The top-level domain (TLD) is the last segment of the domain name. It’s the part that follows immediately after the “dot” symbol. A TLD could be generic with three or more characters like .com, .net, .org, or two-letter country code like .uk, .de or .cn. However, “Baidu” is not a Top-Level Domain (TLD), it is actually a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in internet-related services and products.
Baidu is one of the largest AI and internet companies in the world. It offers several services, the most popular being its search engine. It is often referred to as the “Google of China” due to its dominance in the Chinese internet search engine market. According to StatCounter, as of November 2021, Baidu held about 66.91% of China’s search engine market share.
Established in the year 2000, Baidu’s name comes from a poem written more than 800 years ago during the Song Dynasty, which hints at “a persistent search for the ideal” (Baidu Corp. Information, Bloomberg). The company’s founders are Robin Li and Eric Xu. As of 2021, the company had more than 41,000 employees worldwide. Its headquarters are located in Beijing’s Haidian District.
Apart from the search engine, Baidu offers more than 50 services, including Baidu Baike (an online encyclopedia), Baidu Wangpan (a cloud storage service), and Baidu Tieba (a keyword-based discussion forum). Baidu also launched its own autonomous driving platform, Apollo, and has made significant strides in AI research and driverless vehicles technology.
In terms of the actual domain name, Baidu primarily uses “Baidu.com”. Baidu also owns various other domain names in different TLDs as part of its brand protection measures. However, the “.com” TLD remains the most widely recognized and used. It should be noted, though, that as of this moment, “Baidu” itself is not an official, ICANN-recognized TLD.
Resources:
- “Baidu.com.” In Wikipedia, December 16, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baidu
- “Baidu, Inc.” In Britannica, n.d., https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baidu-Inc
- “Search Engine Market Share China.” In Statcounter GlobalStats, n.d., https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/china
- “Baidu Corp. Information”, Bloomberg, n.d., https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/BIDU:US
- “ICANN”, official website, n.d., https://www.icann.org/ The not-for-profit organization that oversees the assignment of both IP addresses and domain names.
