Google, Inc., has sold its stake in Baidu.com, the Chinese search engine it was at one time thought to be interested in buying. The search giant will instead turn its focus to usurping Baidu's top
spot among search engines in China. Google spokeswoman Debbie Frost confirmed the sale of some 750,000 shares--worth about $63 million. "It has always been our goal to grow our own successful business
in China and we are very focused on that," Frost said in a statement. Google is still a distant number 2 to Baidu in China; last year, Google signaled its intent to compete head-on with the $3 billion
Chinese search leader when it established operations in the country. Baidu's dominating position in Chinese Web search is akin to Google's position in most countries. The Mountain View, Calif. company
made roughly $58 million on the deal, after buying a 2.6 percent stake in Baidu for $5 million in 2004.
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