Viet Son Net

Baidu’s (Nasdaq:BIDU) online forum channel, “Baidu Post Bar,” has released a “mall” where users can purchase virtual items or services including templates for the company’s personal information center “i Post Bar” using the channel’s virtual currency “Post Bar Beans,” TechWeb.com.cn reported March 30. Baidu aims to broaden the range of offerings to value-added applications and personalized services including attachment uploads and background music, the report said without revealing sources for the information. Baidu Post Bar users can earn beans by logging in, writing posts and replying to threads, the report said.

Reports in early February said “Baidu Post Bar” had recorded 250 million daily page views and more than 20 million daily active users.

Baidu (Nasdaq:BIDU) has established a new department to conduct its large-scale online games operations business, Techweb reported December 25 citing unnamed insiders. The game business will be a major focus for Baidu in 2010 and the company aims to employ around 100 staff within the division, according to an insider. The insider said that Baidu has no plans to engage in game development and that it is contacting major domestic game companies to discuss joint game operation. Baidu is co-operating four large-scale games in its game channel at present, the report said.

Baidu Vice President Ren Xuyang declined to comment, while Baidu’s Public Relations Department said that it was unaware of the issue, qq.com reported the same day.

Baidu confirmed in November that it planned to contract up to ten employees from game portal 178.com to take charge of operation and maintenance of Baidu’s game channel, game.baidu.com.