I’ve been follow-up a news that surrounding Baidu, the China search giant and Maxthon, a popular Chinese browser for a couple of days. A buzz from the China Internet industry stated that Baidu has acquired Maxthon for an undisclosed sum. There is certainly no confirmation about this news, and yet no official announcement can be found on Baidu or Maxthon’s site. Frankly, I putting this rumor at mostly 50% to be true. In last year April, the first Internet company that has vast interest on Maxthon was Google (read my April 2007 post). Though buying a browser and make it an asset, so whenever a user in China used this particular browser, the first landing search engine will be Google or Baidu, for Google or Baidu, this is indeed not a necessary move for them.

Apparently, Maxthon browser has great appeal for Baidu or Google, because it is made-in China. While buying Maxthon raises a question of ROI (Return on Investment), but this news offers tips that Baidu has quietly expanded its product lines. Nevertheless, no news is not a good news for Baidu. Perhaps reading a newest article posted by China Web 2.0 Review will tell you more about the secrets of Baidu’s investment.