Shine Lessened, Baidu Prices $1 Bln Of Debt Amid Coronavirus Worries

China online search leader Baidu priced $1 billion of new debt today as the company’s shares fell anew amid continuing worries about economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic in China.

The sale consists of $600 million of 3.075% notes due in 2025 and $400 million of 3.425% notes due in 2030. Baidu intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay certain existing indebtedness and for general corporate purposes.

Baidu, led by billionaire Robin Li, was for many years part of a trio of China’s three largest Internet businesses known as “BAT” – Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. Its standing has declined as industry rivals have moved into faster-growing Internet business terrain.

Baidu’s Nasdaq-traded shares fell to a near seven-year low last month, and have lost nearly 65% of their value since mid-2018.  At today’s stock market capitalization of $33.8 billion, Baidu’s valuation has been surpassed by Hong Kong-listed delivery platform Meituan Dianping at $69 billion (see related story here) and Nasdaq e-commerce site Pinduoduo (see related story here) at $41.7 billion. Unlisted ByteDance, best known outside of China for its popular TikTok video-sharing network, has been valued at roughly $75 billion, investors say.

Baidu shares lost 3% today to $97.68.

Li remains one of the world’s richest people with an estimated net worth of $5.8 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today.

–Follow me @rflannerychina