Baidu to boost support for Qiyi

BEIJING - Baidu Inc, China's biggest search engine, will deepen investment in its online video arm Qiyi.com Inc, in a move to fuel future growth outside its core search business.

"Between Baidu and our investment partners, we plan to continue to support the company (Qiyi), and a cash contribution will be made in the near term," said Jennifer Li, Baidu's chief financial officer, on Tuesday after the company released its results.

However, Li didn't elaborate on the scale of Baidu's further investment in Qiyi, which is 61-percent-owned by the search engine and is also backed by Providence Equity Partners LLC, an investor in Hulu.com.