Baidu vying for instant messaging market

Baidu.com, the leading Chinese language search engine provider, is more likely to enter the instant messaging market in the near term, market sources reported.

Several sources noted that Baidu.com plans to recruit IM product managers and development engineers, indicating its intention to gain a footprint in China's IM services.

Tencent Holdings<700>, the country’s major IM service provider, has not given any comment on this issue yet.

Baidu's American Depositary Shares closed at US$242.70 yesterday, down 1.82%.