Chinese search giant Baidu (NSDQ: BIDU) says it has received a $50 million investment from Providence Equity Partners to start an online video subsidiary. Rafat was able to confirm reports that a deal for a Hulu-like service was in the final stages early last month. At the time, Baidu was…

Beijing-based ad network Yoyi Media has raised first round led by Disney’s Steamboat Ventures and Gobi Partners. Online advertising is still expected to grow at a rapid pace throughout Asia. Three-year-old Yoyi expects to capitalize on that growth. The company plans to build up its ad platforms and refine its…

Mail.com Media Corp, the owner of Nikki Finke’s Deadline.com and other portals, has finally closed and announced its JV deal in India, after working on it for a year: it has tied up with Indian media conglom Zee Entertainment, and will launch a local Indian portal later this year, the…

Baidu (NSDQ: BIDU), the Chinese search giant which stands to gain the most if Google (NSDQ: GOOG) goes ahead and pulls out of China, had a standout fourth quarter, as it completed the roll-out of its new Phoenix Nest ad system and benefited from an uptick in online ad spending.…

		EPS*	Rev. vs Q0408	Net Inc. vs Q0408
Baidu	Release		39.8%	48.2%

* vs. Analysts' Estimates: Beat Met Missed

A Beijing court has cleared Chinese search giant Baidu of copyright infringement suits brought by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the major record labels. The court’s judgment was simply that the search engine had not broken rules by linking to unauthorized music downloads. In the…

Dentsu’s U.S. unit has acquired Innovation Interactive, the parent of digital ad shop 360i, AdAge reported (Later: announced officially, here). The purchase ends several months of searching for a significant digital acquisition for Dentsu. Back in August, Dentsu, Japan’s largest ad agency, saw its $700 million offer for Razorfish rebuffed…

Aegis Group is continuing its expansion into China, with the acquisition of a 17.7 percent stake in media buyer and ad agency Charm Communications. Terms weren’t disclosed, but Aegis says that Charm’s total gross assets are $143 million. As part of this acquisition, Aegis’s Vizeum unit is forming a joint…

Cable operator Liberty Global is selling off its 37.8 stake in Japanese broadband provider Jupiter Telecommunications to wireless operator KDDI Corporation for $4 billion. The deal is part of a plan by Liberty Global, which is controlled by John Malone, to refocus its concentration on Europe. Exiting the Japanese market…

It’s now been six days since Google (NSDQ: GOOG) issued its China manifesto—and the repercussions continue. Here’s a round-up of some of the latest developments: » It’s possible that the attacks on Google’s network, which led the company to threaten to pull out of China, were an inside job. *Reuters*…

Google’s threat to exit China in response to internet attacks originating from that country is drawing attention to the rocky relationship between Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, which it owns a 44 percent stake in. Last week, Yahoo said: “We condemn any attempts to infiltrate company…

Not a big surprise, but the Chinese government has not been won over by Google’s manifesto. The government made its first official statements on Google’s threat to shut down its China operations if it isn’t allowed to uncensor its search results, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying, “China welcomes international…

You can follow our own coverage of the Google China manifesto here—but here are some additional updates and analysis from around the web that have caught our attention: » Google’s stock ended the day down 0.57 percent, while Chinese internet giant Baidu (NSDQ: BIDU) saw its stock jump more than…

Some cynicism today that Google’s threat to leave China isn’t so altruistic. The basic argument: Google (NSDQ: GOOG) was facing an uphill battle against Baidu (NSDQ: BIDU) and is cutting its losses. And while it’s true—as we pointed out yesterday—that Google’s revenue in China is currently minimal, the company’s business…

If Google (NSDQ: GOOG) follows through on its threat of pulling out of China, the company would be sacrificing significant long-term growth in the world’s biggest internet market. In the short term, however, the decision won’t have much impact on the company’s revenue. During an interview on CNBC, Chief Legal…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) says it is reviewing its operations in China—and may even shut them down—citing limits to freedom of speech in that country. The move would mean that Google would lose access to a country that could be its biggest source of long-term growth. China is already the largest…

China’s Shanda (NSDQ: SNDA) Games is on a buying spree. Its latest acquisition is of Flash-based game distribution and monetization platform Mochi Media. The company expects the $80 million deal—$60 million in cash, and $20 million in equity retention agreements—to close in Q1. Founded in 2006, S.F.-based Mochi Media raised…

Shanda Games’ IPO (and spin-off from parent company *Shanda* Interactive) generated tons of buzz, but not as much revenue as investors had been expecting. Still, the Chinese company is trying to ramp up for a successful 2010 with a few new business deals, including the acquisition of online game developer…

Baidu (NSDQ: BIDU) COO Peng Ye is leaving the Chinese internet giant. Baidu says Ye is leaving due to “personal reasons;” somewhat suspiciously, the news of his departure is buried in a press release, which plays up the promotion of two other executives. Ye had been at Baidu for two…

Updated below: The professional online video scene in China is now heating up, after a few years of fevered activity on the user-gen video side (with lots of pirated professional online video as well): now, after announcements by Chinese portal biggies like Sohu (NSDQ: SOHU) and Shanda (NSDQ: SNDA), search…