REDMOND (dpa-AFX) - Chinese Internet search giant Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) announced late Tuesday the appointment of Ya-Qin Zhang as president, in charge of new business, effective immediately. Zhang will report to Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and chief executive officer.
Prior to joining Baidu, Zhang served as Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) corporate vice president and chairman of Microsoft's Asia R&D Group, leading overall research and development efforts in Asia-Pacific, the largest Microsoft R&D establishment outside of the United States with over 3,000 scientists and engineers.
He joined Microsoft in 1999 as one of the key founders of Microsoft Research Asia or MSRA. Zhang founded Microsoft's Asia-Pacific R&D Group in 2006, integrating disciplines across fundamental research, technology incubation, product development and strategic partnership.
He has held various key positions over his 15 year tenure at Microsoft, including managing director of Microsoft Research Asia, chairman of Microsoft China, corporate vice president of Mobile and Embedded Products, and more recently chairman of Microsoft Asia R&D.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX