Youngest Baidu vice-president resigns after reported corruption scandal
Li Mingyuan, regarded as successor to founder Robin Li, resigns amid accusations of conflicts of interest with connected companies
Li Mingyuan, the youngest vice-president of Baidu, has resigned amid a reported scandal of undisclosed transactions and ethical violations, putting the mainland search engine under the spotlight once more as the company deals with its tarnished reputation following a scandal over paid search listings.
In an internal memo circulating online on Friday night, Baidu’s professional ethics committee said the company received a tip-off regarding Li’s wrongdoings and launched an investigation.
“In an acquisition, Li Mingyuan had a tremendous amount of economic dealings with the person in charge of the acquired company, [and] in a business operation under his management, Li had a tremendous amount of economic dealings with the person in charge of a gaming company partner of Baidu. Meanwhile, Li failed to report to Baidu that an external company in which he had stakes had business affiliated with Baidu.”
Such behaviour violated Baidu’s rules on conflicts of interest and professional ethics, the memo said. It added Li admitted his wrongdoings and the company accepted his resignation.
Baidu declined to comment on the issue before the Sunday Post went to press. But it marks another scandal this year following public outrage over its paid search guidance for cancer therapy that led to the death of 21-year-old student Wei Zexi in April.
Wei’s death led to the country’s military and health authorities investigating whether some medical institutions had paid Baidu to feature their details prominently in search results.