Baidu invests $160 million in group-buying site

Baidu Inc said on Friday it is injecting $160 million into group-buying site Nuomi Holdings Inc to enforce the search provider's Web-based service team.

Baidu, operator of China's biggest search engine, said its subsidiary is to buy 59 percent of the equities of Nuomi, owned by social networking company Renren Inc.

"Nuomi's group-buying platform and high quality local information clearly complement Baidu's existing mobile location-based services and map offerings," said Jennifer Li, chief financial officer of Baidu.

Nuomi has 3.8 million paying users and 30 percent of the sales were derived from mobile devices, according to Renren.

Nuomi is the third-largest group-buying website in China with monthly turnover hitting 252 million yuan ($41 million).

Beijing-based Baidu is adding its investment in the mobile Internet sector where the number of Chinese users is estimated at 464 million.

In mid-July, the company acquired China's top app store, 91 Wireless Websoft Ltd, for a record-breaking $1.9 billion.