Baidu shares drop after 2nd high-level departure this month at China’s top search engine

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Baidu shares drop after CTO Yinan Li resigns

NEW YORK — Shares of Baidu Inc. fell Tuesday after China’s leading search engine operator said its chief technology officer has resigned, the company’s second unexplained departure within 10 days.

Baidu said Yinan Li is leaving the company for personal reasons but did not elaborate. The company said earlier this month that Chief Operating Officer Peng Ye was also leaving for personal reasons.

Baidu is the most popular search engine in China, topping rival Google Inc. by a wide margin in terms of search queries. And the company may have a chance to consolidate its lead in the Chinese market even further with Google threatening to pull out of the country over cyber attacks and censorship rules.

But high turnover in the top ranks is a worry for investors, said Pali Research analyst Tian Hou. The two executives were appointed in 2008.

“If you don’t have stable management, then you will have a problem with development, with progressing,” Hou said in an interview.

The company’s stock fell $30.60, or 6.5 percent, to $437.08 in afternoon trading. The stock has ranged from $107 to $470.25 over the past year.