Providence Equity to invest $50 million in new Baidu online video site

Providence Equity to put $50M in new Baidu site

NEW YORK — Private equity firm Providence Equity Partners will invest $50 million in a new online video business owned by China’s leading search engine operator, Baidu Inc., the company said Friday.

Baidu said it will maintain a majority stake in the venture, which is aimed at creating a Web site for showing professionally made video with advertising. It has registered the Web address www.qiyi.com for the new site.

It’s a similar idea to the U.S. site Hulu.com, in which Providence also has a stake. News Corp., NBC Universal, and the Walt Disney Co. also have stakes and provide a selection of their films and TV episodes.

Baidu said it will used licensed video content but did not say if it has any deals in place with television or movie studios.

Baidu’s stock was up $2.13 to $511 in premarket trading.