately “controlled” by PRC government authorities and its affiliates and/or PRC citizens. In this connection, “control” is broadly defined in the draft law to cover the following summarized categories: (i) holding 50% of more of the voting rights of the subject entity; (ii) holding less than 50% of the voting rights of the subject entity but having the power to secure at least 50% of the seats on the board or other equivalent decision making bodies, or having the voting power to exert material influence on the board, the shareholders’ meeting or other equivalent decision making bodies; or (iii) having the power to exert decisive influence, via contractual or trust arrangements, over the subject entity’s operations, financial matters or other key aspects of business operations.

The “variable interest entity” structure, or VIE structure, has been adopted by manyPRC-based companies, including us, to obtain necessary licenses and permits in the industries that are currently subject to foreign investment restrictions in China. See “—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure” and “Item 4.C. Information on the Company—Organizational Structure—Contractual Arrangements with Our Consolidated Affiliated Entities and the Nominee Shareholders.” Under the draft Foreign Investment Law, variable interest entities that are controlled via contractual arrangement would also be deemed as FIEs, if they are ultimately “controlled” by foreign investors. Therefore, for any companies with a VIE structure in an industry category that is included in the “negative list” as restricted industry, the VIE structure may be deemed legitimate only if the ultimate controlling person(s) is/are of PRC nationality (either PRC government authorities and its affiliates or PRC citizens). Conversely, if the actual controlling person(s) is/are of foreign nationalities, then the variable interest entities will be treated as FIEs and any operation in the industry category on the “negative list” without market entry clearance may be considered as illegal.

Through our dual-class share structure, Mr. Robin Yanhong Li, our chairman, chief executive officer and principal shareholder, a PRC citizen, possessed and controlled 53.8%54.3% of the voting power of our company as of February 29, 2016.28, 2017. The draft Foreign Investment Law has not taken a position on what actions shallwill be taken with respect to the existing companies with a VIE structure, whether or not these companies are controlled by Chinese parties, while it is soliciting comments from the public on this point.parties. Moreover, it is uncertain whether the internet, value-added telecommunication-based online advertising, online audio and video services and mobile application distribution businesses, in which our variable interest entities operate, will be subject to the foreign investment restrictions or prohibitions set forth in the “negative list” to be issued. If the enacted version of the Foreign Investment Law and the final “negative list” mandate further actions, such as Ministry of Commerce market entry clearance, to be completed by companies with existing VIE structure like us, we face uncertainties as to whether such clearance can be timely obtained, or at all.

The draft Foreign Investment Law, if enacted as proposed, may also materially impact our corporate governance practice and increase our compliance costs. For instance, the draft Foreign Investment Law imposes stringent ad hoc and periodic information reporting requirements on foreign investors and the applicable FIEs.

Aside from investment implementation report and investment amendment report that are required at each investment and alteration of investment specifics, an annual report is mandatory, and large foreign investors meeting certain criteria are required to report on a quarterly basis. Any company found to be non-compliant with these information reporting obligations may potentially be subject to fines and/or administrative or criminal liabilities, and the persons directly responsible may be subject to criminal liabilities.

Regulation and censorship of information disseminated over the internet in China may adversely affect our business, and subject us to liability for information displayed on or linked to our websites and negative publicity in international media.

The PRC government has adopted regulations governing internet access and distribution of news and other information over the internet. Under these regulations, internet content providers and internet publishers are prohibited from posting or displaying over the internet content that, among other things, violates PRC laws and regulations, impairs the national dignity of China, contains terrorism or extremism content, or is reactionary, obscene, superstitious, fraudulent or defamatory. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the

revocation of licenses to provide internet content and other licenses and the closure of the concerned websites. In the past, failure to comply with these requirements has resulted in the closure of certain websites. The website operator may also be held liable for the censored information displayed on or linked to the website.

In particular, the MIIT has published regulations that subject website operators to potential liability for content displayed on their websites and the actions of users and others using their systems, including liability for violations of PRC laws and regulations prohibiting the dissemination of content deemed to be socially destabilizing. The Ministry of Public Security has the authority to order any local internet service provider to block any internet website at its sole discretion. From time to time, the Ministry of Public Security has stopped the dissemination over the internet of information which it believes to be socially destabilizing. The State Secrecy Bureau is also authorized to block any website it deems to be leaking state secrets or failing to meet the relevant regulations relating to the protection of state secrets in the dissemination of online information. Furthermore, we are required to report any suspicious content to relevant governmental authorities, and to undergo computer security inspections. If we fail to implement the relevant safeguards against security breaches, our websites may be shut down and our business and ICP licenses may be revoked.

The Anti-Terrorism Law, which took effect on January 1, 2016, further requires internet service providers to verify the identity of their users, and to not provide services to anyone whose identity is unclear or who declines verification. Although the identity verification requirements are already embodied in some internet related regulations, the Anti-Terrorism Law extends these requirements to all types of internet services. The internet service providers are also required to provide technical interfaces, decryption and other technical support and assistance for the competent departments to prevent and investigate terrorist activities.

Although we attempt to monitor the content in our search results and on our online communities such as Baidu Post Bar, we are not able to control or restrict the content of other internet content providers linked to or accessible through our websites, or content generated or placed on our Baidu Post Bar message boards or our other online communities by our users. To the extent that PRC regulatory authorities find any content displayed on our websites illegal, they may require us to limit or eliminate the dissemination of such information on our websites. To the extent that PRC regulatory authorities find any content displayed on our websites objectionable, they may suggest that we limit or eliminate the dissemination of such information on our websites. If third-party websites linked to or accessible through our websites conduct unlawful activities such as online gambling on their websites, PRC regulatory authorities may require us to report such unlawful activities to relevant authorities and to remove the links to such websites, or they may suspend or shut down the operation of these third-party websites. PRC regulatory authorities may also temporarily block access to certain websites for a period of time for reasons beyond our control. Any of these actions may reduce our user traffic and adversely affect our business. In addition, we may be subject to penalties for violations of those regulations arising from information displayed on or linked to our websites, including a suspension or shutdown of our online operations.

Moreover, our compliance with PRC regulations governing internet access and distribution of news and other information over the internet may subject us to negative publicity or even legal actions outside of China. In May 2011, eight New York residents filed a lawsuit against us before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York accusing us of aiding Chinese censorship in violation of the U.S. Constitution. In March 2014, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted our motion for judgment on the pleadings based upon the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and dismissed the plaintiffs’ complaint in its entirety. Even though we have won the case, our reputation may be adversely affected among users and investors outside of China.

The discontinuation of any of the preferential income tax treatments currently available to us in the PRC could have a material and adverse effect on our result of operations and financial condition.

Pursuant to the EIT Law, as further clarified by subsequent tax regulations implementing the EIT Law, foreign-invested enterprises and domestic enterprises are subject to EIT at a uniform rate of 25%. Certain

enterprises may still benefit from a preferential tax rate of 15% under the EIT Law if they qualify as “High and New Technology Enterprises strongly supported by the state,” subject to certain general factors described in the EIT Law and the related regulations.

A number of our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities, such as Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., or Baidu Online, and Baidu Netcom are entitled to enjoy a preferential tax rate of 15% due to their qualification as “High and New Technology Enterprise,” which has a term of three years. If any or some of these PRC subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities fail to maintain the “High and New Technology Enterprise” qualification, their applicable EIT rate will be up to 25%. Furthermore, Baidu Online was entitled to a preferential income tax rate of 10% forfrom 2013 and 2014to 2015 due to its “Key Software Enterprise” status designated by the relevant government authorities. Baidu Online enjoyedChina was also entitled to a reducedpreferential income tax rate of 15% as a qualified “High and New Technology Enterprise” starting from 2015. The10% for 2015 due to its “Key Software Enterprise” status of Baidu Online for 2015 and beyond is being determineddesignated by the relevant government authorities.There Both Baidu Online and Baidu China will file with the local tax authority for the preferential tax rate of 10% for a “Key Software Enterprise” for 2016 before the end of May 2017, and will be subject to relevant governmental authorities’ assessment. However, there is no assurance that Baidu Online and Baidu China will continue to be grantedenjoy the preferential tax rate as a “Key Software Enterprise” status.Enterprise.” See “Item 5.A. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results—Taxation—PRC Enterprise Income Tax.”

The discontinuation of any of the above-mentioned preferential income tax treatments currently available to us in the PRC could have a material and adverse effect on our result of operations and financial condition. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain our current effective tax rate in the future.

If our PRC subsidiaries declare and distribute dividends to their respective offshore parent companies, we will be required to pay more taxes, which could have a material and adverse effect on our result of operations.

Under the EIT Law and related regulations, dividends, interests, rent or royalties payable by a foreign-invested enterprise, such as our PRC subsidiaries, to any of its foreignnon-resident enterprise investors, and proceeds from any such foreign enterprise investor’s disposition of assets (after deducting the net value of such assets) are subject to a 10% withholding tax, unless the foreign enterprise investor’s jurisdiction of incorporation has a tax treaty with China that provides for a reduced rate of withholding tax. Undistributed profits earned by foreign-invested enterprises prior to January 1, 2008 are exempted from any withholding tax. The British Virgin Islands, where Baidu Holdings Limited, the direct parent company of our PRC subsidiarysubsidiaries Baidu Online and Baidu International Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., or Baidu International, is incorporated, does not have such a tax treaty with China. Hong Kong has a tax arrangement with China that provides for a 5% withholding tax on dividends subject to certain conditions and requirements, such as the requirement that the Hong Kong resident enterprise own at least 25% of the PRC enterprise distributing the dividend at all times within the12-month period immediately preceding the distribution of dividends and be a “beneficial owner” of the dividends. For example, Baidu (Hong Kong) Limited, which directly owns our PRC subsidiaries Baidu China and Baidu Times, is incorporated in Hong Kong. However, if Baidu (Hong Kong) Limited is not considered to be the beneficial owner of dividends paid to it by Baidu China and Baidu Times under the tax circulars promulgated in February and October 2009, such dividends would be subject to

withholding tax at a rate of 10%. See “Item 5.A. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results—Taxation—PRC Enterprise Income Tax.” If our PRC subsidiaries declare and distribute profits earned after January 1, 2008 to us in the future, such payments will be subject to withholding tax, which will increase our tax liability and reduce the amount of cash available to our company.

We may be deemed a PRC resident enterprise under the EIT Law, which could subject us to PRC taxation on our global income, and which may have a material and adverse effect on our results of operations.

Under the EIT Law and related regulations, an enterprise established outside of the PRC with “de facto management body” within the PRC is considered a PRC resident enterprise and is subject to the EIT at the rate of 25% on its worldwide income as well as PRC EIT reporting obligations. The related regulations define the term “de

“de facto management body” as “the establishment that exercises substantial and overall management and control over the production, business, personnel, accounts and properties of an enterprise.” The State Administration of Taxation issued a SAT Circular 82 in April 2009, which provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a Chinese-controlled overseas-incorporated enterprise is located in China. The State Administration of Taxation issued additional rules to provide more guidance on the implementation of SAT Circular 82 in July 2011, and issued an amendment to SAT Circular 82 delegating the authority to its provincial branches to determine whether a Chinese-controlled overseas-incorporated enterprise should be considered a PRC resident enterprise, in January 2014.See “Item 5.A. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results—Taxation—PRC Enterprise Income Tax.” Although the SAT Circular 82, the additional guidance and amendment apply only to overseas registered enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises, not to those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners, the criteria set forth in SAT Circular 82 may reflect the State Administration of Taxation’s general position on how the “de facto management body” test should be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises or individuals. If we are deemed a PRC resident enterprise, we may be subject to the EIT at 25% on our global income, except that the dividends we receive from our PRC subsidiaries may be exempt from the EIT to the extent such dividends are deemed as “dividends among qualified PRC resident enterprises.” If we are deemed a PRC resident enterprise and earn income other than dividends from our PRC subsidiaries, a 25% EIT on our global income could significantly increase our tax burden and materially and adversely affect our cash flow and profitability.

Under PRC tax laws, dividends payable by us and gains on the disposition of our shares or ADSs may be subject to PRC taxation.

If we are considered a PRC resident enterprise under the EIT Law, our shareholders and ADS holders who are deemednon-resident enterprises may be subject to the EIT at the rate of 10% upon the dividends payable by us or upon any gains realized from the transfer of our shares or ADSs, if such income is deemed derived from China, provided that (i) such foreign enterprise investor has no establishment or premises in China, or (ii) it has establishment or premises in China but its income derived from China has no real connection with such establishment or premises. If we are required under the EIT Law to withhold PRC income tax on our dividends payable to ournon-PRC resident enterprise shareholders and ADS holders, or if any gains realized from the transfer of our shares or ADSs by ournon-PRC resident enterprise shareholders and ADS holders are subject to the EIT, your investment in our shares or ADSs could be materially and adversely affected.

Furthermore, if we are considered a PRC resident enterprise and relevant PRC tax authorities consider dividends we pay with respect to our shares or ADSs and the gains realized from the transfer of our shares or ADSs to be income derived from sources within the PRC, it is possible that such dividends and gains earned bynon-resident individuals may be subject to PRC individual income tax at a rate of 20%. If we are required under PRC tax laws to withhold PRC income tax on dividends payable to ournon-PRC investors that arenon-resident individuals or if you are required to pay PRC income tax on the transfer of our shares or ADSs, the value of your investment in our shares or ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.

Our subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities in China are subject to restrictions on paying dividends and making other payments to our holding company.

Baidu, Inc. is our holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and does not conduct any business operations other than holding equity interests in our subsidiaries.Islands. As a result of the holding company structure, it currently relies on dividend payments from our subsidiaries in China. However, PRC regulations currently permit payment of dividends only out of accumulated profits, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Our subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities in China are also required to set aside a portion of theirafter-tax profits according to PRC accounting standards and regulations to fund certain reserve funds. The PRC government also imposes controls on the conversion of RMB into foreign currencies and the remittance of foreign currencies out of China. We may experience difficulties in completing the administrative procedures necessary to obtain and remit foreign currency. See “—Governmental control of

currency conversion may affect the value of your investment.” Furthermore, if our subsidiaries or consolidated affiliated entities in China incur debt on their own in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other payments. If our subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities in China are unable to pay dividends or make other payments to us, we may be unable to pay dividends on our ordinary shares and ADSs.

Governmental control of currency conversion may affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of RMB into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of foreign currency out of China. We receive most of our revenues in RMB. Under our current structure, our income at the Cayman Islands holding company level will primarily be derived from dividend payments from our PRC subsidiaries. Shortages in the availability of foreign currency may restrict the ability of our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities to remit sufficient foreign currency to pay dividends or other payments to us, or otherwise satisfy their foreign currency denominated obligations. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and expenditures from trade-related transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, by complying with certain procedural requirements. However, approval from appropriate government authorities is required where RMB is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. The PRC government may also at its discretion restrict access in the future to foreign currencies for current account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currency to satisfy our currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders or ADS holders.

PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from making loans to our PRC subsidiaries or consolidated affiliated entities, or making additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries, which could adversely affect our ability to fund and expand our business.

Baidu, Inc. is our offshore holding company conducting operations in China through our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities. We may make loans to our PRC subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities, or we may make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries. Loans by Baidu, Inc. or any of our offshore subsidiaries to our PRC subsidiaries, which are treated as foreign-invested enterprises under PRC law, are subject to PRC regulations and foreign exchange loan registrations. Such loans to any of our PRC subsidiaries to finance their activities cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with the local counterpart of SAFE. The statutory limit for the total amount of foreign debts of a foreign-invested enterprise is the difference between the amount of total investment as approved by the Ministry of Commerce or its local counterpart and the amount of registered capital of such foreign-invested enterprise. Any medium or long-term loans by Baidu, Inc. or any of our offshore subsidiaries to our consolidated affiliated entities, which are domestic PRC entities, must be approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and SAFE, or their relevant local counterparts. We may also decide to finance our PRC subsidiaries by means of capital

contributions. These capital contributions must be approved by the Ministry of Commerce or its local counterpart. Meanwhile, we are not likely to finance the activities of our consolidated affiliated entities by means of capital contributions given the PRC legal restrictions on foreign ownership of internet, value-added telecommunication-based online advertising, online audio and video services and mobile application distribution businesses.

On March 30, 2015,In June 2016, SAFE promulgated SAFE Circular No. 19,16, which came into force replacing SAFE Circular No. 142 on June 1, 2015. SAFE Circular No. 19 removed certain restrictions previously provided under several SAFE circulars, including SAFE Circular No. 142, forin respect of conversion by a foreign-invested enterprise of foreign currency registered capital into RMB and use of such RMB capital. However, SAFE Circular No. 1916 continues to prohibit foreign-invested enterprises from, among other things, using RMB fund converted from its foreign exchange capitals for expenditure beyond its business scope, and providing entrusted loans or repaying loans between non-financial enterprises.tonon-affiliated enterprises except as permitted in the business scope.

In light of the various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies, including SAFE Circulars referred to above, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary government registrations or obtain the necessary government approvals on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future loans by us to our PRC subsidiaries or consolidated affiliated entities or additional capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiaries, and conversion of such loans or capital contributions into RMB. If we fail to complete such registrations or obtain such approvals, our ability to capitalize or otherwise fund our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could adversely affect our ability to fund and expand our business.

PRC regulations relating to the establishment of offshore special purpose companies by PRC residents may limit our ability to inject capital into our PRC subsidiaries, limit our subsidiaries’ ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits to us, or may otherwise adversely affect us.

The Notice on Issues Relating to the Administration of Foreign Exchange in Fund-Raising and Round-Trip Investment Activities of Domestic Residents Conducted via Offshore Special Purpose Companies, or SAFE Circular No. 75, and a series of implementation rules and guidance issued by SAFE, including the circular relating to operating procedures that came into effect in July 2011, require PRC residents and PRC corporate entities to register with local branches of SAFE in connection with their direct or indirect offshore investment in an overseas special purpose vehicle, or SPV, for the purposes of overseas equity financing activities, and to update such registration in the event of any significant changes with respect to that offshore company. SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents’ Offshore Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular No. 37, on July 4, 2014, which replaced the SAFE Circular No. 75. SAFE Circular No. 37 requires PRC residents to register with local branches of SAFE in connection with their direct establishment or indirect control of an offshore entity, for the purpose of overseas investment and financing, with such PRC residents’ legally owned assets or equity interests in domestic enterprises or offshore assets or interests, referred to in SAFE Circular No. 37 as a “special purpose vehicle.” The term “control” under SAFE Circular No. 37 is broadly defined as the operation rights, beneficiary rights or decision-making rights acquired by the PRC residents in the offshore special purpose vehicles or PRC companies by such means as acquisition, trust, proxy, voting rights, repurchase, convertible bonds or other arrangements. SAFE Circular No. 37 further requires amendment to the registration in the event of any changes with respect to the basic information of the special purpose vehicle, such as changes in a PRC resident individual shareholder, name or operation period; or any significant changes with respect to the special purpose vehicle, such as increase or decrease of capital contributed by PRC individuals, share transfer or exchange, merger, division or other material event. If the shareholders of the offshore holding company who are PRC residents do not complete their registration with the local SAFE branches, the PRC subsidiaries may be prohibited from distributing their profits and proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation to the offshore company, and the offshore company may be restricted in its ability to contribute additional capital to its PRC subsidiaries. Moreover, failure to comply with SAFE registration and amendment requirements described above could result in liability under PRC law for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions. On February 28, 2015, SAFE promulgated a Notice on Further Simplifying and

Improving Foreign Exchange Administration Policy on Direct Investment, or SAFE Notice 13, which became effective on June 1, 2015. In accordance with SAFE Notice 13, entities and individuals are required to apply for foreign exchange registration of foreign direct investment and overseas direct investment, including those required under the SAFE Circular No. 37, with qualified banks, instead of SAFE. The qualified banks, under the supervision of SAFE, directly examine the applications and conduct the registration.

We have notified holders of ordinary shares of our company whom we know are PRC residents to register with the local SAFE branch and update their registrations as required under the SAFE regulations described above. We are aware that Mr. Robin Yanhong Li, our chairman, chief executive officer and principal shareholder, who is a PRC resident, has registered with the relevant local SAFE branch. We, however, cannot provide any assurances that all of our shareholders who are PRC residents will file all applicable registrations or update previously filed registrations as required by these SAFE regulations. The failure or inability of our PRC

resident shareholders to comply with the registration procedures may subject the PRC resident shareholders to fines and legal sanctions, restrict our cross-border investment activities, or limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to or obtain foreign exchange-dominated loans from our company.

As it is uncertain how the SAFE regulations described above will be interpreted or implemented, we cannot predict how these regulations will affect our business operations or future strategy. For example, we may be subject to more stringent review and approval process with respect to our foreign exchange activities, such as remittance of dividends and foreign currency-denominated borrowings, which may adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. In addition, if we decide to acquire a PRC domestic company, we cannot assure you that we or the owners of such company will be able to obtain the necessary approvals or complete the necessary filings and registrations required by the SAFE regulations. This may restrict our ability to implement our acquisition strategy and could adversely affect our business and prospects.

Failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock ownership plans or share option plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

In February 2012, SAFE promulgated the Notices on Issues concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly-Listed Company, or the Stock Option Rule, replacing the earlier rules promulgated in March 2007. Under the Stock Option Rule, PRC residents who are granted stock options by an overseas publicly listed company are required, through a PRC agent or PRC subsidiary of such overseas publicly listed company, to register with SAFE and complete certain other procedures. We and our PRC resident employees who have been granted stock options are subject to these regulations. We have designated our PRC subsidiary Baidu Online to handle the registration and other procedures required by the Stock Option Rule. If we or our PRC optionees fail to comply with these regulations in the future, we or our PRC optionees and their local employers may be subject to fines and legal sanctions.

PRC regulations establish complex procedures for some acquisitions conducted by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

The Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, adopted by six PRC regulatory agencies in August 2006 and amended in June 2009, among other things, established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex. In addition, the Implementing Rules Concerning Security Review on the Mergers and Acquisitions by Foreign Investors of Domestic Enterprises, issued by the Ministry of Commerce in August 2011, specify that mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors involved in “an industry related to national security” are subject to strict review by the Ministry of Commerce, and prohibit any activities attempting to bypass such security review, including by structuring the transaction through a proxy or contractual control arrangement. We believe that our business is not in an industry related to national security, but we cannot preclude the possibility that the Ministry of Commerce or other government agencies may publish explanations contrary to our

understanding or broaden the scope of such security reviews in the future, in which case our future acquisitions in the PRC, including those by way of entering into contractual control arrangements with target entities, may be closely scrutinized or prohibited. Moreover, the Anti-Monopoly Law requires that the Ministry of Commerce be notified in advance of any concentration of undertaking if certain filing thresholds are triggered. We may grow our business in part by directly acquiring complementary businesses in China. Complying with the requirements of the laws and regulations mentioned above and other PRC regulations to complete such transactions could be time-consuming, and any required approval processes, including obtaining approval from the Ministry of Commerce, may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business or maintain our market share. Our ability to expand our business or maintain or expand our market share through future acquisitions would as such be materially and adversely affected.

Our auditor like other independent registered public accounting firms operatingis located in China, a jurisdiction where PCAOB is not permittedcurrently unable to be subject to inspection by Public Company Accounting Oversight Board,conduct inspections without the approval of the PRC authorities, and as such, investors may be deprived of the benefits of such inspection.

Our independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit reports included in our annual reports filed with the SEC, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB, is required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspections by PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the United States and professional standards. Because ourOur auditor is located in China, a jurisdiction where PCAOB is currently unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the PRC authorities, our auditor, like other independent registered public accounting firms operating in China, is currently not inspected by PCAOB.authorities. In May 2013, PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the China Securities Regulation Commission, or the CSRC, and the Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations undertaken by PCAOB, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC or the Ministry of Finance in the United States and the PRC, respectively. PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC and the Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in the PRC of audit firms that are registered with PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges.

Inspections of other firms that PCAOB has conducted outside of China have identified deficiencies in those firms’ audit procedures and quality control procedures, which may be addressed as part of the inspection process to improve future audit quality. The inability of PCAOB to conduct inspections of independent registered public accounting firms operating in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures or quality control procedures. As a result, investors may be deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections.

Proceedings instituted by the SEC against certainPRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act.

In December 2012, the SEC brought administrative proceedings against five accounting firms in China, including our independent registered public accounting firm, alleging that they had refused to produce audit work papers and other documents related to certain other China-based companies under investigation by the SEC. On January 22, 2014, an initial administrative law decision was issued, censuring these accounting firms and suspending four of these firms from practicing before the SEC for a period of six months. The decision is neither final nor legally effective unless and until reviewed and approved by the SEC. On February 12, 2014, four of thesePRC-based accounting firms appealed to the SEC against this decision. In February 2015, each of the fourPRC-based accounting firms agreed to a censure and to pay a fine to the SEC to settle the dispute and avoid suspension of their ability to practice before the SEC. The settlement requires the firms to follow detailed procedures to seek to provide the SEC with access to Chinese firms’ audit documents via the CSRC. If the firms do not follow these procedures, the SEC could impose penalties such as suspensions, or it could restart the administrative proceedings.

In the event that the SEC restarts the administrative proceedings, depending upon the final outcome, listed companies in the United States with major PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in the PRC, which could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, including possible delisting. Moreover, any negative news about the proceedings against these audit firms may cause investor uncertainty regarding China-based, United States-listed companies and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely affected.

If our independent registered public accounting firm were denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined not to be in compliance with

the requirements of the Exchange Act. Such a determination could ultimately lead to our delisting from the NASDAQ Global Select Market or deregistration from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of our ADSs in the United States.

Fluctuation in the value of the RMB may have a material and adverse effect on your investment.

The value of the RMB against the U.S. dollar and other currencies may fluctuate and is affected by, among other things, changes in China’s political and economic conditions and foreign exchange policies. The conversion of RMB into foreign currencies, including U.S. dollars, is based on rates set by the People’s Bank of China. The PRC government allowed the RMB to appreciate by more than 20% against the U.S. dollar between July 2005 and July 2008. Between July 2008 and June 2010, this appreciation halted and the exchange rate between the RMB and the U.S. dollar remained within a narrow band. Since June 2010, the RMB has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at times significantly and unpredictably, and in recent monthsyears the RMB has depreciated significantly against the U.S. dollar. Since October 1, 2016, the RMB has joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s basket of currencies that make up the Special Drawing Right (SDR), along with the U.S. dollar, the Euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the RMB has depreciated significantly in the backdrop of a surging U.S. dollar and persistent capital outflows of China. With the development of the foreign exchange market and progress towards interest rate liberalization and Renminbi internationalization, the PRC government may in the future announce further changes to the exchange rate system and there is no guarantee that the RMB will not appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the future. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between the RMB and the U.S. dollar in the future.

Our revenues and costs are mostly denominated in RMB.Any significant revaluation of RMB may materially and adversely affect our cash flows, revenues, earnings and financial position, and the value of, and any dividends payable on, our ADSs in U.S. dollars. For example, an appreciation of RMB against the U.S. dollar would make any new RMB denominated investments or expenditures more costly to us, to the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars into RMB for such purposes. An appreciation of RMB against the U.S. dollar would also result in foreign currency translation losses for financial reporting purposes when we translate our U.S. dollar denominated financial assets into RMB, as RMB is our reporting currency.currency, and foreign exchange losses reported in earnings for certain RMB denominated loans that overseas entities borrowed from our PRC entities. Conversely, a significant depreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar may significantly reduce our earnings translated in the U.S. dollar equivalent of our earnings,dollars, which in turn could adversely affect the price of our ADSs. Furthermore,Additionally, a significant depreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar may have a material adverse impact on our cash flowwould result in the eventforeign currency translation losses for financial reporting purposes when we need to convert our RMB into U.S. dollars to repaytranslate our U.S. dollar denominated notes orand other payment obligations.indebtedness into RMB, as RMB is our reporting currency.

We face uncertainties with respect to indirect transfers of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises by theirnon-PRC holding companies. Enhanced scrutiny over acquisition transactions by the PRC tax authorities may have a negative impact on potential acquisitions we may pursue in the future.

Pursuant to the Notice on Strengthening Administration of Enterprise Income Tax for Share Transfers byNon-PRC Resident Enterprises, or Circular 698, issued by the State Administration of Taxation, which became effective retroactively as of January 1, 2008, where anon-resident enterprise investor transfers equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise indirectly by way of disposing of equity interests in an overseas holding company, thenon-resident enterprise investor, being the transferor, may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax, if the indirect transfer is considered to be an abusive use of company structure without reasonable commercial purposes. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC withholding tax at the rate of up to 10%. In addition, the PRC resident enterprise may be required to provide necessary assistance to support the enforcement of Circular 698.

On February 3, 2015, the State Administration of Tax issued a Public Notice Regarding Certain Corporate Income Tax Matters on Indirect Transfer of Properties byNon-Tax Resident Enterprises, or Public Notice 7.

Public Notice 7 has introduced a new tax regime that is significantly different from that under Circular 698. Public Notice 7 extends its tax jurisdiction to not only indirect transfers set forth under Circular 698 but also transactions involving transfer of other taxable assets, through the offshore transfer of a foreign intermediate holding company. In addition, Public Notice 7 provides clearer criteria than Circular 698 on how to assess reasonable commercial purposes and has introduced safe harbors for internal group restructurings and the purchase and sale of equity through a public securities market. Public Notice 7 also brings challenges to both the foreign transferor and transferee (or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer) of the taxable assets. Where anon-resident enterprise conducts an “indirect transfer” by transferring the taxable assets indirectly by disposing of the equity interests of an overseas holding company, thenon-resident enterprise being the transferor, or the transferee, or the PRC entity which directly owned the taxable assets may report to the relevant tax authority such indirect transfer. Using a “substance over form” principle, the PRC tax authority mayre-characterize such indirect transfer as a direct transfer of the equity interests in the PRC tax resident enterprise and other properties in China. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax, and the transferee or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer is obligated to withhold the applicable taxes, currently at a rate of up to 10% for the transfer of equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise. Both the transferor and the transferee may be subject to penalties under PRC tax laws if the transferee fails to withhold the taxes and the transferor fails to pay the taxes.

We face uncertainties with respect to the reporting and consequences of private equity financing transactions, share exchange or other transactions involving the transfer of shares in our company by investors that arenon-PRC resident enterprises, or sale or purchase of shares in othernon-PRC resident companies or other taxable assets by us. Our company and othernon-resident enterprises in our group may be subject to filing obligations or being taxed if our company and othernon-resident enterprises in our group are transferors in such transactions, and may be subject to withholding obligations if our company and othernon-resident enterprises in our group are transferees in such transactions, under Circular 698 and Public Notice 7. For the transfer of shares in our company by investors that arenon-PRC resident enterprises, our PRC subsidiaries may be requested to assist in the filing under Circular 698 and Public Notice 7. As a result, we may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with Circular 698 and Public Notice 7 or to request the relevant transferors from whom we purchase taxable assets to comply with these circulars, or to establish that our company and othernon-resident enterprises in our group should not be taxed under these circulars. The PRC tax authorities have the discretion under Circular 698 and Public Notice 7 to make adjustments to the taxable capital gains based on the difference between the fair value of the taxable assets transferred and the cost of investment. If the PRC tax authorities make adjustments to the taxable income of the transactions under Circular 698 and Public Notice 7, our income tax costs associated with such transactions will be increased, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. We have made acquisitions in the past and may conduct additional acquisitions in the future. We cannot assure you that the PRC tax authorities will not, at their discretion, adjust any capital gains and impose tax return filing obligations on us or require us to provide assistance to them for the investigation of any transactions we were involved in. Heightened scrutiny over acquisition transactions by the PRC tax authorities may have a negative impact on potential acquisitions we may pursue in the future.

Risks Related to Our ADSs

The trading price of our ADSs has been volatile and may continue to be volatile regardless of our operating performance.

The trading price of our ADSs has been and may continue to be subject to wide fluctuations. The market price for our ADSs may continue to be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors including the following:

In addition, the stock market in general, and the market prices for internet-related companies and companies with operations in China in particular, have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the operating performance of such companies. The securities of some China-based companies that have listed their securities in the United States have experienced significant volatility since their initial public offerings in recent years, including, in some cases, substantial declines in the trading prices of their securities. The trading performances of these companies’ securities after their offerings may affect the attitudes of investors towards Chinese companies listed in the United States in general, which consequently may impact the trading performance of our ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, any negative news or perceptions about inadequate corporate governance practices or fraudulent accounting, corporate structure or other matters of other Chinese companies may also negatively affect the attitudes of investors towards Chinese companies in general, including us, regardless of whether we have engaged in any inappropriate activities. In particular, the global financial crisis and the ensuing economic recessions in many countries have contributed and may continue to contribute to extreme volatility in the global stock markets. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our ADSs. Volatility or a lack of positive performance in our ADS price may also adversely affect our ability to retain key employees, most of whom have been granted options or other equity incentives.

Substantial future sales or the perception of sales of our ADSs in the public market could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.

Sales of our ADSs in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of our ADSs to decline. Such sales also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem appropriate. If any existing shareholder or shareholders sell a substantial amount of ADSs, the prevailing market price for our ADSs could be adversely affected. In addition, if we pay for our future acquisitions in whole or in part with additionally issued ordinary shares, your ownership interests in our company would be diluted and this, in turn, could have a material and adverse effect on the price of our ADSs.

You may not have the same voting rights as the holders of our ordinary shares and may not receive voting materials in time to be able to exercise your right to vote.

Except as described in this annual report and in the deposit agreement, holders of our ADSs will not be able to exercise voting rights attached to the shares evidenced by our ADSs on an individual basis. Holders of our ADSs will appoint the depositary or its nominee as their representative to exercise the voting rights attached to the shares represented by the ADSs. You may not receive voting materials in time to instruct the depositary to vote, and it is possible that you, or persons who hold their ADSs through brokers, dealers or other third parties, will not have the opportunity to exercise a right to vote. Upon our written request, the depositary will mail to you a shareholder meeting notice which contains, among other things, a statement as to the manner in which your voting instructions may be given, including an express indication that such instructions may be given or deemed

given to the depositary to give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by us if no instructions are received

by the depositary from you on or before the response date established by the depositary. However, no voting instruction will be deemed given and no such discretionary proxy will be given with respect to any matter as to which we inform the depositary that (i) we do not wish such proxy given, (ii) substantial opposition exists, or (iii) such matter materially and adversely affects the rights of shareholders.

You may not be able to participate in rights offerings and may experience dilution of your holdings as a result.

We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. Under the deposit agreement for the ADSs, the depositary will not offer those rights to ADS holders unless both the rights and the underlying securities to be distributed to ADS holders are either registered under the Securities Act of 1933, or exempt from registration under the Securities Act with respect to all holders of ADSs. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or underlying securities or to endeavor to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective. In addition, we may not be able to take advantage of any exemptions from registration under the Securities Act. Accordingly, holders of our ADSs may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution in their holdings as a result.

You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.

Your ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its transfer books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. In addition, the depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary deems it advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law, conduct most of our operations in China and all of our executive officers reside outside of the United States.

We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and conduct most of our operations in China through our subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities in China. All of our executive officers and a majority of our directors reside outside of the United States and some or all of the assets of these persons are located outside of the United States. As a result, it may not be possible to effect service of process within the United States or elsewhere outside of China upon our executive officers, including with respect to matters arising under U.S. federal securities laws or applicable state securities laws.

It may also be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against our directors and executive officers in the Cayman Islands or in China in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands and of China may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and executive officers. There is no statutory recognition in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, although the courts of the Cayman Islands will generally recognize and enforce anon-penal judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits. Moreover, our PRC counsel has advised us that the PRC does not have treaties with the United States or many other countries providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgment of courts.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association and by the Companies Law (2013(2016 Revision) and common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take legal action against our directors and us, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the

Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, which has persuasive, but not binding, authority on a court

in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilitiesduties of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedents in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and provides significantly less protection to investors. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action before the federal courts of the United States.

As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests through actions against our management, directors or major shareholders than would shareholders of a corporation incorporated in a jurisdiction in the United States.

Our dual-class ordinary share structure with different voting rights could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

Our ordinary shares are divided into Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Holders of Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B ordinary shares are entitled to ten votes per share. We issued Class A ordinary shares represented by our ADSs in our initial public offering. Ourco-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, Robin Yanhong Li, who acquired our shares prior to our initial public offering, holds our Class B ordinary shares. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by the holder thereof, while Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Upon any transfer of Class B ordinary shares by a holder thereof to any person or entity which is not an affiliate (as defined in our memorandum and articles of association) of such holder, such Class B ordinary shares will be automatically and immediately converted into the equal number of Class A ordinary shares. In addition, if at any time Robin Yanhong Li and his affiliates collectively own less than 5% of the total number of the issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares, each issued and outstanding Class B ordinary share will be automatically and immediately converted into one Class A ordinary share, and we shall not issue any Class B ordinary shares thereafter.

Due to the disparate voting powers attached to these two classes, certain shareholders have significant voting power over matters requiring shareholder approval, including election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or sale of our company or our assets. This concentrated control could discourage or prevent others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions with our company, which could deprive our shareholders and ADS holders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares or ADSs as part of a sale of our company and might reduce the price of our ADSs.

Our articles of association contain anti-takeover provisions that could adversely affect the rights of holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs.

Our articles of association include certain provisions that could limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company, and therefore may deprive the holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs of the opportunity to sell their ordinary shares or ADSs at a premium over the prevailing market price by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transactions. These provisions include the following:

We may be classified as a passive foreign investment company, which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequence to U.S. Holders of our ADSs or ordinary shares.

Anon-U.S. corporation, such as our own, will be considered a passive foreign investment company, or “PFIC”, for any taxable year if either (i) at least 75% of its gross income is passive income or (ii) at least 50% of the value of its assets (based on an average of the quarterly values of the assets during a taxable year) is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income. The value of our assets is generally determined by reference to the market price of the ADSs and ordinary shares, which may fluctuate considerably. In addition, because there are uncertainties in the application of the relevant rules and because PFIC status is a fact-intensive determination made on an annual basis, no assurance may be given with respect to our PFIC status for the current or any future taxable year.

Although under certain interpretations of how one determines what portion of goodwill and certain other assets are treated as “passive”,“passive,” we may have been a PFIC for 2015, we believe under more reasonable approaches for our circumstances, based on the market price of our ADSs and ordinary shares, the value of our assets, and the composition of our assets and income, that we were not a PFIC for our taxable year ended December 31, 2015. In addition, we do not believe that we were a PFIC for our taxable year ended December 31, 2016 even under the least favorable interpretations of what portion of goodwill and certain other assets are treated as “passive.” However, given the lack of authority and the highly factual nature of the analyses, no assurance can be given. We do not expect to be a PFIC for our taxable year ending December 31, 20162017 or for the foreseeable future. However, our PFIC status for the current taxable year ending December 31, 20162017 will not be determinable until the close of the taxable year, and, accordingly, there is no guarantee that we will not be a PFIC for the current taxable year (or any future taxable year).

If we were treated as a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. Holder (defined below) held an ADS or an ordinary share, certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences could apply to the U.S. Holder. See “Item 10.E. Additional Information—Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation—Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company.”

We were incorporated in the Cayman Islands in January 2000. Since our inception, we have conducted our operations in China principally through Baidu Online, our wholly owned subsidiary in Beijing, China. Since June 2001, we also have conducted part of our operations in China through Baidu Netcom, a consolidated affiliated entity in Beijing, China, which holds the licenses and approvals necessary to operate our websitesplatform and provide value-added telecommunication-based online advertising services. In more recent years, we have established additional subsidiaries inside and outside of China and assisted in establishing additional PRC consolidated affiliated entities to conduct part of our operations.

On August 5, 2005, we listed our ADSs on The NASDAQ National Market (later renamed The NASDAQ Global Market) under the symbol “BIDU.”“BIDU”. We and certain selling shareholders of our company completed the initial public offering of 4,604,224 ADSs, each then representing one Class A ordinary share, on August 10, 2005. On May 12, 2010, we effected a change of the ADS to Class A ordinary share ratio from 1 ADS representing 1 Class A ordinary share to 10 ADSs representing 1 Class A ordinary share. The ratio change has the same effect as a10-for-1 ADS split. Our ADSs are currently traded on The NASDAQ Global Select Market.

In December 2008, our shareholders approved our name change from Baidu.com, Inc. to Baidu, Inc. In November 2009, we moved into our new corporate headquarters, which we name as Baidu Campus. Our principal executive offices are located at Baidu Campus, No. 10 Shangdi 10th Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100085, the People’s Republic of China. Our telephone number at this address is +86 (10) 5992-8888.

In November 2012, we obtained the controlling interest in Qiyi.com, Inc., or iQiyi, a prior equity method investee, and have since then consolidated its financial results into our consolidated financial statements. In

May 2013, we acquired the online video business of PPStream Inc., or PPS, and have merged it with iQiyi and have since then consolidated its financial results into our consolidated financial statements. In February 2016,the first quarter of 2017, iQiyi completed the issuance of certain convertible notes to a group of investors for an aggregate investment amount of US$1.53 billion, and we received a non-binding proposal from Mr. Robin Yanhong Li, chairman and chief executive officer of Baidu, and Mr. Yu Gong, chief executive officer ofinvested US$300 million in iQiyi proposing to acquire allas part of the outstanding shares of iQiyi beneficially owned by us based on an enterprise valuation of US$2.8 billion for 100% of iQiyi on a cash-free and debt-free basis. Pursuant to the non-binding proposal, the buyers expect that iQiyi will remain a strategic partner to us after the consummation of the proposed transaction and enter into business cooperation agreements with us.note issuance.

In October 2013, we acquired 100% equity interest of 91 Wireless from NetDragon Websoft Inc., or NetDragon, and the other shareholders of 91 Wireless, and have since then consolidated its financial results into our consolidated financial statements.

We consolidated the financial results of Qunar, an online travel services provider, in our consolidated financial statements from July 2011 to October 2015. In July 2011, we acquired a majority stake in Qunar. In November 1, 2013, Qunar listed its ADSs, each representing three Class B ordinary shares of Qunar, on NASDAQ in connection with its initial public offering. In October 2015, we completed a share exchange transaction with Ctrip, in which we exchanged 178,702,519 Class A ordinary shares and 11,450,000 Class B ordinary shares in Qunar for 11,488,381 newly-issued ordinary shares of Ctrip, at an exchange ratio of 0.725 Ctrip ADSs per Qunar ADS. As a result of the transaction, we have ceased consolidating the financial results of Qunar, and we have become a major shareholder of Ctrip owning approximately 25%since October 2015. We subsequently acquired additional ordinary shares of Ctrip’s aggregate voting interest.Ctrip in 2016.

We are the leading Chinese language internet search provider. As a technology-based media company, we aim to provide the best and most equitable way for people to find what they are looking for. We provide our users with many channels to access information and services. In addition to serving individual internet search users, we provide an effective platform for businesses to reach potential customers.

Our business currently consists of three segments, namely, search services, transaction services and iQiyi. Search services are keyword-based marketing services targeted at and triggered by internet users’ search queries, which mainly include our P4P services and other online marketing services. Transaction services include Baidu Nuomi, Baidu Takeout Delivery,Deliveries, Baidu Maps,Mobile Game, Baidu Connect,Wallet, Baidu WalletMaps and others. iQiyi is an online video platform with a content library that includes licensed movies, television series, cartoons, variety shows and other programs.

OurBaidu.com website is the largest website in China and the fourth largest website globally, as measured by average daily visitors and page views during the three-month period ended December 31, 2015,2016, according to Alexa.com, an internet analytics firm. In addition, our “Baidu” brand is one of the highest ranking brands in China in BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Chinese Brands 2015,2016, a study published by Millward Brown Optimor, a brand strategy research company.

We conduct our operations primarily in China. Revenues generated from our operations in China accounted for approximately 99.8%99.5%, 99.5%98.9% and 98.9%97.8% of our total revenues in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2015,2016, respectively.

We serve threefour types of online participants:

Users. We offer a Chinese language search platform on ourBaidu.com website Baidu platform that enables users to find relevant information online, including web pages, news, images, documents and multimedia files, through links provided on our website. We also offer transaction platforms, such asNuomi.com, to connect online and offline services provided by third-parties. We provide a broad range of products and services to enrich user experience, including search services, transaction services and iQiyi. Our products and services can be accessed through PCs and mobile devices. We aspire to provide the best experience to our users. To this end, we have invested in advanced technology such as artificial intelligence and deep learning and semantic intelligence.learning.

Customers.We deliver online marketing services to a diverse customer base operating in a variety of industries. In 2015,2016, we had approximately 1,049,000982,000 active online marketing customers. Consistent with previously reported numbers, the number of active online marketing customers excluded those for our group-buying and delivery related businesses. Our online marketing customers consist of SMEs throughout China, large domestic companies and Chinese divisions and subsidiaries of large, multinational companies. We have a diverse customer base in terms of industries and geographical locations. Our defined industries in which our customers operate include retail and ecommerce, local services, medical and healthcare, network service, financial services, education, tourism and ticketing, online games, transportation, construction and decoration, and business services. Customers in our top five industries contributed more than 50.0%approximately 50% of our total online marketing revenues in 2015.2016. Although we have customers located throughout China, we have a more active and larger customer base in coastal regions, reflecting the current general economic demographics in China.

Customers for our transaction services primarily consist of merchants that act as service providers on our transaction platforms, such asNuomi.com. The merchants that operate on our transaction platforms mainly cover businesses such as restaurants, hotels and cinemas.

Customers for iQiyi primarily consist of advertisers, who are counted as part of our online marketing customers and subscription users of online video contents.

We reach and serve our customers through our direct sales force as well as a network of third-party distributors across China. As many of our customers are SMEs, we use distributors to help us identify potential SME customers, collect payments and assist SMEs in setting up accounts with us and using our online marketing services. We have also engaged third-party agencies to identify and reach potential customers outside of China. To better enableCustomers use our customers to capture the mobile opportunity, we provide free tools to customers to help them buildproducts and modify mobile landing pages and proactively educate customers about mobile marketing. We also have an integrated bidding system to better streamline the bidding experience for PCservices through PCs and mobile channels for our customers.devices. Mobile revenues accounted for 52.7%63.2% of our total revenues for 2015.2016.

Since early May 2016, we have been implementing measures to improve customer quality and foster a healthy environment to enhance user experience and drive long-term sustainable growth. We have taken proactive measures requiring all customers on our platform to submit ICP licenses and verify enterprise bank accounts. The implementation of new and stricter regulations on online marketing and our self-imposed proactive measures will have a short-term impact on our business. We believe these measures will be beneficial in the long term, and we remain confident in our long-term outlook, underpinned by our fundamental value proposition of search and our ongoing investments in technology.

Baidu Union Members.Members. Baidu Union consists of a large number of third-party web content, software and mobile application providers. Baidu Union members can display on their properties our customers’ promotional links that match the content of such members’ properties. Some Baidu Union members also embed some of our products and services into their properties. We allow Baidu Union members to provide high-quality and relevant search results to their users without the cost of building and maintaining advanced search capabilitiesin-house and to monetize their traffic through revenue sharing arrangements with us. We reward Baidu Union members by sharing with these members revenues as a percentage of total revenues recognized by us. AsBecause we have implemented measures to deliver a result of our continued effort to optimizebetter user experience and build a safer and more trustworthy platform for users since May 2016, the quality of Baidu Union members, the traffic and revenue contributed by Baidu Union members continueslightly decreased in 2016.

Content Providers. Our content providers mainly consist of video copyright holders, map data owners, apps owners who list their apps on our app store for users to increase, alongdownload, users who contribute their valuable and copyrighted content to our products, and self-media authors such as those who publish their content through Baijiahao accounts. These content providers contribute rich contents and resources to our content ecosystem, and in return we provide a broad platform for them to present their content. If we generate revenue from utilizing third-party contents, we will purchase these contents or share revenue with the growthcontent providers based on the terms of organic revenues generated by our own properties.pre-agreed contracts.

Search Services

Search Products and Services for Users

We focus on offering products and services that enable our users to find relevant information quickly and easily. We offer our main products and services to users throughBaidu.com free of charge generally. These products and services can be accessed through PCs, mobile and othernon-mobile devices.

Baidu Web Search. Baidu’s web search allows users to locate information through search queries. After typing a search query, users generally receive a list of ranked search results, which may include our customers’ content presented in a specific format. Users can then access the desired information by examining the returned search snippets, or clicking on the hypertext links displayed in the search results. The number of average monthly active users of mobile search, defined as users who used the service at least once in a given month, was approximately 657665 million for December 2015,2016, an increase of 21.0%1.7% over the corresponding period in the prior year.

We have integrated many features into our web search system to help users easily access the right information out of a huge number of web pages. The Baidu web search includes, but not limited to, the following features:

In order to improve mobile user experience, we have also undertaken a series of product innovations and developments, including but not limited to, the following features:

expanding to include multi-media input and output models such as text, voice and images. Multi-media interactive search provides users with a more convenient, diverse and imaginative mobile search experience.

Baidu Image Search. Baidu Image Search enables users to search for images on the internet by term queries or various categories and offers advanced features, such as search by image file type and search within a designated website or web page. Baidu Image Search is accessible through both web page and mobile device. Baidu Image Search also allows users to search information on an image or search other similar images by allowing users to upload an image or enter its uniform resource locator (URL). In addition, registered users can upload, label and share with others high-quality pictures through Baidu Image Search.

Baidu Post Bar. Baidu Post Bar is a social media platform that attracts users through topics of common interest. Users post text, image, audio and video content and reply to original content, thus forming social networks around topics of discussions. Baidu Post Bar draws new users through close integration with search and user-generated content. Baidu Post Bar has become a leading platform for celebrity fans, online game players, online novel readers and virtual local communities. Owing to its characteristic of equality and openness, Baidu Post Bar sees new onlinecommunities as well as a platform that reflects current cultural trends and catch phrases being generated constantly, and Baidu Post Bar has become a social media platform as result of its ability to cultivate and deliver high-quality content.trends.

Baidu Knows. Baidu Knows provides users with a query-based searchable community to share knowledge and experiences. Through Baidu Knows, registered users can post specific questions for other users to respond as well as respond to questions posted by others. Baidu Knows is accessible through both web page and mobile application. AnyBaidu users of ourBaidu.com website can also search, read and browse questions and answers contributed by registered users of Baidu Knows. Baidu Knows has also invited institutional and personal experts in many fields such as medical care, maternal and child health, education, finance and law to address users’ questions.

Baidu Encyclopedia. Baidu Encyclopedia is an evolving encyclopedia compiled by registered users. Registered users can share their knowledge by adding new terms and new content in Baidu Encyclopedia. Baidu Encyclopedia has

Encyclopedia’s contents are generated by registered users who are experts in manytheir respective fields, such asincluding medical care and studio arts, among its registeredarts. Baidu users which experts have contributed a rich collection of influential content. Any users of ourBaidu.com website can also search, read and browse all terms and content contributed by registered users of Baidu Encyclopedia. Baidu Encyclopedia has produced a number of characteristic columns, such as Encyclopedia of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Digital Museum, Recorder of History, etc., which aim to meet the high-quality content requirements of users.

Baidu WenKu. Baidu WenKu is an online document sharing platform, through which registered users of ourBaidu.com website Baidu platform can search, browse or read, by categories, documents in various formats such as Microsoft WORD, PDF and Microsoft Excel. Baidu WenKu also allows registered users to upload documents to and download from this user-created documents database. For senior high school students,Taking advantage of big data and artificial intelligence technology, Baidu WenKu introduced the Baidu GaoKao service, whichactively recommends content and provides one-on-one tutoring servicespersonalized resources to students preparing for the Chinese national college entrance exam by leveraging Baidu big data technology. For teachers, Baidu WenKu provides high-quality teaching resources, such as instructional materials, throughyouke.baidu.com.enable our users to easily find what they are looking for.

Hao123.com. Hao123.com is a popular Chinese website directory navigation site in China.

Baidu Mobile Search.Baidu. As one of our flagship mobile applications, Mobile Baidu, formerly named Baidu Mobile Search, enables users to access our search, and community-based productsnews-feed contents and services using mobile devices, including WAP-enabled mobile phones. Baidu Mobile SearchBaidu supports text, voice and image search to better serve users of mobile devices. By minimizing graphicsThe updated Mobile Baidu app features enhanced voice input, improved news-feed display and interactive contents, Baidu Mobile Search offers a user-friendly and productivemore personalized mobile internet search experience.home page.

Baidu Mobile Assistant. Baidu Mobile Assistant is a mobile application marketplace designed for Android mobile devices. The platform offers an extensive and diversified array of applications, and selects and recommends high-quality applications based on big data analytics. Baidu Mobile Assistant presents contents of applications to users, helping them to find the most suitable applications. Baidu Mobile Assistant helps improve users’ phone management, allowing users to download, upgrade, manage and delete applications easily and conveniently. It also allows users to share files such as applications, videos, audios and images easily without data usage.

Additionally, Baidu Mobile Browser. Baidu Mobile Browser is a mobile internet browser. Users can search for their favorite websitesAssistant helps users connect to shared WiFi hotspots, optimize device memory and customize their Baidu Mobile Browser landing pages. Users can land Baidu Mobile Browser through their mobile phones based on Windows, Android and iOS.clean junk files.

Baidu Mobile Guardian. Baidu Mobile Guardian is a powerfulcomprehensive phone security software, using mobile anti-virus technology. It can provide users with free system optimization, mobile handset accelerator, garbage data cleaning, system vulnerability defense, virus sweeper, data privacy, harassing phone intercept, secure payment and other features. Throughout 2015,2016, Baidu Mobile Guardian was recognized as one of thetop-ranked players byAV-Test, an authoritative international testing organization.

Duer.Duer introduced in 2015, is an intelligent personal virtual assistant that provides secretarial search service to users. Duer provides high-quality personal assistant services such as performing tasks, information seeking, answering questions and casual chatting through conversationalconversational/voice user interface. Its implementation leverages our search, natural language processing artificial intelligence and speech technologies, as well as image recognition and other machine learning technology.technologies.

Baijiahao.Baijiahao is a platform for content owners to publish contents and manage their fans. Baijiahao not only supports various content formats, including characters, pictures, graphs, video, live broadcast, augmented reality and virtual reality, but also provides smart writing assistant and copyrights protection to content owners. The contents gathered in Baijiahao are integrated with users, personalized search results. In addition, Baijiahao can help content owners to interact with their fans and arrange marketing campaigns.

Search Products and Services for Customers

We focus on providing customers with cost-effective and targeted marketing solutions. We generate a large majority of our revenues from online marketing services, including online marketing services based on search queries, contextuals, audience attributes, media and placement attributes and online marketing services of other forms. Our online marketing services generally comprise text links, images, multimedia files and interactive forms.

Online Marketing Services Based on Search Queries

Online marketing services based on search queries are keyword-based marketing services targeted at and triggered by internet users’ search queries, which include our P4P services and other search query–based online marketing services, for example, BrandZone. Typically, a P4P customer pays us when users click on one of its website links on Baidu search result pages or Baidu Union members’ properties, while a Brand-Link customer pays us based on the duration of the placement on Baidu search result pages. Users could reach our P4P sponsored links and Brand-Link on either mobile ornon-mobile devices.

P4P. Our auction-based P4P services enable our customers to bid for priority placement of their links in keyword search results.paid sponsored links. Our P4P platform enables our customers to reach users who search for information related to their products or services. Customers may use our automated online tools to create text-based descriptionstext/image-based advertisement of their web pages and bid on keywords that trigger the display of their web page information and links. Our P4P platform features an automated onlinesign-up process that allows customers to activate and manage their accounts at any time.

Our P4P platform is an online marketplace that introduces internet search users to customers who bid for priority placement of paid sponsored links in the search results. Our intelligentLinks to customers’ websites are ranked according to a comprehensive ranking system takes into considerationindex, calculated based on the “quality factor”quality factor of a sponsored link for a search query in addition to the price bid on thethat keyword. The quality factor of a sponsored link for a search query is determined based on the relevance, quality, customer reviews, credibility of customers and certain other factors. The relevance is determined based on our analysis of past search and click-through results. Links to customers’ websites are ranked according to a comprehensive ranking index, calculated based on both the quality factor of a sponsored link for a search query and the price bid on that keyword. Our P4P online marketing customers may choose to set a daily limit on the amount spent and may also choose to target only users accessing our website from specified regions in China and/or during specific time period of the day.

We customize search results by vertical industries through commercial knowledge graph. The commercial knowledge graph enhances the presentation of our customers’ commercial promotions through a structured format, and allows users to purchase or acquire the products or services offered by our customers in the search results. The search results of commercial knowledge graph consist of a special aggregated type of promotion called “Card” in the search results page, and a corresponding landing page that aggregates customers’ promotions and information.

Phoenix Nest, one of our current online marketing systems, is designed to improve relevance in paid search and increase value for customers, thus driving monetization efficiency. We have made enhancements continually to our Phoenix Nest platform. We have opened online marketing on mobile search to all customers to allow them to promote their products and services. In addition to text descriptions, customers can also promote their applications on mobile search. In order to help customers achieve better ROI from mobile search campaigns, we provide a series of special management tools in Phoenix Nest, including upgraded site building tool such as SiteApp for enhanced user experience, online chatting tool for better user engagement, mobile statistics analysis tool for enhanced conversion tracking, and performance reporting for managing campaign effectiveness. We have provided additionalgeo-targeting options in Phoenix Nest to enable customers to engage in city-level and distance proximity bidding. Moreover, we have launched Phoenix Nest App (Android and iOS) allowing customers to manage their online marketing anywhere and anytime. We provide tools and features, such as Phone Calls, App Downloads, Site-Links on Mobile, Brand-Link on Mobile, allowing customers to manage and optimize mobile marketing and understand the mobile opportunity properly. Leveraging on our ability to precisely recognize the search intent of users and matching the intent with the website content of the customers, our dynamic marketing solutions (Products Ads) present marketing content in varying formats, including living images, product discount information, and photo and textual illustrations of specific merchandise.

In 20152016, we further upgraded Phoenix Nest by introducing a suiteincorporating artificial intelligence technology. Using big data to analyze internet users’ intentions and scenarios, we can recommend personalized products and services, and stimulate demands of new functionalitiesinternet users, which increases our customers’ website traffic. Since we can identify internet users’ demands and services. We launchedalso understand our customers’ business, we are able to provide intelligent and creative services by automatically generating creative ideas that directly respond to the needs of internet users and thus achieve fully automated machine writing of customer marketing materials.

Local Express. Local Express which provides merchants with aturn-key solution to easily participate in our online marketing and transaction services, without highstart-up costs or the need for infrastructure investment. Local Express merchant accounts can be accessed by users via search, Baidu Maps and Baidu Nuomi. Local Express helps local merchants to reach users more effectively.

To increaseBaidu Newsfeed. Baidu Newsfeed can help customers precisely target the returnright newsfeed users based on their personal interests reflected in their past online behaviors, such as search and efficiencybrowsing, and their

demographics, and deliverin-feed ads to target users. Appearing below the Baidu search box in Mobile Baidu, Baidu Newsfeed complements our core search products and existing content ecosystem and enables us to access alternative advertisers, such as real estate customers. The news-feed platform has grown rapidly since its launch in May 2016, in terms of marketing spending for customers, we assistcontent volume, user numbers and average user time spent. Baidu Newsfeed, together with P4P services and Local Express, offers our customers in their mobile situationala complete and integrated marketing spending, i.e. directing theirsolution and builds a full marketing spending based on the target audience, time of the dayclosed loop from stimulating and location. We deliver data analysis reports on marketing spendingguiding demands to our customers after their marketing campaigns. In 2015, we integrated data on online clicks, registration and offline store visits, allowing for intelligent marketing spending. Furthermore, we continue to study mobile search behavior of our users and to deliver customized push results by automatically mining and analyzing the advertising content of our customers.promoting transformation.

BrandZone.BrandZone is our flagship branding display marketing product. The marketing message for a customer can integrate text description, image and video, and appear in a prominent position of the search result page. The display position for BrandZone includes not only our web search but also various vertical search products, such as Baidu Knows and Baidu Image Search. BrandZone allows the brand image of an advertiser to be displayed in all the vertical search products in a structured and uniform manner.

Aladdin.Aladdin is a form of commercialization of our Baidu data open platform. Based on our analysis of user search needs, we collaborate with vertical websites, who supply us with high quality and structured data for our inclusion in the search results to our users, and in return receive high-quality user traffic generated by us. We generate revenues from Aladdin service typically based on the duration of contract, while some customers pay us based on the number of clicks on our customers’ links that we help to generate.

Online Marketing Services Based on Contextuals, Audience Attributes, Media and Placement Attributes

Online marketing services based on contextuals, audience attributes, media and placement attributes refer to our programmatic marketing service transaction system, which is composed of four part: supply-side platform (SSP); demand-side platform or (DSP); Baidu exchange service platform or (BES); and data-management platform or (DMP).

SSP covers media resources of Baidu and third-party Baidu Union members. SSP intelligently manages media advertising space inventory and optimizes marketing spending by analyzing matching content, target audience and characteristics of different media and platforms. SSP has connected more advertising resources through technological upgrades. SSP currently supports a number of main-stream media formats, including textual links, images, open screen, interstitial, banner, information flow and video. SSP also supports native advertisement placement.

DSP is an integrated sales service platform for advertisers and advertising agents, providing programmatic media buy service. DSP supports PC web, WAP,in-app, andin-stream traffic multi-screen advertisement placement. DSP also supports the advertisement placement of standard creativity, intelligent creativity and customized creativity, as well as multiple payment methods including CPT, CPM, CPC and CPA.

BES is a traffic transaction platform that combines DSP with media resources, by leveraging the traffic advantage andbig-data capabilities of BES. BES automatically conducts thead-media buy process on behalf of advertisers using a digital platform, i.e. a programmatic buy process. The primary method for conducting such programmatic buy process is real time bidding, or RTB, which secures advertisement display opportunities in a very short period of time by bidding on the target audience. In addition to RTB, we also support programmatic premium buying (PPB) and guaranteed delivery (GD) methods. PPB targets specific high-quality media resources and engages in programmatic buy only after reaching agreement on the terms of the purchase with the advertisers. GD is conducted based on the agreed-upon price and time period reached by both sides to the transaction.

DMP collects data from the various parties in a programmatic buy process and stores, integrates, analyzes and optimizes such data. DMP integrates data from advertisers, Baidu and third-party DMPs, which cover searches, offline visits, target audience tags, sequential placements and crowd portraits, in order to improve the effectiveness and accuracy of DSP.

Value-added ConsultativeOther Search Products and Services Provided for Customers

We also offer certain value-added consultative servicesBaidu Cloud. Baidu Cloud is a cloud computing platform that helpoffers IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service) to enterprise customers maximize their ROI.

and developers to build, test and deploy applications on our scalable and reliable infrastructure. Baidu Marketing Platform. On Baidu Marketing Platform, customers can not only get an understanding of but also use our various online marketing services and enjoy our value-added services. At the early phase of their marketing placement, we provide various consulting services to assist customers in better understanding the market conditions and help them design suitable marketing solutions. We also provide all-around marketing infrastructure services, including guidance on building mobile sites, site building tools such as SiteApp, and site testing tools. During the marketing placement, our experts on the platform can assist customers in understanding and using our various products and services to increase customer satisfaction. At the later phase of the placement, our statistics analysis tools can help customers assess the marketing effectiveness and achieve better ROI.

Certification Services. We classify and certify merchantsCloud is based on the standards developed based onsame cloud computing technology that supports our experiences,search and evaluate the credibilitymarketing system. Baidu Cloud provides a comprehensive set of merchants periodically based on their behavior on Baidu Marketing Platformproduct services, such as IaaS-like computing, storage and other business activities. We have adopted related rewardnetwork, PaaS-like security, database, data analysis, multimedia, mobile application development, IOT, marketing cloud and penalty measures aimingAI platform. SaaS, serving as marketing cloud, enables our customers to guide the merchants to improve their credibility.

Baidu Credit. Based on customers’ historical marketing placements and credibility on the Baidu Marketing Platform, we provide a short-term credit line to customers so thatbuy applications as they can continue their marketing activities when they are short of capital. We received authorization from the People’s Bank of China on enterprise credit investigation in November 2015.need.

Transaction Services

We offer products and services that enable or facilitate our users and customers to conduct online and offline transactions.

Baidu Nuomi. Baidu Nuomi offers multiple services and products to its users, including entertainment (such as film, transportation ticketing and tourism), dining, hotel reservation, health and beauty services.Baidu Nuomi users can access the services throughNuomi.com, Baidu Nuomi’s mobile application and additional channels such as Mobile Baidu Mobileand Baidu Maps.

Baidu Nuomi is part of our services ecosystem, and is integrated with Baidu Search and Baidu Maps, which helps provide more user services, including supporting Baidu Search and Baidu Maps.

In 2015, Baidu Nuomi introducedsupports Baidu Search with richer, more localized results, enhancing mobile search’s role. Baidu Nuomi supports Baidu Maps by contributing a hostlarge number of new services,points of interest, and has added advanced,AI-driven features such as pre-paid cards, memberships, payment atcustomized restaurant and retail store spending credits, unified shopping carts and movie theme mall, to help local merchants build lasting relationships with users. Pre-paid cards allow users to store value for consumption with merchants, including merchant-specific pre-paid cards and Baidu general pre-paid cards. The membership service is aimed at providing premium services to loyal Baidu Nuomi users. Payment at store function enables users to only pay for the products and services when they have arrived at the offline store. Unified shopping carts allow users to complete multiple orders at the same time. Movie theme mall offer derivative products of popular movies and television shows. Baidu Nuomi has also expanded its product offerings and distribution channels through strategic partnerships with third parties, such as hotel reservation service providers. In addition, Baidu Nuomi provides convenient credit payment service for users. Baidu Nuomi has also launched a platform to introduce third-party services, such as laundry and mobile phone top up, to further complement and diversify its service offerings.

For merchants, Baidu Nuomi provides them with their own Baidu Nuomi pages in order to allow users to browse all the services and discounts offered by the merchants. Baidu Nuomi also provides self-promotion tools to merchants that help them attract and retain users. In addition, Baidu Nuomi provides merchants with comprehensive check-out service that helps them improve payment experience and efficiency. Baidu Nuomi also provides data services such as store statistics, user group analysis and an open platform providing a complete set of tools and processes to help merchants launch products more conveniently.recommendations.

Baidu Takeout Delivery.Deliveries. Baidu Deliveries, formerly branded as Baidu Takeout Delivery, is an online platform on which users can place food delivery orders with restaurants. Leveraging our map, data, and software capabilities and supported by logistics delivery system, Baidu Takeout Delivery offers usersorder food deliveries from a wide range of quality restaurants within short delivery time.and vendors. Leveraging our map, big data, artificial intelligence and other technology capabilities, Baidu Deliveries is able to provide users with personalized restaurant selection as well as reliable deliveries through our proprietary Intelligent Real-time Delivery Network system. In addition to restaurants, we havefood, Baidu Deliveries has also expanded our takeoutits delivery service toservices into other product categories, such as grocery stores, convenience stores, and flower shops, among others. Users can locate restaurants or stores on either PCs or mobile devices.as well as otheron-demand courier related services. When accessing from mobile devices, users can search for restaurants or stores close to their current location.

Baidu Maps. Baidu Maps integrates map data from third-party suppliers and web information, providing users with services relating to locations, routes, andother local merchants based on their PCs and mobile devices in both offline and online modes. Baidu Maps for mobile devices (Baidu Mobile Maps) increasingly serves as a gateway

for users to conduct local searches. In addition to Mainland China, Baidu Maps currently also covers Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, providing both offline and online modes of service in these regions. It has an open platform that integrates location-based services from third-party partners. The number of monthly active users of Baidu Mobile Maps, defined as users who used the service at least once in a given month, was approximately 302 million for December 2015, an increase of 43% over the corresponding period in the prior year.

Baidu Navigation.Baidu Navigation is a professional navigation application that can be used in both offline and online modes. It can support both Android and iOS systems. Baidu Navigation provides users with destination searching, positioning, route planning and navigation service, all based on real-time traffic situations. Baidu Navigation also supports site searching and navigation launching through voice commands and is compatible with a wide variety of automobile-connected hardware devices.

Baidu Telematics. We have developed four OEM solutions, CarLife, MyCar, CoDriver and CarGuard, for automobile manufacturers. CarLife provides intelligent connection between the smartphone and the car during driving. MyCar is a private cloud service which transforms car data into services for its owner. CoDriver is voice-recognition based virtual assistant installed in the car. CarGuard provides cybersecurity solutions for the car connected with internet. Baidu Telematics has already partnered with well-known automobile manufacturers and suppliers to implement the four OEM solutions and to co-develop leading telematics technology.locations.

Baidu Wallet.Baidu Wallet, formerly branded as BaiduPay, provides online and mobile payment services and enables our users to complete a closed loop transaction in a seamless manner. Through integration with Baidu and third-party products, Baidu Wallet fulfills payment in a wide array of scenarios, including purchases of movie tickets, services provided by Baidu Nuomi, takeout deliveryBaidu Deliveries and daily commutes. Baidu Wallet has introduced theBaidu Spring Business Platform, which precisely places the offline coupons and gift cards offered by local merchants into the Baidu Wallet accounts of our users, and allows users to use such coupons and gift cards offline when completing the relevant transactions through Baidu Wallet. In order to further cultivate the mobile payment habit of users, Baidu Wallet began to offer a variety of rewards and promotions to its users from November 2015. Baidu Wallet has continued to grow, reaching 53100 million activated accounts as of December 31, 2015.2016.

Baidu Consumer Credit. Baidu Consumer Credit offers education loans and consumer financing in industry sectors such as travel, beauty, home decoration and home rentals, through partnership with a large number of educational institutions and other companies and merchants. We are creating an innovative platform to provide internet financial services, which give our users more convenience and faster approval, with the help of ourAI-based risk control technologies including facial and fingerprint recognition, optical character recognition (OCR) of identification documents, and live detection.

Baidu Wealth Management. We aim to provide more fair, more creditworthy and more transparent wealth management service to investors by leveraging our strengths in big data and technology. For our customers, we analyze their risk profiles using our own artificial intelligence technology. For investment products, we use Baidu data analytical capabilities to more holistically analyze their potential risks and returns. Furthermore, we have established a team of experienced wealth management professionals to serve our customers.

Baidu Maps. In 2016, Baidu Maps data is mainly collected by ourselves, complemented by third-party suppliers and web information. Baidu Maps provides users with services relating to locations, routes, and local merchants on their PCs and mobile devices in both offline and online modes. Baidu Maps for mobile devices (Baidu Mobile Maps) increasingly serves as a gateway for users to conduct local searches. Baidu Maps also provides indoor maps for large shopping malls. In addition to Mainland China, Baidu Maps coverage has expanded to over 200 countries and regions to serve Chinese travelers overseas. It has an open platform that integrates location-based services from third-party partners. Baidu Maps also works with developers and provides open map services to third-party apps and websites. The number of monthly active users of Baidu Mobile Maps, defined as users who used the service at least once in a given month, was approximately 341 million for December 2016, an increase of 13% over the corresponding period in the prior year.

Baidu Mobile Game. Baidu Mobile Game platform collaborates with Chinese and international licensed content providers in providingto provide a diverse array of licensed and healthy games to users, hosting dedicated mobile channels andup-to-date licensed games, and has attracted a large community of mobile game players. Our platform connects users with game content providers and we share revenues from game operations with game developers pursuant to the terms ofon our cooperation agreements.platform.

Baidu Connect. We launched Baidu Connect in September 2014. Building upon Light Apps, Baidu Connect is a tool for merchants that can bring in leads from other Baidu products such as search and maps. It is built with functionality that enables conversion and offers merchants a CRM system. We provide easy-to set-up templates tailored for specific industries. Baidu Connect helps merchants reach new customers and maintain engagement with existing ones. Once a user follows a business or makes a purchase, the merchant can broadcast relevant information to the user to increase the likelihood of future transactions. Baidu Connect also features a number of technology services, such as App Builder, which is a set of tools to assist content publishers and service providers in building applications through a swift process.

Baidu Cloud.Netdisk. Baidu Cloud,Netdisk, our personal cloud computing service, allows users to upload documents, images, audios and videos to its cloud servers, stores the uploaded data with security control and provides real-timeback-ups, and making the data accessible across different terminalsdevices including tablets, smartphones and desktops. Users can also share their data through Baidu Cloud.Netdisk. In 2016, Baidu Netdisk launched super membership services and a series of new member benefits.

International Products and Services. We offer numerous mobile products and services for emerging and developed markets around the world. Our mobilesmartphone applications for overseas markets include DU Battery Saver,

DU Speed Booster, ES File Explorer, Photo Wonder, Simeji Japanese input method, and Baidu Browser, among others. Our PC productsIn early 2016, we introduced our mobile advertising platform DU Ad Platform to Android developers outside of China. DU Ad Platform is now available for overseas markets include Baidu Antivirus, PC Faster, Hao123, Baidu IMEdevelopers in approximately 200 countries and more.regions worldwide.

iQiyi

iQiyi and PPS. Established in April 2010, iQiyi is ana leading online video platform with a content library that includesin China, streaming both licensed and self-made movies, television series, cartoons, variety shows, cartoons and other programs. The programscontents, which are either produced by iQiyi or provided by content providers under licensing arrangements. Apart from sourcing licensed contents, iQiyi also produces a wide array of original content. In addition,is dedicated to serving Chinese users with the best possible online video experience, along with various services, such as reading, gaming, social network, movie ticketing, live streaming ande-commerce business. iQiyi provides online community services to facilitate user communication and interaction. Users can also search and watchad-supported iQiyi.com videos on their mobile devices free of charge. Paying subscribers can enjoy premium services on iQiyi, includingad-free video streaming and access to premium content. In May 2013, we acquired the online video business of PPS and have merged itPPS with iQiyi. Following the merger, PPS has since then operated as asub-brand of iQiyi. The combined platform is one of the leaders of online video businessiQiyi’s mobile application maintained its industry leadership with 125 million daily active users, 480 million monthly active users, and 335 billion minutes monthly user time in China.December 2016, according to Alexa.com, an internet analytics firm.

Sales and Distribution

We offer search and transaction services directly and through our distribution network. We have direct sales presence in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou and major cities in Guangdong Province, covering the major regional markets for our online marketing services.

Our search service distributors provide numerous services, including identifying customers, collecting payments, assisting customers in setting up accounts with us, suggesting keywords to maximize ROI and

engaging in other marketing and educational services aimed at acquiring customers. We offer discounts to distributors as consideration for their services. We have relied on distributors for several reasons. Our P4P customer base in China is geographically diverse and fragmented, as many of our P4P customers are SMEs located in different regions in China. Moreover, SMEs are generally less experienced with online marketing as compared to large companies and therefore benefit from the extensive services provided by distributors. Finally, secure online payment and credit card systems are in early stages of development in China. Distributors serve as an important channel to reach SME customers throughout China and collect payments from them. We offer our online marketing services to medium and large corporate customers through third-party agencies and our direct sales force. We have also engaged third-party agencies to identify and reach the potential customers outside of China.

Transaction services are provided directly in most first and second tier cities based on the high population concentration and well-constructed infrastructure. We reach customers and promote our transaction services via distributors mainly in third and fourth tiermost cities because customers in these areas are geographically diverse and fragmented. Our distributors identify customers and assist customers to set up accounts in order to improve market share and penetrate rate in these areas. We also provide transaction services directly in several first and second tier cities based on the high population concentration and well-constructed infrastructure.

Marketing

We focus on continually improving the quality of our products and services, as we believe satisfied users and customers are more likely to recommend our products and services to others. Through these efforts and the increased use of internet in China, we have built our brand with modest marketing expenditures.

Our initial public offering in 2005 and subsequent positive media coverage have significantly enhanced our brand recognition. We have also implemented a number of marketing initiatives designed to promote our brand awareness among potential users, customers and Baidu Union members. In addition to our brand positioning in the market, we have also initiated a series of marketing activities to promote our products especially those in relation to mobile applications,and technologies among existing and potential users and customers. In 2015,the Baidu World Conference held in September 2016, we launched a numbershowcased Baidu artificial intelligence platform, “Baidu Brain,” and its key functions, and announced that we would open its key capabilities and underlying technologies to developers and enterprises. At the Wuzhen Internet Conference held in November 2016, we operated the first experience station for Baidu autonomous driving cars and demonstrated the technology capacities and concepts of Baidu Nuomi-specific holiday promotional campaigns to enhance its market recognition.autonomous driving cars. In May 2015,November 2016, we hosted the 2015held Baidu UnionMoments Sales Summit and theCharity One-Hour event, co-organizedpublished a new Baidu commercial brand “powered by intelligence” and promoted our Baidu Newsfeed advertisement strategy. At the Baidu

Cheung Kong Lecture with Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. In our “Baidu World” event in September 2015,ABC Summit held on November 30, 2016, we introduced Duerthe ABC concept of future information technology development, i.e., AI, big data, and plan to further incorporate advanced technology to connect people with services. In November 2015, we hosted the “Baidu Moments Marketing Ceremony,” during which we published the2015 Brand Digital Asset Ranking, and teamed up with some well-known companies exploring innovative marketing. In 2015, we promoted flagship Baidu products and enhance user recognition using a wide variety of activities, such as Baidu Wallet year-long cash-back event.cloud computing.

Competition

The internet search, transaction service and internet video service industries in China are rapidly evolving and highly competitive.

For internet search, our primary competitors include U.S.-based internet search providers providing Chinese language internet search services and China-based internet companies. We compete with these entities for both users and customers on the basis of user traffic, quality (relevance) and safety and user experience of search results, availability and ease of use of products and services, the number of customers, distribution channels and the number of associated third-party websites. We also face competition from traditional advertising media.

U.S.-based Internet Search Providers. U.S.-based internet search providers such as Google have a strong global presence, well established brand names, more users and customers and significantly greater financial resources than we do. We may also continue to face competition from other existing competitors and new entrants in the Chinese language search market.

China-based Internet Companies. Chinese internet companies, such as Alibaba, Tencent, Sohu, Qihoo 360 and TencentByteDance, offer a broad range of online services, including search service. Tencent has merged its search engine “SOSO” related business with Sohu’s search engine “Sogou” as part of Tencent’s investment in Sogou in 2013.services. These companies have widely recognized brand names in China and significant financial resources. We compete with these portals primarily for user traffic, user time, display advertisement and online marketing. We also compete with B2B service providers such as Alibaba, which also offers search services on its websites. In addition, Qihoo 360, a company operating an internet platform and primarily providing security products, launched its search services in 2012 and competes with us on internet search.

Other Advertising Media. Other advertising media, such as newspapers, yellow pages, magazines, billboards, other forms of outdoor media, television, radio and mobile applications compete for a share of our customers’ marketing budgets. Large enterprises currently spend a relatively small percentage of their marketing budgets on online marketing as compared to other advertising media.

For transaction services, our primary competitors include China-based internet companies such as Meituan-Dianping, Elema, Koubei, AutoNavi, Alipay and Koubei.Weixin Pay. We leverage our user traffic, product design and various market campaigns to enhance users’ reliance on our platforms and services.

For iQiyi, our primary competitors include companies that operate online video websites in China, such as Youku-Tudou and Tencent Video. We compete with these market players for both users and advertisers primarily on the basis of user base and demographics, quality and quantity of video content, brand name and user experience.

Technology

We have threeoperate four research labs under the umbrella of Baidu Research, the Augmented Reality (AR) Lab, the Silicon Valley Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab, the Beijing Deep Learning Lab and the Beijing Big Data Lab. We recentlyestablished the Baidu Institute of Deep Learning, currently known as the Beijing Deep Learning Lab, in January 2013. We opened the Silicon Valley AI Lab in May 2014, enhancing our research and development capabilities in Silicon Valley. WeIn August 2014, we and the United Nation announced and started strategic cooperation and jointly established the Baidu InstituteBig Data Lab. In January 2017, we announced the establishment of Deep Learning, currently known as the Beijing Deep Learningour AR Lab in January 2013. Deep

learning is an emerging computer science field that seeks to mimic the human brain with hardware and software. It has helped us develop cutting-edge speech and image recognition technologies, enhance the search experience we provide to users and improve our ad targeting technology and monetization capability.

We have developed a proprietary technological infrastructure which consists of technologies for web search, mobile, P4P, targetizement and large-scale systems. Our established infrastructure serves as the backbone for both our PC and mobile platforms.focusing on augmented reality technology.

In 2015, our autonomous driving project at the Beijing Deep Learning Lab reached a key milestone by completing rigorous fully autonomous tests under a variety of complex environmental conditions. To developWe have been recognized as one of the leading AI innovators globally after investing in AI for many years. In 2016, we established our Autonomous Driving Business Unit.

We have developed a proprietary technological infrastructure which consists of technologies for web search, mobile, P4P, targetizement, large-scale systems, AI and support autonomous driving we have invested in AI technologies suchtechnology. Our established infrastructure serves as high definition mapping, environment perception, sensor fusion,the backbone for both our PC and motion planning and control over the past two years.mobile platforms.

Web Search Technology

Our web search is powered by a set of advanced technologies including, among others, the following:

Link Analysis. Link analysis is a technique that determines the importance of a web page by evaluating the combination of the anchor texts and the number of web pages linked to that web page. We treat a link from web page A to web page B as a “vote” by page A in favor of page B. The subject of the “vote” is described in the anchor texts of that link. The more “votes” a web page gets, the higher the importance.

Ranking.We compare search queries with the content of web pages to help determine relevance. We have significantly improved the relevancy and freshness of ranking using our machine learning modules to analyze the rich internet and user interaction data and prioritize the search results. For example, our technology determines the proximity of individual search terms to each other on a given web page, and prioritizes results where the search terms are near each other. Other aspects of a page’s content are also considered. We have innovatively applied our machine learning technology to better understand the semantics beyond simple text of the keywords

inputted by our users, allowing us to provide more relevant search results to users. Starting from 2013, we applied deep learning technology in our search ranking system, and such technology is playing an increasingly important role.role in search.

Information Extraction. We extract information from a web page using high performance algorithms and information extraction techniques. Our techniques enable us to understand web page content, delete extraneous data, build link structures, identify duplicate and junk pages and decide whether to include or exclude a web page based on its quality. Our techniques can process millions of web pages quickly. In addition, our anti-spam algorithms and tools can identify and respond to spam web pages quickly and effectively.

Web Crawling. Our powerful computer clusters and intelligent scheduling algorithms allow us to crawl web pages efficiently. We can easily scale up our system to collect an ever-growing number of Chinese web pages. Our spider technology enables us to refresh web indices at intervals ranging from every few minutes to every few weeks. We set the index refresh frequency based on our knowledge of internet search users’ needs and the nature of the information. For example, our news index is typically updated every five minutes, and can be as frequent as every minute, throughout the day given the importance of timely information for news. We also mine multimedia and other forms of files from web page repositories.

Knowledge Graph. OurWe build our knowledge graph aggregatesby extracting and aggregating the contentscontent from multiple sources and classifiesclassify them into billions of different knowledge entities, where each knowledge entity is ofa well-defined structure data, consisting of various attributes and operations. We have also developed applied computing technology based on our knowledge graph that has generateduses existing data and generates rich new knowledge based on existing knowledge data to meetsatisfy the demands of users. Our knowledge graph provides a powerful linkconnection between knowledge entities and online services in a wide range of areas.

Natural Language Processing. We analyze and understand user queries and web pages by using various natural language processing techniques, including, among others, word segmentation, named entity recognition, entity linking, syntax and semantic analysis, sentiment analysis, summarization, generation, paraphrasing and language dependent encoding, all of which enhance the accuracy of our search results. For Q&A type searches, we provide relevant andin-depth answers to search inquiries by using our deep analysis and learning technology to locate, summarize and integrateconsolidate relevant information from massive data. For voice search, we understand user queries via context-aware analysis and provide answers via dialogue management and generation technologies. For feed recommendation, we model both users and contents from a variety of semantic perspectives to improve the accuracy and diversity of recommendations.

Multimedia Technologies.We work on developing intelligent algorithms and systems to better understand human spoken languages, identify audio contents, and recognize the meaning of images and videos. These technologies will enable users to access information in a most natural way, and help our search engine better organize the vast amount of multimedia contents on the web. For example, our speech recognition technology has been applied to our mobile search on smartphones, and our face recognition technology has been applied to generate relevant photos when a person is searched. We have also launched similar image search engine, which can recognize the object and scene in the image that users want to search for and return an image that contains the most similar object and scene.

Aladdinaims at discovering useful information of the “Hidden Web,” which usually refers to the invisible database of the numerous websites and the part of the internet that traditional search engine technology may not be able to index. The resulted Aladdin platform enriches our search index and hence provides richer search results to our users. Our Aladdin platform, which not only provides a better and faster way to integrate new “hidden web” information into our search index, but also revolutionizes the search result presentation of the search result page.

MIP (Mobile Instant Pages)is a set of open technical standards applying to mobile webpages, which accelerates the loading of mobile webpages by adoptingMIP-HTML norms,MIP-JS operating environment andMIP-Cache system. When mobile websites use this backend technology, the speed at which they can be visited

from both Baidu Search and Baidu Newsfeed is improved significantly. This not only enhances user experience, but also increases websites’ page visit traffic. Nearly one billion webpages have adopted this technology to optimize user experience in China.

P4P Technology

Our P4P platform serves billions of relevant, targeted sponsored links each day based on search terms users enter or content they view on the web page. Our key P4P technology includes:

P4P Auction System. We use aweb-based auction system to enable customers to bid for positions and automatically deliver relevant, targeted promotional links on Baidu’s properties and Baidu Union members’ properties. The system starts by screening the relevance between the sponsored links and a particular query. Our intelligent ranking system takes into consideration the quality factor of a sponsored link for a search query in addition to the price bid on the keyword. The quality factor of a sponsored link for a search query is determined based on the relevance and certain other factors. The relevance is determined based on the analysis of past search and click-through results. Links to customers’ websites are ranked according to a comprehensive ranking index, calculated based on both the quality factor of a sponsored link for a search query and the price bid on that keyword. We employ a dynamic mechanism in determining the minimum bidding price for each keyword.

Phoenix Nest isNestis designed to generate more relevant results. Phoenix Nest helps customers more easily find users’ favorite search terms to bid on, and provides customers with more tools for budget management and more data for the effective measurement of ROI. We have been continually improving our click-through rate, or CTR, estimation technology. For example, we have introduced deep neutral network, or DNN, technology into our CTR estimation. We have also developed a new generation Phoenix Nest deep learning network CTR estimation modeling system, which enables the estimation of clicks on different combinations of advertisement materials and significantly improved the timeliness of the model estimations. In 2016, we were the first to introduce FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) into CTR model-based online services to optimize the click-through rates in online marketing, which has significantly improved users experience.

We have also developed new keyword targeting engine technology,Generative Triggering Model, which includes query rewrite and auto-trigger technologies, has broken the status quo where traditional index-trigger is unduly restricted by literal meaning, and instead formed a sophisticated set of real-time sequence deep learning system to fully understand the search intent of users, enabling more accurate match between search intentintents and search results. We continue to enrich our business knowledge database in order to better understand the search intent of our users, and to present dynamic results in order to satisfy user demand.demand, enhancing the realization of long-tail website flow.

P4P Billing System. We record every click and charge customers a fee by multiplying the number of clicks by the cost per click. Our system is designed to detect fraudulent clicks based on factors such as click patterns and timestamps. This system also computes the amount a Baidu Union member or a distributor should be paid. The billing information is integrated with our internal Oracle ERP financial system.

P4P Customer Service System. This system offers data and tools to analyze data for our customers to evaluate and optimize the performance of our online marketing services provided to them. Through this system, our customers can also manage information relating to online marketing services such as their budgets and time periods for the services.

ProTheme Contextual Promotion Technology. Our ProTheme technology employs techniques that consider factors such as theme finding, keyword analysis, word frequency and the overall link structure of the web to analyze the content of individual web pages and to match sponsored links in our P4P platform to the web pages almost instantaneously. With this targeting technology, we can automatically provide contextually relevant promotional links. For example, our technology can provide links offering tickets to fans of a specific sports team or a news story about that team.

Targetizement Technology

Our targetizement technology matches our customers’ promotional links with their targeted internet users. Our automatic algorithm can analyze a user’s audience attributes based on his or her past search experience and display promotional links that the user may be interested in viewing.

Large-Scale Systems and Technologies

Large Size Cluster Management. In order to provide highly efficient and stable search services, we have developed an automated management platform for large size clusters. The platform enables us to intelligently manage and allocate resources and automatically debug and relocate services, thereby allowing tens of thousands of different source requests on the Baidu search engine and othernon-search business to function stably across multiple internet data centers and thousands of servers.

Storage.We have developed an efficient, distributed and structured storage system to support our search services. Our storage system supportsPB-level holistic, sequential data storage, and ten thousand times of real-time processing per second per device. Our storage system also has dynamic data attribute addition and subtraction function and historical data management capability.

Distributed Computing System. We have developed our proxy computing system, a comprehensive set of ultra-large scale distributed computer system, to increase the utility rate of idle resources, providing a strong base support for our core operations. Our proxy computing system has realized various distributed computing software stacks, such as resource isolation, resource distribution, computing modeling and application framework, and supports commonly used computing modules such as MapReduce, Spark, Stream and WebService.

Indexing Technology. Our indexing technology supports billions of daily search requests on over tens of thousands of servers located across multiple internet data centers of different network operators. Through our indexing technology, we have been able to index over one hundred billion of web pages without utilizing additional resources and have improved the freshness of indexed information.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

We have been investing in AI for many years and have been recognized as one of the leading AI innovators globally. AI enables computers to simulate the working mechanisms of human brains, and to learn and be trained with extremely complicated models. The core AI technology is AI supercomputer, which is a super-speed heterogeneous computing cluster designed forAI-based applications and has integrated heterogeneous computing server, GPU Box and FPGA, among others developed by us in house. Currently, our AI mainly comprises three types of technologies, namely, parameter, sample and feature training, computing capabilities (servers and GPU clusters) and big data (webpages, search data, image and video data and locating data). Integrating these three types of AI technologies, we are able to apply AI into areas such as natural language processing, speech recognition, image recognition processing, user portrait and other capabilities. Our Conversational Interfaces has been recognized by MIT Technology Review as one of the ten breakthrough technologies in 2016. Our AI has now been applied to Baidu Search, Duer, Autonomous Driving Car, Baidu Cloud and other products.

From September 2016, we open-sourced our AI platform “PaddlePaddle” to the developer community, providing access to Baidu technology in areas of voice and image recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning. PaddlePaddle is accessible to developers from all over the world and thus promotes the popular use of AI.

Autonomous Driving Car

We believe autonomous driving is an important area for future growth where AI has helped us take an early lead. With the goal of achieving Level 4 Autonomy, i.e., fully autonomous driving, we have leveraged our technical accumulation in AI and deep learning, and developed some industry-leading technologies in the autonomous driving car field, including environment sensing, behavior prediction, planning control, operation system, high precision localization, high precision map and system safety. In 2016, our autonomous driving cars completed multiple urban public road testings in a number of locations in China and California.

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of trademark, copyright and trade secret protection laws in China and other jurisdictions, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property

and our brand. We have 3872,421 issued patents in China covering invention, utility model and design, and intend to apply for more patents to protect our core technologies.technologies and intellectual property. We also enter into confidentiality,non-compete and invention assignment agreements with our employees and consultants and nondisclosure agreements with selected third parties. “ ”, our company’s name “Baidu” in Chinese, has been recognized as a well-known trademark in China by the Trademark Office under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. In addition to owning “ ”, and the related logos, we have applied for registration of various other trademarks. We also have registered certain trademarks in the United States, Brazil, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, the European Union and several other jurisdictions. In addition, we have registered our domain nameBaidu.com and certain other websites with China National Network Information Center, or CNNIC. We have also successfully registered.Baidutop-level domain names with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Internet, technology and media companies are frequently involved in litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. Furthermore, the application of laws governing intellectual property rights in China and abroad is uncertain and evolving and could involve substantial risks to us. See “Item 3.D. Key Information—Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—We may face intellectual property infringement claims and other related claims that could be time-consuming and costly to defend and may result in an adverse impact over our operations” and “—We may be subject to patent infringement claims with respect to our P4P platform.”

RegulationRegulations

The PRC government extensively regulates the telecommunications industry, including the internet sector. The State Council, the MIIT and other relevant government authorities have promulgated an extensive regulatory scheme governing internet-related services. This section summarizes the principal PRC laws and regulations relating to our business.

In the opinion of Han Kun Law Offices, our PRC legal counsel, (i) the ownership structure relating to our consolidated affiliated entities complies with current PRC laws and regulations; (ii) subject to the disclosure and risks disclosed under “Item 3.D. Key Information—Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure,” “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China” and “—Regulation,”Regulations” our contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities and the nominee shareholders are valid and binding on all parties to these arrangements and do not violate current PRC laws or regulations; and (iii) subject to the disclosure and risks disclosed under “Item 3.D. Key Information—Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure,” “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China” and “—Regulation,”Regulations” the business operations of our consolidated affiliated entities, as described herein, comply with current PRC laws and regulations in all material respects.

China’s internet industry, online advertising market ande-commerce market are evolving. There are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of existing or proposed PRC laws and

regulations. We cannot assure you that the PRC regulatory authorities would find that our corporate structure and our business operations comply with PRC laws and regulations. If the PRC government finds us to be in violation of PRC laws and regulations, we may be required to pay fines and penalties, obtain certain licenses or permits and change, suspend or discontinue our business operations until we comply with applicable PRC laws and regulations.

Regulations on Value-Added Telecommunications Services and Internet Content Services

Internet content services. The Telecommunications Regulations promulgated by the PRC State Council in September 2000 categorize all telecommunication businesses in the PRC as either basic or value-added. Internet content services, or ICP services, are classified as value-added telecommunication businesses. Pursuant to the Telecommunications Regulations, commercial operators of value-added telecommunications services must first obtain an operating license from the MIIT or its provincial level counterparts. The Administrative Measures on Internet Information Services, also promulgated by the PRC State Council in September 2000, require companies engaged in the provision of commercial internet content services to obtain an ICP license from the relevant

government authorities before providing any commercial internet content services within the PRC. “Commercial internet content services” generally refer to provision of information service through public telecommunication network or internet for a fee. The Catalog of Classification of Telecommunications Services promulgated by the MIIT in December 2015 and taking effect from March 1, 2016 further divides ICP services into information publication platform and delivery services, information search and inquiry services, information communities platform services, instant message services, and information securities and management services. We do not believe our P4P services conducted by our certain PRC subsidiaries are categorized as part of internet content services that require an ICP license under these regulations. Although our PRC subsidiary Baidu Online conducts part of the P4P business by, among other things, designingexamining and filtering P4P keywords, interacting with potential P4P customers, and engaging in sales activities with our customers, P4P search results are displayed on the websites operated by Baidu Netcom, includingBaidu.com. Baidu Netcom, as the owner of our domain nameBaidu.com and holder of the necessary licenses and approvals, such as an ICP license, operates the website to displaylist P4P search results and display other marketing content.and advertising content as an online advertising service provider.

The Administrative Measures for Telecommunication Business Operating License, promulgated by the MIIT with latest amendments becoming effective in April 2009, set forth the types of licenses required for value-added telecommunications services and the qualifications and procedures for obtaining such licenses. For example, a value-added telecommunications service operator providing commercial value-added services in multiple provinces is required to obtain an inter-regional license, whereas a value-added telecommunications service operator providing the same services in one province is required to obtain a local license.

Content regulation. National security considerations are an important factor in the regulation of internet content in China. The National People’s Congress, the PRC’s national legislature, has enacted laws with respect to maintaining the security of internet operation and internet content. Under these laws and applicable regulations, violators may be subject to penalties, including criminal sanctions, for internet content that:

ICP operators are required to monitor their websites, including electronic bulletin boards. They may not post or disseminate any content that falls within the prohibited categories and must remove any such content from their websites. The PRC government may shut down the websites of ICP license holders that violate any of the above-mentioned content restrictions and revoke their ICP licenses.

Restrictions on Foreign Ownership in Value-Added Telecommunications Services

Pursuant to the Provisions on Administration of Foreign-Invested Telecommunications Enterprises, promulgated by the PRC State Council with latest amendments becoming effective in September 2008, the ultimate foreign equity ownership in a value-added telecommunications service provider must not exceed 50%. However, the Guidance Catalog of Industries for Foreign Investment, as recently amended in 2015, allows a foreign investor to own more than 50% of the total equity interest in ane-commerce business. The MIIT further

released an announcement in June 2015 to remove the restriction on foreign equity for “online data processing and transaction processing businesses” as provided in the Catalog of Telecommunication Businesses promulgated by the MIIT. In order to acquire any equity interest in a value-added telecommunication business in China, a foreign investor must satisfy a number of stringent performance and operational experience requirements, including demonstrating a good track records and experience in operating value-added telecommunication business overseas. Foreign investors that meet these requirements must obtain approvals from the MIIT and the Ministry of Commerce (or the Ministry of Commerce’s authorized local counterparts), which retain considerable discretion in granting approvals. According to publicly available information, the PRC government has issued telecommunication business operating licenses to only a limited number of foreign-invested companies. We believe that it would be impracticable for us to acquire any equity interest in our consolidated affiliated entities without diverting management attention and resources. Moreover, we believe that our contractual arrangements with these entities and the individual nominee shareholders provide us with sufficient and effective control over these entities. Accordingly, we currently do not plan to acquire any equity interest in any of these entities.

A Notice on Intensifying the Administration of Foreign Investment in Value-Added Telecommunications Services, issued by the MIIT in July 2006, prohibits domestic telecommunication service providers from leasing, transferring or selling telecommunication business operating licenses to any foreign investor in any form, or providing any resources, sites or facilities to any foreign investor for their illegal operation of a telecommunication business in China. Pursuant to this notice, either the holder of a Value-Added Telecommunication Business Operating License or its shareholders must directly own the domain names and trademarks used by such license holders in their provision of value-added telecommunications services. The notice further requires each license holder to have the necessary facilities, including servers, for its approved business operations and to maintain the facilities in the regions covered by its license. If a license holder fails to comply with the requirements in the notice and cure suchnon-compliance, the MIIT or its local counterparts have the discretion to take measures against such license holders, including revoking their Value-Added Telecommunication Business Operating Licenses.

Due to the restrictions under these PRC regulations, we operate our websites mainly through our PRC consolidated affiliated entities, such as Baidu Netcom, and Beijing Perusal, and operate an online payment platform through BaiduPay. Baidu Netcom Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay are our PRC consolidated affiliated entities, and are considered domestic PRC entities under PRC law given that the nominee shareholders are PRC citizens or PRC entities.

Each of Baidu Netcom, Beijing Perusal, BaiduPay and some of our other PRC consolidated affiliated entities holds a Value-Added Telecommunication Business Operating License. In compliance with the Notice of the MIIT on Intensifying the Administration of Foreign Investment in Value-Added Telecommunications Services, Baidu

Netcom Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay, our consolidated affiliated entities, own the necessary domain names and trademarks, including pending trademark applications and have the necessary personnel and facilities to operate our websites. It remains unclear whether the provision of online payment services by BaiduPay will require BaiduPay to apply for a Value-Added Telecommunication Business Operating License for “online data processing and transaction processing businesses” as provided in the Catalog of Telecommunication Businesses promulgated by the MIIT, although in practice many companies conducting such business do not apply for such license. Baidu Netcom, parent company of BaiduPay, has applied forreceived a Trans-Regional Value-Added Telecommunication Business Operating License which would coverwith the permitted operation scope covering online data processing and transaction processing businesses. Baidu Netcom plans to submit an application to allow its subsidiary BaiduPay to operate online data processing and transaction processing businesses in 2016.2017.

Regulations on Mobile Internet Applications

On August 1, 2016, the State Internet Information Office promulgated the Administrative Provisions on Mobile Internet Application Information Services, or the Mobile Application Administrative Provisions. Pursuant to the Mobile Application Administrative Provisions, mobile internet application refers to application software that runs on mobile smart devices providing information services after beingpre-installed, downloaded or embedded through other means. Mobile internet application providers refer to the owners or operators of mobile internet applications. Internet application stores refer to platforms which provide services related to online browsing, searching and downloading of application software and releasing of development tools and products through the internet.

Pursuant to the Mobile Application Administrative Provisions, an internet application program provider must verify a user’s mobile phone number and other identity information under the principle of mandatory real name registration at the back-office end and voluntary real name display at the front-office end. An internet application provider must not enable functions that can collect a user’s geographical location information, access user’s contact list, activate the camera or recorder of the user’s mobile smart device or other functions irrelevant to its services, nor is it allowed to conduct bundle installations of irrelevant application programs, unless it has clearly indicated to the user and obtained the user’s consent on such functions and application programs. In respect of an internet application store service provider, the Mobile Application Administrative Provisions requires that, among others, it must file a record with the local authority within 30 days after it rolls out the internet application store service online. It must also examine the authenticity, security and legality of internet application providers on its platform, establish a system to monitor application providers’ credit and file a record of such information with relevant governmental authorities. If an application provider violates the regulations, the internet application store service provider must take measures to stop the violations, including warning, suspension of release, withdrawal of the application from the platform, keeping a record and reporting the incident to the relevant governmental authorities.

In December 2016, the MIIT promulgated the Interim Measures on the Administration of Pre-Installation and Distribution of Applications for Mobile Smart Terminals to enhance the administration of mobile applications. The Interim Measures require, among others, that mobile phone manufacturers and internet information service providers shall ensure that a mobile application, as well as its ancillary resource files, configuration files and user data can be uninstalled by a user on a convenient basis, unless it is a basic function software, which refers to a software that supports the normal functioning of hardware and operating system of a mobile smart device. The Interim Measures will come into effect on July 1, 2017.

Regulations on Internet Information Search Service

In June 2016, the State Internet Information Office promulgated the Administrative Provisions on Internet Information Search Services, or the Search Services Administrative Provisions, which took effect on August 1, 2016. Pursuant to the Search Services Administrative Provisions, internet information search service refers to the service whereby users can search for information that is collected from the internet and processed by computer

technology. The Search Services Administrative Provisions requires that an internet information search service provider must not publish any information or contents prohibited by law in the form of links, abstracts, snapshots, associative words, related search or recommendations or otherwise. If an internet information search service provider identifies any search results that contain any information, website or application that is prohibited by law, it must stop displaying the search results, record and report it to the relevant governmental authority. In addition, an internet information search service provider is prohibited from seeking illegitimate interest by means of unauthorized disconnection of links, or provision of search results containing false information. If an internet information search service provider engages in paid search services, it must examine and verify the qualifications of its customers of the paid search services, specify the maximum percentage of search results as paid search results on a webpage, clearly distinguish paid search results from natural search results, and notably identify the paid search information item by item.

Regulations on News Display

Displaying news on a website and disseminating news through the internet are highly regulated in the PRC. The Provisional Measures for Administrating Internet Websites Carrying on the News Displaying Business, jointly promulgated by the State Council News Office and the MIIT in November 2000, require an ICP operator (other than a government authorized news unit) to obtain State Council News Office approval to post news on its

website or disseminate news through the internet. Furthermore, the disseminated news must come from government-approved sources pursuant to contracts between the ICP operator and the sources, copies of which must be filed with the relevant government authorities.

In September 2005, the State Council News Office and the MIIT jointly issued the Provisions on the Administration of Internet News Information Services, requiring internet news information service organizations to provide services as approved by the State Council News Office, subject to annual inspection under the provisions. Pursuant to the provisions, no internet news information service organizations may take the form of a foreign-invested enterprise, whether a joint venture or a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, and no cooperation between internet news information service organizations and foreign-invested enterprises is allowed prior to the security evaluation by the State Council News Office.

Baidu Netcom obtained the Internet News License, which permits it to publish internet news pursuant to the relevant PRC laws and regulations, in December 2006, and had the license renewed in June 2010. The Internet News License is subject to annual inspection by relevant government authorities.

Regulations on Internet Drug Information Services

According to the Measures for the Administration of Internet Drug Information Services, issued by the State Food and Drug Administration in July 2004, an ICP operator publishing drug-related information must obtain a qualification certificate from the State Food and Drug Administration or its provincial level counterpart.

Baidu Netcom obtained the Qualification Certificate for Internet Drug Information Services, which permits it to publish drug-related information on its website, in November 2007, and had the certificate renewed in September 2012. We have several other entities in our group that have obtained the Qualification Certificate for Internet Drug Information Services.

Regulations on Internet Culture Activities

The amended Internet Culture Administration Measures, promulgated by the Ministry of Culture and becoming effective in April 2011, require ICP operators engaging in “internet culture activities” to obtain a permit from the Ministry of Culture. The “internet culture activities” include, among other things, online dissemination of internet cultural products (such as audio-video products, games, performances of plays or programs, works of art and cartoons) and the production, reproduction, importation, distribution and broadcasting

of internet cultural products. Imported internet cultural products are subject to content review by the Ministry of Culture before they are disseminated online, while domestic internet cultural products must be filed with the local branch of the Ministry of Culture within 30 days following the online dissemination. Service providers are also required to conduct self-review of the content of internet cultural products before they are put on internet or submitted to the Ministry of Culture for approvals or filings. Baidu Netcom was granted an Internet Culture Business Permit in April 2007, which was renewed again in November 2013.Beijing Perusal and someSome other entities in our group were also granted an Internet Culture Business Permit.

The Several Suggestions on the Development and Administration of the Internet Music, issued by the Ministry of Culture and becoming effective in November 2006, reiterate the requirement for the internet service provider to obtain the Internet Culture Business Permit to carry on any business of internet music products. In addition, foreign investors are prohibited from engaging in the internet culture business operation.

Furthermore, the Notice on Strengthening and Improving the Content Review of Online Music, issued by Ministry of Culture in August 2009, provides that only “internet culture operating entities” approved by the Ministry of Culture may engage in the production, release, dissemination (including providing direct links to music products) and importation of online music products. Internet culture operating entities should establish

strict self-monitoring system of online music content and set up special department in charge of such monitoring. In October 2015, the Ministry of Culture promulgated a notice, which took effect on January 1, 2016, to further strengthen its regulation over online music, including requiring online platform allowing users to upload self-created or performed music to set up real-time monitoring system and requiring the online music service providers to make quarterly filings of information related to their content self-review with the local counterpart of the Ministry of Culture from April 1, 2016.

Regulations on Internet Publishing

On February 4, 2016, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, or the SAPPRFT, and the MIIT jointly issued the Administrative Provisions on Internet Publishing Services, or the Internet Publishing Regulation, which took effect on March 10, 2016 and replaced the Interim Provisions for the Administration of Internet Publishing promulgated in 2002. The Internet Publishing Regulation requires that any entity engaged in provision of online publications to the public via information network shall obtain an Internet Publication License, which will have a term of five years, from the SAPPRFT. Online publications refer to digital works with editing, production, processing and other publishing features, provided to the public via information network, which mainly include: (i) informative and thoughtful text, pictures, maps, games, animation, audio and video digitizing books and other original digital works in the field offields such as literature, art science and etc.;science; (ii) digital works consistent with the content of published books, newspapers, periodicals, audio-visual products and electronic publications; (iii) the network literature database or other digital works formed through aforementioned works by selecting, organizing, compiling and other means; and (iv) other types of digital works determined by the SAPPRFT. The servers and storage facilities used by internet publishers must be located within the territory of the PRC. The Internet Publishing Regulation also requires internet service providers providing manual intervention search ranking, advertising, promotion and other services to customers providing onlineinternet publishing services, shall check and examine the Internet Publication Licenses obtained by their customers and business scope of such licenses. Beijing Perusal and another entityCertain entities in our group have obtained the Internet Publication Licenses.

RegulationRegulations on Broadcasting Audio/Video Programs through the Internet

In July 2004,December 2007, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, or the SARFT (currently known as SAPPRFT) and the MIIT jointly promulgated the Rules for the Administration of Broadcasting of Audio/Video Programs through the Internet and Other Information Networks, or the Audio/Video Broadcasting Rules. The Audio/Video Broadcasting Rules apply to the opening, broadcasting, integration, transmission or download of audio/video programs through internet and other information networks. Anyone who wishes to engage in internet broadcasting activities must first obtain an Online Audio/Video Program Transmission License, with a term of two years, issued by the SARFT and operate in accordance with the scope as stipulated in such license. Foreign-invested enterprises are not allowed to engage in the above-mentioned business activities.

The Rules for the Administration of Internet Audio and Video Program Services, commonly known as “Document 56”, which took effect on January 31, 2008. Pursuant to the Document 56, jointly promulgated by the SARFT and the MIIT in December 2007, reiterate the requirement set forth in the Audio/Video Broadcasting Rules thatan online audio/video service provider must obtain an Online Audio/Video Program Transmission

License, which has a license fromterm of three years, and operate in accordance with the SARFT.scope of business as stipulated in the license. Furthermore, Document 56 requires all online audio/video service providers to be either wholly state-owned or state-controlled. According to some official answers to press inquiries published on the SARFT’s website in February 2008, officials from the SARFT and the MIIT clarified that online audio/video service providers that already had been operating lawfully prior to the issuance of Document 56 mayre-register and continue to operate without becoming state-owned or controlled, provided that the providers have not engaged in any unlawful activities. This exemption will not be granted to online audio/video service providers established after Document 56 was issued. In addition, foreign-invested enterprises are not allowed to engage in the above-mentioned businesses.

The PRC government has also promulgated a series of special regulatory measures governing live-streaming services. In November 2016, the State Internet Information Office promulgated the Administrative Provisions on Internet Live-streaming Service, which took effect on December 1, 2016. Pursuant to the Administrative Provisions, internet live-streaming service refers to continuous publishing of real-time information to the public on internet by means of video, audio, graphics, text or other forms, and an internet live-streaming service provider refers to an operator of the platform providing internetlive-streaming service. In accordance with the administrative provisions, an internet live-streaming service provider must verify and register the identity information of publishers of live-streaming programs and users on its platform, and file the identity information of the publishers with the local governmental authority for record. Any internet live-streaming service provider engaging in news service must obtain internet news information service qualification and operate within the permitted scope of such qualification. In September 2016, the SAPPRFT issued a Circular on Strengthening Administration of Live-streaming Service of Network Audio/Video Programs. Pursuant to the circular, any entity that intends to engage in live audio/video broadcasting of major political, military, economic, social, cultural or sport events or activities, or live audio/video broadcasting of general social or cultural groups activities, general sporting events or other organizational events must obtain an Online Audio/Video Program Transmission License with permitted operation scope covering the above business activities. Any entity or individual without qualification is prohibited from broadcasting live audio/radio programs on news, variety show, sports, interviews, commentary or other forms of programs through online live-streaming platform or online live broadcasting booth, nor are they permitted to start a live broadcasting channel for any audio or radio programs. In addition, no entity or individual other than licensed radio stations or television stations are allowed to use “radio station,” “television station,” “broadcasting station,” “TV” or other descriptive terms exclusive to television and radio broadcasting organizations to engage in any business on the internet without approval.

Baidu Netcom has renewed its Online Audio/Video Program Transmission License, which remains valid tilluntil July 2018,2018. iQiyi has an Online Audio/Video Program Transmission License that is valid tilluntil October 2018, and another2018. Another entity in our group has recently renewed itsan Online Audio/Video Program Transmission License which remainsthat is valid tilluntil March 2017.2017, and the entity is in the process of renewing such license.

Regulations on Payment Services byNon-financial Institutions

Pursuant to the People’s Bank of China’s Measures Concerning Payment Services byNon-financial Institutions, which took effect in September 2010, and its implementation rules,non-financial institutions that have been providing monetary transfer services as an intermediary between payees and payers, including online payment, issuance and acceptance of prepaid card or bank card, and other payment services as specified by the People’s Bank of China, must obtain a license from the People’s Bank of China prior to September 1, 2011, in order to continue providing monetary transfer services. BaiduPay applied for the license after the regulations mentioned above were promulgated and prior to September 1, 2011, and was granted the license for online payment in July 2013.

In addition, in December 2015, the People’s Bank of China promulgated the Administrative Measures on the Online Payment Business ofNon-Bank Payment Institutions, or the Measures on Online Payment Business, which will take effect on July 1, 2016.Business. The Measures on Online Payment Business requires payment institutions to comply with the “Know Your Client” principle and establish a client identification mechanism. Payment institutions shall register and verify

real-name and basic identification of clients that open account with them. In addition, the Measures on Online Payment Business categorizes online payment accounts of individuals into three types, with each type subject to particular use of purposes and different limits on the amounts that can be paid from the accounts. Individuals that pass more verifications are entitled to open accounts that are allowed be used for more purposes and have higher caps on the amount payable through suchthese accounts. For example, an individual client whose identity is verified by the payment institution or by a partner authorized by the payment institution face to face, or whose basic identity information is subject to multiple cross-validation by at least five legal and safe external channels in anon-face-to-face manner, may openType-III payment accounts, the balance in which may be used for consumption, account transfers, and procurement of financial products. The accumulative amount of balance payment transactions through all payment accounts of suchthe individual shall not exceed RMB200,000 (US$28,806) during a year (excluding account transfers from the payment account to the client’s same-name bank account). An individual client that passes the verification of basic identity information in anon-face-to-face manner through at least one legal and safe external channel and opening a payment account with the institution for the first time may open aType-I payment account, the balance in which may be used for consumption and account transfers only. The accumulative amount of balance payment transactions through such payment account shall not exceed RMB1,000 (US$144) (including account transfer from the payment account to the client’s same-name bank account), from the date of the opening of suchthe account.

In April 2016, the General Office of the State Council issued the Implementing Scheme for Special Rectification of Internet Financial Risks, which reiterates that anon-bank payment institution must not misappropriate or possess clients’ reserves, and instead it must open a reserve account with the People’s Bank of China or a qualified commercial bank. In addition, anon-bank payment institution must not use schemes to carry out inter-bank clearing business in a disguised form. Instead, anon-bank payment institution must operate inter-bank payment business through the inter-bank clearing system of the People’s Bank of China or a qualified clearing institution.

In January 2017, the General Office of the People’s Bank of China issued a Notice on Matters regarding Centralized Deposit and Management of Client’s Reserves of Payment Institutions. Pursuant to the notice, commencing from April 17, 2017, anon-bank payment institution must deposit a certain percentage of its clients’ reserve that it collects into a special deposit account and no interest will accrue on the deposited amount. The People’s Bank of China will determine the deposit percentage for anon-bank payment institution based on the category of payment business, risk control and compliance ratings of thenon-bank payment institution. The deposit percentage ranges from 12% to 20% for an operator of online payment business, 10% to 18% for an operator of bank card bill acceptance and clearance business and 16% to 24% for an operator of issuance and acceptance ofpre-paid card business. If an entity engages in more than one type of payment businesses, the highest of the respective deposit percentages applicable to each payment business of this entity will apply.

Regulations relating to Consumer Finance and Microcredit

We currently engage in consumer finance business by providing microcredit services to our customers through two of our subsidiaries. The Guidance on the Pilot Establishment of Microcredit Companies, jointly promulgated by the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the People’s Bank of China in 2008, allows provincial governments to approve the establishment of microcredit companies on a trial basis. Following this guidance, many provincial governments in China, including that of Shanghai and Chongqing, promulgated local implementing rules on the administration of local microcredit companies. The implementing rules issued by the Shanghai and Chongqing municipal governments provide that the sources of funds of a microcredit company must be limited to the capital contributions paid by its shareholders, monetary donations, and loans provided by no more than two banking financial institutions. The Shanghai Financial Services Office, the regulatory entity for microcredit companies in Shanghai, together with other local government authorities in Shanghai issued additional administrative measures regulating microcredit companies in Shanghai, which require the paid capital contribution of a newly established microcredit company must be no less than RMB200 million (US$28.8 million), and provide that the authorities in Shanghai will provide additional supports to microcredit

companies that are established by the large-scale internet services enterprises and mainly engage in internet microcredit business. In addition, pursuant to a circular issued by the Chongqing Financial Works Office, the regulatory entity for microcredit companies in Chongqing, the authorities in Chongqing have permitted certain qualified microcredit companies to conduct a cross-region microcredit business on the internet. We engage in microcredit businesses through two subsidiaries in Shanghai and Chongqing, both of which have obtained special approval for establishment of a microcredit company from the local governmental authorities.

Regulations on Platform Services relating to Sales of Securities Investment Fund

We provide wealth management services through a variety of investment products, including, among others, securities investment fund. In accordance with the Interim Provisions on the Administration of the Business Operations of Securities Investment Fund Distributors through Third-PartyE-Commerce Platforms issued by the CSRC in March 2013, a third-partye-commerce platform for securities investment fund sales refers to the information system providing supporting services for online trading activities between fund investors and fund distributors. To qualify as an operator of third-partye-commerce platform, an entity must satisfy a series of conditions, including, among others, that (i) it must be aPRC-incorporated entity with its website accessible within China; (ii) it must obtain a license for the relevant telecommunication business for more than three years; (iii) it must have a sound credibility record without being subject to any substantial administrative or criminal penalty in the past three years. Pursuant to the interim provisions, if a third-partye-commerce platform engages in activities such as opening fund share trading accounts, publicizing and promoting the fund, processing subscription and redemption of fund shares, or providing investment consultation or complaint settlement services relating to the fund, the operator of the platform will be deemed as conducting securities investment fund sales business, and therefore must obtain a license for fund sales business. As we provide third-party platform services to our customers and securities investment fund distributors on our wealth management platform and do not provide fund sales-related services specified in the interim provisions, we believe we do not engage in securities investment fund sales business and therefore are in compliance with relevant requirements.

Regulations on Internet Map Services

According to the Administrative Rules of Surveying Qualification Certificate, and theas amended Standard for Internet Map Services issued by the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping andGeo-information (formerly known as the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping) in March 2009 and May 2010, respectively,August 2014, the provision of internet map services by anynon-surveying and mapping enterprise is subject to the approval of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping andGeo-information and requires a Surveying and Mapping Qualification Certificate. Internet maps refer to maps called or transmitted through internet. Pursuant to the Notice on Further Strengthening the Administration of Internet Map Services Qualification issued by the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping andGeo-information in December 2011, any entity without applying for a Surveying and Mapping Qualification Certificate for internet map services is prohibited from providing any internet map services. Baidu Netcom currently provides online traffic information inquiry services as well as internet map services and has obtained a Surveying and Mapping Qualification Certificate for internet map services. Another entity in our group has also obtained the Surveying and Mapping Qualification Certificate.

Regulations on Online Games

Pursuant to the InterimAdministrative Provisions foron Internet Publishing Services and the Administration of InternetCircular on Mobile Game Publishing Service, the online games services provided on our websites by our online game operator partners may be deemed as a type of “internet publication”

“online publication service” provided by us, and we may be required to obtain an Internet Publication License from the GAPP.SAPPRFT. Beijing Perusal and another entity in our group have obtained the Internet Publication Licenses. The required approval by the GAPPSAPPRFT of each online game provided on our websites is handled by our online game operator partners.

In June 2010, the Ministry of Culture promulgated the Interim Administration Measures of Online Games. In accordance with these measures, an ICP service provider operating online games, must obtain an Internet

Culture Business Permit. Baidu Netcom and some other entities in our group have obtained an Internet Culture Business Permit for operating online games. These measures also specify that the Ministry of Culture is responsible for the censorship of imported online games and the filing of records of domestic online games. The procedures for the filing of records of domestic online games must be conducted with the Ministry of Culture within 30 days after the commencement date of the online operation of suchthese online games or the occurrence date of any material alteration of suchthese online games. The approval by or filing with the Ministry of Culture of each online game provided on our websites has been handled primarily by our online game operator partners.

In September 2009, the GAPP (currently known as the SAPPRFT) together with several other government agencies issued a Circular 13, which explicitly prohibits foreign investors from participating in online game operating businesses through wholly-owned enterprises, equity joint ventures or cooperative joint ventures in China. The Circular 13 expressly prohibits foreign investors from gaining control over or participating in PRC operating companies’ online game operations through indirect means, such as establishing joint venture companies, entering into contractual arrangements with or providing technical support to the operating companies, or through a disguised form, such as incorporating user registration, user account management or payment through game cards into online game platforms that are ultimately controlled or owned by foreign investors. We offer online games provided by our game operator partners on our websites owned and operated by our consolidated affiliated entities. We have also acquired 91 Wireless, which operates two leading smartphone application distribution platforms in China as well as a mobile game platform through its consolidated affiliated entities. If our contractual arrangements were deemed to be “indirect means” or “disguised form” under the Circular 13, our relevant contractual arrangements may be challenged by the SAPPRFT or other governmental authorities. If we were found to be in violation of the Circular 13 to operate our online game platform, the SAPPRFT, in conjunction with relevant regulatory authorities, would have the power to investigate and deal with such violations, including in the most serious cases, suspending and revoking the relevant licenses and registrations.

Regulations on Online Game Virtual Currency

The Interim Administration Measures of Online Games require companies that (i) issue online game virtual currency (including prepaid cards and/orpre-payment or prepaid card points), or (ii) offer online game virtual currency transaction services to apply for the Internet Culture Business Permit from provincial branches of the Ministry of Culture. The regulations prohibit companies that issue online game virtual currency from providing services that would enable the trading of such virtual currency. Any company that fails to submit the requisite application will be subject to sanctions, including but not limited to termination of operation, confiscation of incomes and fines. The regulations also prohibit online game operators from allocating virtual items or virtual currency to players based on random selection through lucky draw, wager or lottery that involves cash or virtual currency directly paid by the players. In addition, companies that issue online game virtual currency must comply with certain specific requirements, for example, online games virtual currency can only be used for products and services related to the issuance company’s own online games. Pursuant to an Circular issued by the Ministry of Culture in December 2016, which will take effect on May 1, 2017, an online game operator must not allow online game virtual currency to exchange for legal currency or items, except in the case of termination of online game operation where the online game operator may refund the balance of online game virtual currency to players in the form of legal currency or in other means acceptable to the players. Moreover, pursuant to the circular, regulations applicable to online game virtual currency also apply to such other virtual items where the virtual items are issued by the online game operator, can be exchangeable for other virtual items or value-added services related to the games, and can be purchased with legal currency or online game virtual currency or exchanged for with online game virtual currency. Baidu Netcom and some other entities in our group have obtained the Internet Culture Business Permit for issuing online game virtual currency.

Regulations on Advertisements and Online Advertising

The PRC government regulates advertising, including online advertising, principally through the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. The PRC Advertising Law, as recently amended in April 2015, outlines the regulatory framework for the advertising industry, and allows foreign investors to own up to all

equity interests in PRC advertising companies. The Administrative Regulations for Advertising Operation Licenses, taking effect in January 2005, exempt enterprises (other than radio stations, television stations, newspapers and magazines, non-corporate entities and other specified entities) from the previous requirement to obtain an advertising operation license in addition to a business license.

We conduct our value-added telecommunication-based online advertising business through Baidu Netcom, which is one of our consolidated affiliated entities in China Baidu Netcom and Beijing Perusal, each of which holds a business license that covers value-added telecommunication-based online advertising in its business scope. Our subsidiaries Baidu Times and Baidu China have also expanded their respective business license to cover advertising in their respective business scope.

Advertisers, advertising operators and advertising distributors are required by PRC advertising laws and regulations to ensure that the contents of the advertisements they prepare or distribute are true and in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations. For example, pursuant to PRC Advertising Law, advertisements must not contain, among other prohibited contents, terms such as “the state-level”, “the highest grade”, “the best” or other similar words. In addition, where a special government review is required for certain categories of advertisements before publishing, the advertisers, advertising operators and advertising distributors are obligated to confirm that such review has been performed and the relevant approval has been obtained. Pursuant to the PRC Advertising Law, the use of internet to distribute advertisements shall not affect the normal use of the internet by users. Particularly, advertisements distributed on internet pages such aspop-up advertisements shall be indicated with conspicuous mark for close to ensure the close of such advertisements by one click. Where internet information service providers know or should know that illegal advertisements are distributed using their services, they shall prevent such advertisements from being distributed.

In addition to the above regulations, the Internet Advertising Measures also sets forth certain compliance requirements for online advertising businesses. For example, search engine service provider must indicate paid search results as an advertisement and distinguish paid search results from natural search results on their websites. Advertising operators and distributors of internet advertisement must examine, verify and record identity information, such as name, address and contact information, of advertisers, and maintain an updated verification record on a regular basis. Moreover, advertising operators and advertising distributors must examine supporting documentation provided by advertisers and verify the contents of the advertisements against supporting documents before publishing. If the contents of advertisements are inconsistent with the supporting documentation, or the supporting documentation is incomplete, advertising operators and distributors must refrain from providing design, production, agency or publishing services. The Internet Advertising Measures also prohibits the following activities: (i) providing or using applications and hardware to block, filter, skip over, tamper with, or cover up lawful advertisements; (ii) using network access, network equipment and applications to disrupt the normal transmission of lawful advertisements or adding or uploading advertisements without authorization; and (iii) harming the interests of a third party by using fake statistics or traffic data.

Violation of these regulations may result in penalties, including fines, confiscation of advertising income, orders to cease dissemination of the advertisements and orders to publish an advertisement correcting the misleading information. In the case of serious violations, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce or its local branches may force the violator to terminate its advertising operation or even revoke its business license. Furthermore, advertisers, advertising operators or advertising distributors may be subject to civil liability if they infringe on the legal rights and interests of third parties.

Tort Liability Law

In accordance with the PRC Tort Liability Law, which became effective in July 2010, internet users and internet service providers bear tortious liabilities in the event that they infringe upon other persons’ rights and interests through the internet. Where an internet user conducts tortious acts through internet services, the infringed person has the right to request the internet service provider take necessary actions such as deleting

contents, screening andde-linking. Failing to take necessary actions after being informed, the internet service provider will be subject to joint and several liabilities with the internet user with regard to the additional damages incurred. Where an internet service provider knows that an internet user is infringing upon other persons’ rights and interests through its internet service but fails to take necessary actions, it is jointly and severally liable with the internet user.

Regulations on Intellectual Property Rights

China has adopted legislation governing intellectual property rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, and domain names.

Patent. The PRC Patent Law provides for patentable inventions, utility models and designs, which must meet three conditions: novelty, inventiveness and practical applicability. The State Intellectual Property Office under the State Council is responsible for examining and approving patent applications. A patent is valid for a term of twenty years in the case of an invention and a term of ten years in the case of utility models and designs.

Copyright. The PRC Copyright Law and its implementation rules extend copyright protection to products disseminated over the internet and computer software. There is a voluntary registration system administered by the China Copyright Protection Center. Creators of protected works enjoy personal and property rights, including, among others, the right of disseminating the works through information network.

Pursuant to the relevant PRC regulations, rules and interpretations, ICP operators will be jointly liable with the infringer if they (i) participate in, assist in or abet infringing activities committed by any other person through the internet, (ii) are or should be aware of the infringing activities committed by their website users through the internet, or (iii) fail to remove infringing content or take other action to eliminate infringing consequences after receiving a warning with evidence of such infringing activities from the copyright holder. The court will determine whether an internet service provider should have known of their internet users’ infringing activities based on how obvious the infringing activities are by taking into consideration a number of factors, including (i) the information management capabilities that the provider should have based on the possibility that the services provided by it may trigger infringing acts, (ii) the degree of obviousness of the infringing content, (iii) whether it has taken the initiative to select, edit, modify or recommend the contents involved, (iv) whether it has taken positive and reasonable measures against infringing acts, and (v) whether it has set up convenient programs to receive notices of infringement and made timely and reasonable responses to the notices. Where an internet service provider has directly obtained economic benefits from any contents made available by an internet user, it shall have a higher duty of care with respect to the internet user’s act of infringement of others’ copyrights. Advertisements placed for or other benefits particularly connected with specific contents may be deemed as direct economic benefits from such contents, but general advertising fees or service fees charged by an internet service provider for its internet services will not be included. In addition, where an ICP operator is clearly aware of the infringement of certain content against another’s copyright through the internet, or fails to take measures to remove relevant contents upon receipt of the copyright holder’s notice, and as a result, it damages the public interest, the ICP operator could be ordered to stop the tortious act and be subject to other administrative penalties such as confiscation of illegal income and fines. An ICP operator is also required to retain all infringement notices for a minimum of six months and to record the content, display time and IP addresses or the domain names related to the infringement for a minimum of 60 days.

An internet service provider may be exempted from liabilities for providing links to infringing or illegal content or providing other internet services which are used by its users to infringe others’ copyright, if it does not know and does not have constructive knowledge that such content is infringing upon other parties’ rights or is illegal. However, if the legitimate owner of the content notifies the internet service provider and requests removal of the links to the infringing content, the internet service provider would be deemed to have constructive knowledge upon receipt of such notification, but would be exempted from liabilities if it removes or disconnects

the links to the infringing content at the request of the legitimate owner. At the request of the alleged infringer, the internet service provider should immediately restore links to content previously disconnected upon receipt of initialnon-infringing evidence.

We have adopted measures to mitigate copyright infringement risks. For example, our policy is to remove links to web pages and materials uploaded by the users if we know these web pages or materials contain materials that infringe upon third-party rights or if we are notified by the legitimate copyright holder of the infringement with proper evidence.

Software Products. The amended Administrative Measures on Software Products, promulgated by the MIIT and becoming effective in April 2009, provide a registration and filing system with respect to software products made in or imported into China. Software products may be registered with the relevant local authorities in charge of software industry administration. Registered software products may enjoy preferential treatment status granted by applicable software industry regulations. Software products can be registered for five years, and the registration is renewable upon expiration.

In addition, the Computer Software Protection Regulations and the Computer Software Copyright Registration Procedures apply toMeasures promulgated by the China Copyright Office on February 20, 2002, regulates software copyright registration, license agreement registrationexclusive licensing contracts of software copyright and transfer agreement registration.agreements. Although such registration is not mandatory under PRC law, software copyright owners are encouraged to go through the registration process and registered software may receive better protection.

Trademark.The PRC Trademark Law and its implementation rules protect registered trademarks. The Trademark Office under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce handles trademark registrations and grants a term of ten years to registered trademarks. Trademark license agreements must be filed with the Trademark Office for record. “ ” is recognized as a well-known trademark in China by the Trademark Office under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. In addition to owning “ ” and the related logos, we have applied for registration of various other trademarks.

Domain name. Domain names are protected under the Administrative Measures on the Internet Domain Names promulgated by the MIIT in November 2004. The MIIT is the major regulatory body responsible for the administration of the PRC internet domain names, under supervision of which the China Internet Network Information Center, or CNNIC, is responsible for the daily administration of .cn domain names and Chinese domain names. We have registeredBaidu.cn,Baidu.com.cn,hao123.com and certain other domain names with CNNIC.

Regulations on Information Security

The National People’s Congress has enacted legislation that prohibits use of the internet that breaches the public security, disseminates socially destabilizing content or leaks state secrets. Breach of public security includes breach of national security and infringement on legal rights and interests of the state, society or citizens. Socially destabilizing content includes any content that incites defiance or violations of PRC laws or regulations or subversion of the PRC government or its political system, spreads socially disruptive rumors or involves cult activities, superstition, obscenities, pornography, gambling or violence. State secrets are defined broadly to include information concerning PRC national defense, state affairs and other matters as determined by the PRC authorities.

Pursuant to applicable regulations, ICP operators must complete mandatory security filing procedures and regularly update information security and censorship systems for their websites with local public security authorities, and must also report any public dissemination of prohibited content.

On December 27, 2015, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated Anti-Terrorism Law, which took effect on January 1, 2016. According to the Anti-Terrorism Law, telecommunication service operators or internet service providers shall (i) carry out pertinent anti-terrorism publicity and education to society; (ii) provide technical interfaces, decryption and other technical support and assistance for the competent departments to prevent and investigate terrorist activities; (iii) implement network security, information monitoring systems as well as safety and technical prevention measures to avoid the dissemination of terrorism information, delete the terrorism information, immediately halt its dissemination, keep relevant

records and report to the competent departments once the terrorism information is discovered; and (iv) examine customer identities before providing services. Any violation of the Anti-Terrorism Law may result in severe penalties, including substantial fines.

In November 2016, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the Cyber Security Law, which will become effective on June 1, 2017. In accordance with the Cyber Security Law, network operators must comply with applicable laws and regulations and fulfill their obligations to safeguard network security in conducting business and providing services. Network service providers must take technical and other necessary measures as required by laws, regulations and mandatory requirements to safeguard the operation of networks, respond to network security effectively, prevent illegal and criminal activities, and maintain the integrity, confidentiality and usability of network data.

In addition, the State Secrecy Bureau has issued provisions authorizing the blocking of access to any website it deems to be leaking state secrets or failing to comply with the relevant legislation regarding the protection of state secrets during online information distribution. Specifically, internet companies in China with bulletin boards, chat rooms or similar services must apply for specific approval prior to operating such services.

Furthermore, the Provisions on Technological Measures for Internet Security Protection, promulgated by the Ministry of Public Security, require all ICP operators to keep records of certain information about its users (including user registration information,log-in andlog-out time, IP address, content and time of posts by users) for at least 60 days and submit the above information as required by laws and regulations. The Network Information Protection Decision states that ICP operators must request identity information from users when ICP operators provide information publication services to the users. If ICP operators come across prohibited information, they must immediately cease the transmission of such information, delete the information, keep relevant records, and report to relevant government authorities.

Baidu Netcom, Beijing Perusal, BaiduPay and some other entities in our group are ICP operators, and are therefore subject to the regulations relating to information security. They have taken measures to comply with these regulations. They are registered with the relevant government authority in accordance with the mandatory registration requirement. Baidu Netcom’s policy is to remove links to web pages which to its knowledge contain information that would be in violation of PRC laws or regulations. In addition, we monitor our websites to ensure our compliance with the above-mentioned laws and regulations.

Regulations on Internet Privacy

The PRC Constitution states that PRC law protects the freedom and privacy of communications of citizens and prohibits infringement of these rights. In recent years, PRC government authorities have enacted legislation on internet use to protect personal information from any unauthorized disclosure. The Network Information Protection Decision provides that electronic information that identifies a citizen or involves privacy of any citizen is protected by law and must not be unlawfully collected or provided to others. ICP operators collecting or using personal electronic information of citizens must specify the purposes, manners and scopes of information collection and uses, obtain consent of the relevant citizens, and keep the collected personal information confidential. ICP operators are prohibited from disclosing, tampering with, damaging, selling or illegally providing others with, collected personal information. ICP operators are required to take technical and other measures to prevent the collected personal information from any unauthorized disclosure, damage or loss. The Administrative Measures on Internet Information Services prohibit an ICP operator from insulting or slandering a third party or infringing upon the lawful rights and interests of a third party. Pursuant to the Internet Electronic Messaging Service Administrative Measures, ICP operators that provide electronic messaging services must keep users’ personal information confidential and must not disclose the personal information to any third party without the users’ consent or unless required by law. According to the Provisions on Protection of Personal Information of Telecommunication and Internet Users, telecommunication business operators and ICP operators shall beare responsible for the security of the personal information of users they collect or use in the course of their

provision of services. Without obtaining the consent from the users, telecommunication business operators and ICP operators may not collect or use the users’ personal information. The personal information collected or used in the course of provision of services by the telecommunication business operators or ICP operators must be kept in strict confidence, and may not be divulged, tampered with or damaged, and may not be sold or illegally provided to others. The ICP operators are required to take certain measures to prevent any divulge, damage, tamper or loss of users’ personal information. In accordance with the Cyber Security Law, network operators must not collect personal information irrelevant to their services. In the event of any unauthorized disclosure, damage or loss of collected personal information, network operators must take immediate remedial measures, notify the affected users and report the incidents to the relevant authorities in a timely manner. If any user knows that a network operator illegally collects and uses his or her personal information in violation of laws, regulations or any agreement with the user, or the collected and stored personal information is inaccurate or wrong, the user has the right to request the network operator to delete or correct the relevant collected personal information. We collect and use our users’ personal information only if our users give their informed consent, and we believe we have taken appropriate measures to protect the security of our users’ personal information.

The relevant telecommunications authorities are further authorized to order ICP operators to rectify unauthorized disclosure. ICP operators are subject to legal liability, including warnings, fines, confiscation of illegal gains, revocation of licenses or filings, closing of the relevant websites, administrative punishment, criminal liabilities, or civil liabilities, if they violate relevant provisions on internet privacy. Pursuant to the Ninth Amendment to the Criminal Law issued by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in August 2015 and becoming effective in November 2015, any ICP provider that fails to fulfill the obligations related to internet information security administration as required by applicable laws and refuses to rectify upon orders, will be subject to criminal liability for (i) any dissemination of illegal information in large scale; (ii) any severe effect due to the leakage of the client’s information; (iii) any serious loss of evidence of criminal activities; or (iv) other severe situations, and any individual or entity that (i) sells or provides personal information to others

unlawfully, or (ii) steals or illegally obtains any personal information, will be subject to criminal liability in severe situations. The PRC government, however, has the power and authority to order ICP operators to turn over personal information if an internet user posts any prohibited content or engages in illegal activities on the internet.

Regulations on Foreign Exchange

Foreign Currency Exchange

Pursuant to the Foreign Currency Administration Rules, as amended, and various regulations issued by SAFE and other relevant PRC government authorities, RMB is freely convertible to the extent of current account items, such as trade related receipts and payments, interest and dividends. Capital account items, such as direct equity investments, loans and repatriation of investment, unless expressly exempted by laws and regulations, still require prior approval from SAFE or its provincial branch for conversion of RMB into a foreign currency, such as U.S. dollars, and remittance of the foreign currency outside of the PRC. After a Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving Foreign Exchange Administration Policy on Direct Investment, or SAFE Notice 13, became effective on June 1, 2015, instead of applying for approvals regarding foreign exchange registrations of foreign direct investment and overseas direct investment from SAFE, entities and individuals will be required to apply for such foreign exchange registrations from qualified banks. The qualified banks, under the supervision of SAFE, directly examine the applications and conduct the registration.

Payments for transactions that take place within the PRC must be made in RMB. Foreign currency revenues received by PRC companies may be repatriated into China or retained outside of China in accordance with requirements and terms specified by SAFE.

Dividend Distribution

Wholly foreign-owned enterprises and Sino-foreign equity joint ventures in the PRC may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and

regulations. Additionally, these foreign-invested enterprises may not pay dividends unless they set aside at least 10% of their respective accumulated profits after tax each year, if any, to fund certain reserve funds, until such time as the accumulative amount of such fund reaches 50% of the enterprise’s registered capital. In addition, these companies also may allocate a portion of theirafter-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to employee welfare and bonus funds at their discretion. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends.

Foreign Exchange Registration of Offshore Investment by PRC Residents

Pursuant to SAFE’s Notice on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Administration for PRC Residents to Engage in Financing and Inbound Investment via Overseas Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular No. 75, issued in October 2005, and a series of implementation rules and guidance, including the circular relating to operating procedures that came into effect in July 2011, PRC residents, including PRC resident natural persons or PRC companies, must register with local branches of SAFE in connection with their direct or indirect offshore investment in an overseas special purpose vehicle, or SPV, for the purposes of overseas equity financing activities, and to update such registration in the event of any significant changes with respect to that offshore company. SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents’ Offshore Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular No. 37, on July 4, 2014, which replaced the SAFE Circular No. 75. SAFE Circular No. 37 requires PRC residents to register with local branches of SAFE in connection with their direct establishment or indirect control of an offshore entity, for the purpose of overseas investment and financing, with such PRC residents’ legally owned assets or equity interests in domestic enterprises or offshore assets or interests, referred to in SAFE No. Circular No. 37 as a “special purpose vehicle.” The term “control” under SAFE Circular No. 37 is broadly defined as the operation rights, beneficiary rights or decision-making rights acquired by the PRC residents in the offshore special purpose vehicles or PRC companies by such means

as acquisition, trust, proxy, voting rights, repurchase, convertible bonds or other arrangements. SAFE Circular No. 37 further requires amendment to the registration in the event of any changes with respect to the basic information of the special purpose vehicle, such as changes in a PRC resident individual shareholder, name or operation period; or any significant changes with respect to the special purpose vehicle, such as increase or decrease of capital contributed by PRC individuals, share transfer or exchange, merger, division or other material event. If the shareholders of the offshore holding company who are PRC residents do not complete their registration with the local SAFE branches, the PRC subsidiaries may be prohibited from distributing their profits and proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation to the offshore company, and the offshore company may be restricted in its ability to contribute additional capital to its PRC subsidiaries. Moreover, failure to comply with SAFE registration and amendment requirements described above could result in liability under PRC law for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions. We have notified holders of ordinary shares of our company whom we know are PRC residents to register with the local SAFE branch and update their registrations as required under the SAFE regulations described above. After SAFE Notice 13 became effective on June 1, 2015, entities and individuals are required to apply for foreign exchange registration of foreign direct investment and overseas direct investment, including those required under the SAFE Circular No. 37, with qualified banks, instead of SAFE. The qualified banks, under the supervision of SAFE, directly examine the applications and conduct the registration. We are aware that Mr. Robin Yanhong Li, our chairman, chief executive officer and principal shareholder, who is a PRC resident, has registered with the relevant local SAFE branch. We, however, cannot provide any assurances that all of our shareholders who are PRC residents will file all applicable registrations or update previously filed registrations as required by these SAFE regulations. The failure or inability of our PRC resident shareholders to comply with the registration procedures may subject the PRC resident shareholders to fines and legal sanctions, restrict our cross-border investment activities, or limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to or obtain foreign exchange-dominated loans from our company.

In February 2012, SAFE promulgated the Notices on Issues concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly-Listed Company, or the Stock Option Rule, replacing the earlier rules promulgated in March 2007. Under the Stock

Option Rule, PRC residents who are granted stock options by an overseas publicly listed company are required, through a PRC agent or PRC subsidiary of such overseas publicly listed company, to register with SAFE and complete certain other procedures. We and our PRC resident employees who have been granted stock options are subject to these regulations. We have designated our PRC subsidiary Baidu Online to handle the registration and other procedures required by the Stock Option Rule. Failure of the option holders to complete their SAFE registrations may subject these PRC employees to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit the ability of the overseas publicly listed company to contribute additional capital into its PRC subsidiary and limit the PRC subsidiary’s ability to distribute dividends.

Regulations on Labor

The Labor Contract Law, which became effective in January 2008, and its implementation rules, impose more restrictions on employers and have been deemed to increase labor costs for employers, compared to the Labor Law, which became effective in January 1995. For example, pursuant to the Labor Contract Law, an employer is obliged to sign labor contract with unlimited term with an employee if the employer continues to hire the employee after the expiration of two consecutive fixed-term labor contracts. The employer has to compensate the employee upon the expiration of a fixed-term labor contract, unless the employee refuses to renew such contract on terms the same as or more favorable to the employee than those contained in the expired contract. The employer also has to indemnify an employee if the employer terminates a labor contract without a cause permitted by law. In addition, under the Regulations on Paid Annual Leave for Employees, which became effective in January 2008, employees who have served more than one year for an employer are entitled to a paid vacation ranging from 5 to 15 days per year, depending on their length of service. Employees who waive such vacation time at the request of employers must be compensated for three times their regular salaries for each waived vacation day.

Regulations on Taxation

For a discussion of applicable PRC tax regulations, see “Item 5.A. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results—Taxation.”

The following is a list of our principal subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities as of the date of this annual report onForm 20-F:

The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure, including our principal subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities as of the date of this annual report on Form20-F:

Contractual Arrangements with Our Consolidated Affiliated Entities and the Nominee Shareholders

PRC laws and regulations restrict and impose conditions on foreign investment in internet, value-added telecommunication-based online advertising, online audio and video services and mobile application distribution businesses. Accordingly, we operate these businesses in China through our consolidated affiliated entities. We have entered into a series of contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities and the nominee shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities. These contractual arrangements enable us to:

We do not have any equity interestinterests in our consolidated affiliated entities. However, as a result of contractual arrangements, we have effective control over and are considered the primary beneficiary of these companies, and we have consolidated the financial results of these companies in our consolidated financial statements. If our consolidated affiliated entities or the nominee shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we could be limited in our ability to enforce the contractual arrangements that give us effective control over our consolidated affiliated entities. Further, if we are unable to maintain effective control, we would not be able to continue to consolidate the financial results of our consolidated affiliated entities in our financial statements. In 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2015,2016, we derived approximately 28%27%, 27%31% and 31%35% of our total revenues, respectively, from our consolidated affiliated entities through contractual arrangements. For a detailed description of the regulatory environment that necessitates the adoption of our corporate structure, see “Item 4.B. Information on the Company—Business Overview—Regulation.Regulations.” For a detailed description of the risks associated with our corporate structure, see “Item 3.D. Key Information—Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure.”

Contractual Arrangements relating to Baidu Netcom, Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay

The following is a summary of the material provisions of the agreements among (i) our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, Baidu Online, (ii) each of Baidu Netcom, Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay, our principal consolidated affiliated entities, and (iii) the nominee shareholders of these consolidated affiliated entities.

Exclusive Technology Consulting and Services Agreement

Pursuant to the exclusive technology consulting and services agreement between Baidu Online and Baidu Netcom, Baidu Online has the exclusive right to provide to Baidu Netcom technology consulting and services related to, among other things, the maintenance of servers, software development, design of advertisements, ande-commerce technical services. Baidu Online owns the intellectual property rights resulting from the performance of this agreement. Baidu Netcom agrees to pay a monthly service fee to Baidu Online based on the formula as provided in the agreement in exchange for the technology consulting and services provided by Baidu Online. Under the agreement, the monthly service fee is equal to the product of the standard monthly fee for page view per thousand times multiplied by the actual times of page view for the month divided by 1,000. Baidu Online has the right to adjust the service fees at its sole discretion without the consent of Baidu Netcom. The agreement will be in effect for an unlimited term, until the term of business of one party expires and extension is denied by the relevant approval authorities.

The exclusive technology consulting and services agreement between Baidu Online and each of Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay contains substantially the same terms as those between Baidu Online and Baidu Netcom described above.above, except that the service fee under the exclusive technology consulting and services agreement with BaiduPay is calculated and paid on a quarterly basis. Each of the agreements shall be in effect for an unlimited term, until the term of business of one party expires and extension is denied by the relevant approval authorities.

The amount of service fees Baidu Netcom paid to Baidu Online was 89% of its net income before income taxes and the service fees were charged for 2013. After paying service fees to Baidu Online, net income of Baidu Netcom is insignificant because substantially all of its operating profits have been paid as service fees to Baidu Online. In 2014, 2015 and 2015,2016, Baidu Netcom only paid an insignificant amount of service fees to Baidu Online due to its operatingBaidu Netcom’s accumulated loss incurred.position. Beijing Perusal did not pay any service fees to Baidu Online due to itsBeijing Perusal’s operating loss in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2015.2016. BaiduPay has not paid any service fees to Baidu Online due to itsBaiduPay’s break-even or loss position since its inception.

Operating Agreement

Pursuant to the operating agreement by and among Baidu Online, Baidu Netcom and the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom, Baidu Online provides guidance and instructions on Baidu Netcom’s daily operations and financial affairs. Baidu Online has the right to appoint senior executives of Baidu Netcom. The

nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom must appoint candidates recommended by Baidu Online as their

representatives on Baidu Netcom’s board of directors. In addition, Baidu Online agrees to guarantee Baidu Netcom’s performance under any agreements or arrangements relating to Baidu Netcom’s business arrangements with any third party. Baidu Netcom agrees that without the prior consent of Baidu Online, Baidu Netcom will not engage in any transactions that could materially affect the assets, liabilities, rights or operations of Baidu Netcom, including, without limitation, incurrence or assumption of any indebtedness, sale or purchase of any assets or rights, incurrence of any encumbrance on any of its assets or intellectual property rights in favor of a third party or transfer of any agreements relating to its business operation to any third party. The agreement shall be in effect for an unlimited term, until the term of business of one party expires and extension is denied by the relevant approval authorities.

The operating agreement by and among Baidu Online, each of Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay and the respective nominee shareholders contains substantially the same terms as those described above. Each of the agreements shall be in effect for an unlimited term, until the term of business of one party expires and extension is denied by the relevant approval authorities.

License Agreements

Baidu Online and Baidu Netcom have entered into a software license agreement and a web layout copyright license agreement. Pursuant to these license agreements, Baidu Online has granted to Baidu Netcom the right to use, including but not limited to, a software license and a web layout copyright license. Baidu Netcom may only use the licenses in its own business operations. Baidu Online has the right to adjust the service fees at its sole discretion. The software license agreement and web layout copyright license agreement have been renewed and are in effect for an unlimited term, until the term of business of one party expires and extension is denied by the relevant approval authorities.

The web layout copyright license agreements that Baidu Online has entered into with each of Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay contain substantially the same terms as the one between Baidu Online and Baidu Netcom described above. Each of the agreements is in effect for an unlimited term, until the term of business of one party expires and extension is denied by the relevant approval authorities.

Baidu Online had also entered into a domain name license agreement and a trademark license agreement with each of Baidu Netcom, Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay previously. After the transfers of the relevant domain names and trademarks (including pending trademark applications) from Baidu Online to Baidu Netcom, Beijing Perusal or BaiduPay, the domain name license agreements and trademark license agreements were terminated. As of December 31, 2015, no domain license agreement and trademark license agreement were outstanding between Baidu Online and each of Baidu Netcom, Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay.

Exclusive Equity Purchase and Transfer Option Agreement

Pursuant to the exclusive equity purchase and transfer option agreement by and among Baidu Online, Baidu Netcom and the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom, the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom have irrevocably granted Baidu Online an exclusive option to purchase, or require any of the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom to transfer to another person designated by Baidu Online, to the extent permitted under PRC law, all or part of the equity interests in Baidu Netcom for the cost of the initial contributions to the registered capital corresponding to the purchased equity interest or the minimum amount of consideration permitted by applicable PRC law. The nominee shareholders shall remit to Baidu Online any amount that is paid by Baidu Online or its designated person in connection with the purchased equity interest after deducting taxes and fees incurred from the transfer of the purchased equity interest. Baidu Online has sole discretion to decide when to exercise the option, whether in part or in full. Any and all dividends and other capital distributions from Baidu Netcom to the nominee shareholders shall be paid to Baidu Online in full. Baidu Online shall provide unlimited financial support to Baidu Netcom, if Baidu Netcom shall become in need of any form of reasonable financial support in the normal operation of business. If Baidu Netcom were to incur any loss and as a result cannot repay any loans from Baidu Online,

Baidu Online shall unconditionally forgive any such loans to Baidu Netcom given that Baidu Netcom provides sufficient proof for its loss and incapacity to repay. The agreement shall terminate upon the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom have transferred all their equity interests in Baidu Netcom to Baidu Online or its designated person or upon expiration of the term of business of Baidu Online or Baidu Netcom.

The exclusive equity purchase and transfer option agreement by and among Baidu Online, each of Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay and the respective nominee shareholders contains substantially the same terms as those

described above. Each of the agreements shall terminate upon the nominee shareholders of Beijing Perusal or BaiduPay have transferred all their equity interests in Beijing Perusal or BaiduPay, as the case may be, to Baidu Online or its designated person or upon expiration of the term of business of Baidu Online or the relevant consolidated affiliated entity.

Loan Agreements

Pursuant to loan agreements between Baidu Online and the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom, Baidu Online provided interest-free loans with an aggregate amount of RMB890.0 millionRMB2.2 billion (US$137.4312.7 million) to the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom solely for the latter to fund the capitalization of Baidu Netcom. The loans can be repaid only with the proceeds from sale of the nominee shareholders’ equity interest in Baidu Netcom to Baidu Online or its designated person. The term of each loan is ten years from the date of the agreement and can be extended with the written consent of both parties before expiration. With some of the loan agreements amended and renewed, the earliest will expire on December 30, 2025.January 17, 2027.

The loan agreements between Baidu Online and the nominee shareholders of Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay contain substantially the same terms as those described above, except that the amount of loans extended to the nominee shareholders is RMB1.255RMB3.2 billion (US$193.7460.5 million) and RMB90.0RMB216.7 million (US$13.931.2 million), respectively. The term of the loans will expire on December 15, 2025June 19, 2026 and December 21, 2025,October 17, 2026, respectively, and can be extended with the written consent of both parties before expiration.

Proxy Agreement/Power of Attorney

Pursuant to the proxy agreement between Baidu Online and the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom, the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom agree to entrust all the rights to exercise their voting power and any other rights as shareholders of Baidu Netcom to the person(s) designated by Baidu Online. Each of the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom has executed an irrevocable power of attorney to appoint the person(s) designated by Baidu Online as his/herattorney-in-fact to vote on his/her behalf on all matters requiring shareholder approval. The proxy agreement shall be in effect for an unlimited term unless terminated in writing by Baidu Online. The power of attorney shall be in effect for as long as the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom hold any equity interests in Baidu Netcom.

Each of the proxy agreements and powers of attorney between Baidu Online and the nominee shareholders of Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay contains substantially the same terms as those described above. Each of the proxy agreements shall be in effect for an unlimited term unless terminated in writing by Baidu Online. Each of the powers of attorney shall be in effect for as long as the relevant nominee shareholder of Beijing Perusal or BaiduPay holds any equity interests in Beijing Perusal or BaiduPay, as the case may be.

Equity Pledge Agreement

Pursuant to the equity pledge agreement between Baidu Online and the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom, the nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom have pledged all of their equity interests in Baidu Netcom to Baidu Online to guarantee their obligations under the loan agreement and Baidu Netcom’s performance of its obligations under the exclusive technology consulting and service agreement. If Baidu Netcom or the nominee

shareholders breach their respective contractual obligations, Baidu Online, as the pledgee, will be entitled to certain rights, including the right to sell the pledged equity interests. The nominee shareholders of Baidu Netcom agree not to dispose of the pledged equity interests or take any actions that would prejudice Baidu Online’s interest. The equity pledge agreement will expire two years after expiration of the term of or the fulfillment by Baidu Netcom and the nominee shareholders of their respective obligations under the exclusive technology consulting and service agreement and the loan agreement.

Each of the equity pledge agreements between Baidu Online and the nominee shareholders of Beijing Perusal and BaiduPay contains substantially the same terms as those described above.

We are in the process of perfecting the equity pledges of Baidu Netcom and Beijing PerusalBaiduPay described above by registration with the relevant local administration for industry and commerce as required for a property right under the PRC Property Rights Law, due to a recent increasesincrease in the registered capital of these entities.capital.

Through the design of the aforementioned agreements, the nominee shareholders of these affiliated entities effectively assigned their full voting rights to Baidu Online, which gives Baidu Online the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the affiliated entities’ economic performance. Baidu Online obtains the ability to approve decisions made by the affiliated entities and the ability to acquire the equity interests in the affiliated entities when permitted by PRC law. Baidu Online is obligated to absorb a majority of the expected losses from the affiliated entities’ activities through providing unlimited financial support to the affiliated entities and is entitled to receive a majority of residual returns from the affiliated entities through the exclusive technology consulting and service fees. As a result of these contractual arrangements, Baidu Online is determined to be the primary beneficiary of these affiliated entities. Despite the lack of technical majority ownership, there exists a parent-subsidiary relationship between us and these affiliated entities through these contractual arrangements, and we consolidate these affiliated entities through Baidu Online.

We have also entered into contractual arrangements with several other affiliated entities and their respective nominee shareholders through our subsidiaries other than Baidu Online, which results in these subsidiaries being the primary beneficiary of the relevant affiliated entities. As a result of these contractual arrangements, there exists a parent-subsidiary relationship between us and the relevant affiliated entities, and we consolidate these affiliated entities through subsidiaries besides Baidu Online.

Our corporate headquarters, Baidu Campus, our corporate headquarters, is located in Shangdi, an area designated by the Beijing municipal government as the center of the city’s information technology industry.

In 2015, we completed the construction of We also own another office building, Baidu Science Park, in Beijing. We commenced the constructionBesides Beijing, we own and occupy office buildings in August 2012,Shanghai and paid RMB493.3 million (US$76.2 million) for the land use right. Our capital expenditure in connection with the construction of Baidu Science Park was RMB663.4 million (US$102.4 million) in 2015.Shenzhen.

We also lease some offices in Beijing, Tokyo (Japan), California (USA), Thailand, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia and many other cities in China.

We host our servers in China at the internet data centers of China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile in ten selected cities in China, and we also have content delivery network locations in various cities across China. We plan to deploy threetwo additional data centers in 2016.2017. We also have a data center of our own in Shanxi and plan to build another one in Beijing, the first stage of which will bewas completed in the first half of 2016.

In December 2011, we commenced construction of an office building in Shenzhen, which will serve as our international center in Southern China. We have paid RMB129.5 million (US$20.0 million) for the land use right. Our capital expenditure in connection with the construction of this office building in Shenzhen was RMB214.1RMB128.3 million (US$33.018.5 million) in 2015.2016. We currently expect to complete the planned construction in 2018.

In September 2012, we commenced construction of Shanxi Cloud Computing Center, which will serve as one of our internet data centers in China. We have paid RMB71.5 million (US$11.0 million)for the land use right. Our capital expenditure in connection with the construction of Shanxi Cloud Computing Center was RMB237.5RMB324.6 million (US$36.746.8 million) in 2015.2016. We expect to fully complete the planned construction in 2018.

In April 2014, we commenced construction of part of Beijing Cloud Computing Center, which will serve as our internet data center in Beijing. We have paid RMB165.6 million (US$25.6 million) for the right to use the land where we plan to build our Beijing Cloud Computing Center. Our capital expenditure in connection with the construction of Beijing Cloud

Computing Center was RMB163.8RMB55.7 million (US$25.38.0 million) in 2015.2016. We expect to completehave completed the first phase of construction in 2016, and we are in the process of planning the rest of the construction work with the completion date not determinable at this stage.

We currently plan to fund these expenditures with our cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and anticipated cash flow generated from our operating activities.

None.

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon, and should be read in conjunction with, our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in this annual report on Form20-F. This report contains forward-looking statements. See “Forward-Looking Information.” In evaluating our business, you should carefully consider the information provided under the caption “Item 3.D. Key Information—Risk Factors” in this annual report on Form20-F. We caution you that our businesses and financial performance are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties.

Overview

Our operations are primarily based in China, where we derive almost all of our revenues. Total revenues in 20152016 were RMB66.4RMB70.5 billion (US$10.2 billion), a 35.3%6.3% increase over 2014.2015. Operating profit in 20152016 was RMB11.7RMB10.0 billion (US$1.81.4 billion), an 8.8%a 13.9% decrease over 2014.2015. Net income attributable to Baidu, Inc. in 20152016 was RMB33.7RMB11.6 billion (US$5.21.7 billion), a 155.1% increase65.4% decrease over 2014.2015. Mobile revenues accounted for 52.7%63.2% of our total revenues in 2015.2016.

Our total assets as of December 31, 20152016 were RMB147.9RMB182.0 billion (US$22.826.2 billion), of which cash and cash equivalent amounted to RMB10.0RMB10.9 billion (US$1.51.6 billion). Our total liabilities as of December 31, 20152016 were RMB63.6RMB84.3 billion (US$9.812.1 billion), accounting for 43.0%46.3% of total liabilities and equity. As of December 31, 2015,2016, our retained earnings accumulated to RMB74.7RMB85.7 billion (US$11.512.3 billion).

In November 2012, we obtained the controlling interest in Qiyi.com, Inc., a prior equity method investee, and have since then consolidated its financial results into our consolidated financial statements. In May 2013, we acquired the online video business of PPS and have merged it with iQiyi and have since then consolidated its financial results into our consolidated financial statements.

In October 2013, we acquired 100% equity interest of 91 Wireless from NetDragon and the other shareholders of 91 Wireless, and have since then consolidated its financial results into our consolidated financial statements.

We consolidated the financial results of Qunar in our consolidated financial statements from July 2011 to October 2015. In July 2011, we acquired a majority stake in Qunar. In October 2015, we completed a share exchange transaction with Ctrip, in which we exchanged 178,702,519 Class A ordinary shares and 11,450,000 Class B ordinary shares of Qunar for 11,488,381 newly-issued ordinary shares of Ctrip, at an exchange ratio of 0.725 Ctrip ADSs per Qunar ADS. As a result of the transaction, we have ceased consolidating the financial results of Qunar since October 2015 and recognized a disposition gain of RMB24.4 billion (US$3.8 billion).

The major factors affecting our resultsbillion. We subsequently acquired additional ordinary shares of operations and financial condition are discussed below.Ctrip in 2016.

Reorganization of Operating Segments

In the second quarter of 2015, we reorganized our operating segments from one operating segment into three operating segments, namely search services, transaction services and iQiyi. The primary reason for such reorganization is that our chief operating decision maker increasingly assesses the performance of our company and makes decisions in respect of the allocation of company resources by analyzing the operational results of these three business units separately. We will continually assess the reasonableness of our operating segments because we operate in a rapidly evolving internet industry with technology trend shifted, and there may be changes in our business strategy accordingly.

Revenues

We generate revenues from the provision of search services, transaction services and iQiyi. The following table sets forth our revenues by segment, with each segment revenues including inter-segment revenues:

Revenue Generation

Search Services. Search services are keyword-based marketing services targeted at and triggered by internet users’ search queries, which include our P4P services and other online marketing services, such as BrandZone, Aladdin and mobile appapplication distribution. Search services contribute the largest proportion of our total revenues among our three operating segments.

A majority of our revenues from search services are derived from our P4P services. Our P4P platform is an online marketplace that introduces internet search users to customers who pay us a fee based on click-throughs for priority placement of their links in the search results. We recognize P4P revenues when a user clicks on a customer’s link in the search results, based on the amount that the customer has agreed to pay for each click-through. Our P4P services revenues have primarily been driven by the increase in theThe number of page views, the increase in the number of P4Ponline marketing customers and our success in optimizing the display of sponsored links. We believe that an increase in the number of active P4P customers generally leads to an increase in the number of sponsored links and a higher average pricerevenue per click-through for selected keywords. Our P4P customer growth has primarily been driven by the adoptionare considered as primary drivers of our P4P services by SMEsservices. We believe our efforts to grow the customer base, improve customer experience and optimize their marketing budget allocation/spending effectiveness on our P4P platform are expected to a lesser extent, large enterprises.drive our future revenue growth.

We also provide our customers with other performance-based and display-based online marketing services. For other performance-based online marketing services, our customers pay us based on performance criteria other than click-throughs, such as the number of telephone calls brought to our customers, the number of users registered with our customers, or the number of minimum click-throughs. For display-based online marketing services, our customers pay us based on the duration or the number of display of the advertisement placed on our properties and Baidu Union members’ properties.

Our search services have historically been driven by the general increase in our customers’ online marketing budgets. We expect the number of our online marketing customers to grow and our customer mix may change. However, we expect our online marketing customer base to remain diverse for the foreseeable future. Any prolonged economic slowdown in China may cause our customers to decrease or delay their online marketing spending and as a result, hamper our efforts to grow our customer base, or result in fewer clicks by users on sponsored links or advertisements displayed on our or Baidu Union members’ properties.base. Any of these consequences could negatively affect our search service revenues.

Our search customers are increasingly seeking marketing solutions with measurable results in order to maximize their ROI. To meet customers’ needs, we will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of our various products and services and adjust the mix of our service offerings to optimize our customers’ ROI. We expect that we will continue to earn a majority of our revenues from our search services.

Transaction Services. Transaction services mainly include Qunar, Baidu Nuomi, Baidu Deliveries, Baidu Mobile Game, Baidu Wallet, Baidu Maps and others. Revenues of transaction services are mainly generated by Baidu Nuomi, Baidu Deliveries and Baidu Takeout Delivery.Mobile Game.

We consolidated

GMV is defined as the financial resultsvalue of Qunar in our consolidated financial statements from July 2011 to October 2015. Qunar’s revenues are primarily derived from distributionconfirmed orders of travel products and services. Qunar generates revenueservices, regardless whether the products or services are consumed or delivered. The GMV of transaction services refer to GMV generated by charging customers on a cost-per-click or cost-per-sale basis for qualified clicks generated from Qunar’s search results, text linksthe Baidu platform through products such as Baidu Nuomi, Baidu Deliveries, Baidu Wallet and other products on the Qunar website and mobile platform.Baidu Maps.

Baidu Nuomi operates an online local commerce marketplace that connects merchants with users by offering goods and services provided by third-party merchants with discount prices. Baidu Nuomi generates revenue primarily by acting as a marketing agent for local merchants. Baidu Nuomi presents its revenue on a net basis, representing the amount billed to registered users less the amount paid to merchants.

Baidu Takeout DeliveryDeliveries operates an online platform on which users can place restaurant delivery orders. Baidu Takeout DeliveryDeliveries presents its revenue on a net basis, representing the amount billed to registered users less the amount paid to merchants, to whom we provide online marketing and technology support services. Such revenue is typically a percentage of the transaction amount of orders processed through Baidu Takeout DeliveryDeliveries platform. Baidu Takeout DeliveryDeliveries also generates delivery revenue by providing food distribution services to users.

ForBaidu Mobile Game operates a mobile game platform on which registered users can access games provided by third-party game developers. Baidu Mobile Game generates revenue primarily by acting as an agent and presents its revenue on a net basis, representing the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, our total transaction service revenues grew 83.3% year-over-year and hadamount billed to registered users less the amount paid to game developers. The business of Baidu Mobile Game will be disposed in 2017 as we entered into an equity transfer agreement with a total gross merchandise value, or GMV, of RMB152.9 billion (US$23.6 billion). The GMV of transaction services refer to GMV generated by the Baidu platform, through products such as Baidu Nuomi, Baidu Takeout Delivery and Baidu Wallet. GMV is defined as the value of confirmed orders of products and services, regardless of whether the products or services are consumed or delivered. The GMV generated by Qunarthird-party purchaser in the last three months of 2015 has been excluded from the total GMV in light of our exchange of Qunar shares with Ctrip.January 2017.

iQiyi. iQiyi is an online video platform with a content library that includes copyrighted movies, television series, cartoons, variety shows and other programs. iQiyi derives a majority of its revenues from online advertising services. As is customary in the advertising industry in China, iQiyi offers commissions to third-party

advertising agencies and recognizes revenue net of these commissions. iQiyi also derives an increasing portion of its revenues from other sources, such as subscription services andsub-licensing of licensed contents to other online video websites.

Revenue Collection

For most search services, we collect payments both from our customers directly and through our distributors. We require our P4P customers to pay a deposit before using our P4P services and remind them by an automated notice to replenish the accounts after their account balance falls below a designated amount. We deduct the amount due to us from the deposit paid by a customer when a user clicks on the customer’s link in the search results. In addition, we offer payment terms to some of our customers other than P4P customers based on their historical marketing placements and credibility. We also offer longer payment terms to certain qualified distributors, consistent with industry practice.

For most transaction services, we collect payments directly from users when they purchase goods or services on our platforms. We further settle with merchants or other third parties in accordance with the terms agreed upon.

For most services provided by iQiyi, customers may enter into different payment terms based on their historical marketing placements and credibility. Users are also encouraged to purchase subscription services to get enhanced user experience, and such payments are collected from the users by iQiyi or through agents such as China Mobile.

As of December 31, 2015,2016, we had accounts receivable of RMB4.1 billion (US$635.5591.9 million), net of allowance of RMB189.6RMB177.4 million (US$29.325.6 million).

Operating Costs and Expenses

Our operating costs and expenses consist of cost of revenues, selling, general and administrative expenses, and research and development expenses. Share-based compensation expenses are allocated among the above three categories of operating costs and expenses, based on the nature of the work of the employees who have received share-based compensation. Our total operating costs and expenses increased significantly from 20132014 to 20152016 due to the growth of our business.

Cost of Revenues

The following table sets forth the components of our cost of revenues both in absolute amount and as a percentage of total revenues for the periods indicated.

Traffic Acquisition Costs. Traffic acquisition costs typically represent the portion of our online marketing revenues that we share with our Baidu Union members. We typically pay a Baidu Union member, based on apre-agreed arrangement, a portion of the online marketing revenues generated from valid click-throughs by users of that member’s properties.

Bandwidth Costs. Bandwidth costs are the fees we pay to telecommunications carriers such as China Telecom and China Unicom for telecommunications services and for hosting our servers at their internet data centers. We expect our bandwidth costs, as variable costs, to increase with the increasing number of racks of servers and the increasing traffic on our websites and mobile platform. Our bandwidth costs could also increase if the telecommunications carriers increase their service charges.

Depreciation of Servers and Other Equipment. We include in our cost of revenues depreciation expenses of servers and other computer hardware that are directly related to our business operations and technical support.

Operational Costs. Operational costs include primarily salary and benefit expenses, intangible assets amortization, payment platform charges, delivery expensecost of Baidu NuomiDeliveries and Baidu Takeout DeliveryNuomi, and other expenses incurred by our operating and technical support personnel. Salary and benefit expenses include wages, bonuses, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, pension benefits, employee housing fund and other welfare benefits.

Content Costs. Content costs consist primarily of the fees we paid for the licensed content from copyright owners or content distributors, and the amortization of the licensed copyrights for video content.

Operating Expenses

The following table sets forth the components of our operating expenses both in absolute amount and as a percentage of total revenues for the periods indicated.