From The Times Online:
GOOGLE has offloaded its minority stake in Baidu.com, China’s leading search engine, freeing itself to focus on the growth of its own brand in the potentially lucrative market.
The sale of the stake comes two years after the Californian technology group bought a 2.6 per cent holding in Baidu, prompting speculation at the time that it could seek to take control of the rival.
Google sold its stake for about $60 million (£33 million), having paid $5 million for the holding in June 2004. [Full text]