Baidu: The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has confirmed receipt of its application for voluntary conversion to Hong Kong’s primary listing
On July 22, Baidu Group (Nasdaq: BIDU, 09888.HK) announced that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has confirmed that it has received its application for voluntary conversion to Hong Kong's primary listing. The effective date of the primary conversion is expected to be within this year, subject to the approval of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. After the primary conversion takes effect, the company will have dual primary listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Last week, Baidu also issued an announcement stating that the company's board of directors has authorized management to promote a voluntary conversion to a primary listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is expected to take effect within this year.
On July 22, Baidu Group (Nasdaq: BIDU, 09888.HK) announced that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has confirmed that it has received its application for voluntary conversion to Hong Kong's primary listing. The effective date of the primary conversion is expected to be within this year, subject to the approval of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. After the primary conversion takes effect, the company will have dual primary listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Last week, Baidu also issued an announcement stating that the company's board of directors has authorized management to promote a voluntary conversion to a primary listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is expected to take effect within this year. The announcement stated that once the dual primary listing takes effect, it will enhance the liquidity of the company's securities, expand its investor base, and provide greater flexibility in accessing the two capital markets. It is reported that dual primary listing means that the same company is listed on two stock exchanges. The listed company will have the same listing status in both listing places at the same time. If it is delisted in one of the listing places, it will not affect the listing status in the other listing place. If it is already listed in the US market, it will be issued and listed in the Hong Kong market in accordance with local market rules. According to market analysts, if the process proceeds smoothly and the conditions for inclusion in Southbound Trading are met, Baidu is expected to catch up with the adjustment window for Southbound Trading in September this year. By then, southbound funds will become an important source of incremental funds. Combined with Baidu's "core-cloud-model-body" full-stack AI layout in Kunlun core, AI cloud, basic models, intelligent agents, and autonomous driving, the market's attention to the value of Baidu's AI business will significantly increase, which will in turn drive further strengthening of stock price performance. On May 18, Baidu released its first quarter financial report for 2026. Total quarterly revenue was 32.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of approximately 1.16% and a month-on-month decrease of approximately 2%, but higher than market expectations of 31.49 billion yuan. Baidu's general business revenue was 26 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2% and the same as the previous quarter. Among them, AI business revenue was 13.6 billion yuan, accounting for about 52%, which has been growing for several consecutive quarters; iQiyi's revenue was 6.2 billion yuan. In terms of profits, the net profit attributable to Baidu in the first quarter was 3.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 56.2%; the net profit attributable to Baidu under non-GAAP accounting principles was 4.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 33.5%. Baidu's non-GAAP net profit margin was 14%. In addition, Baidu’s Kunlun Core plans to be listed in Hong Kong with a target valuation of approximately US$50 billion. At present, the throughput performance of Kunlun Core Tianchi 256 has increased by 25% compared to the previous generation, and it has completed the adaptation of mainstream models such as Wenxin, DeepSeek, GLM, and Minimax. Combined with the optimization of the inference system, the model inference efficiency has increased by 50%. A single Tianchi 512 super node has the ability to train trillion-parameter models. According to information disclosed on the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission in May, Kunlun Core, a subsidiary of Baidu, plans to issue shares initially and list on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, with China International Capital Corporation serving as the coaching institution. Industry analysts pointed out that while technology companies are promoting Hong Kong stock listings, they have arranged for A-share guidance and filing in advance, which can not only retain the flexibility of future domestic financing, but also reflect their long-term confidence in the domestic capital market. According to Big Wisdom VIP, as of the close of trading on July 22, Baidu fell 2.61% to HK$104.4 per share. As of press time, U.S. stocks fell 1.59% before the market opened.