The share price of Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com has already declined significantly, less than three weeks after its US stock-market debut.

Baidu's shares soared 354 percent to US$122 and 54 cents on their first day of trading on August 5. The ascent, which peaked at almost US$156 on the second day of trade, reflected investor's ongoing love affair with Baidu's much larger US cousin, Google, and outsize hopes for China's consumer class and budding Internet industry.

However, that enthusiasm is already waning. Baidu's Nasdaq-listed American depository shares are worth little more than half their August the 8th peak value, based on Thursday's closing price of US$79.

The stock went public at US$27. Baidu is still valued at about US$2.4 billion, a number that strikes many market watchers as exorbitant for a company that posted US$7.9 million in revenue for the second quarter.

(CCTV.com August 26, 2005)