Mark Zuckerberg at Baidu HQ, with CEO Robin Li, via Shanghaiist
maybe that title is more appropriate, just kidding,,,
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has begun his anticipated trip to China, a country that still blocks his popular social network. Now in Beijing, Zuckerberg has already made a stop by China’s top search engine Baidu, according to photos posted on Chinese micro-blog Sina Tech — confirming that Zuckerberg is mixing business with pleasure on this trip.
Zuckerberg had lunch with Baidu CEO Robin Li, Baidu’s director of international communications Kaiser Kuo told the AP. Kuo said he didn’t know what the two talked about.
Speculation exploded on Twitter over a possible acquisition of Facebook by Baidu, prompting Kuo to respond that those rumors were “greatly exaggerated”.
Kuo also wrote on Twitter that Zuckerberg and Li were old acquaintances: “C’mon people. Robin and Mark have known each other for a while. Mark’s interest in China is well known. Keep the speculation in check.”
Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan (right), with Li, via Shanghaiist
Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan (right), with Li, via Shanghaiist
China is a high priority for Facebook’s global expansion efforts. The country is home to 1.6 billion people and some 300 million or so Internet users. Zuckerberg himself has been taking Mandarin lessons for a while now. But China is a notoriously tricky place for US tech companies to navigate, much less succeed in. Just ask Google, who pulled out of China earlier this year, ostensibly over Chinese government censorship issues.
Zuckerberg is traveling with his longtime Chinese-American girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, who has family in China. He was also spotted in Beijing on Monday morning by Joel Danielson, an art director and general manager of a PR agency in China. Zuckerberg was near Yonghegong Lama Temple, a Tibetan temple a few miles from the Forbidden City, in the heart of Beijing, according to Danielson’s Twitter update.
What else will Zuckerberg be doing in China? The Facebook CEO hasn’t said. But if he takes advice from users who answered his questions on Facebook about where to visit and what to do in China, his trip could take him to such standard stops as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Taipei (in Taiwan, of course), to such far-flung destinations as Tibet, Lijiang and Inner Mongolia.
what is your opinion???
what is your opinion???
