People make mistakes all the time. Billionaires are no exception.
During the DCM Ventures CEO Summit in San Francisco on Friday, Baidu Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive and Robin Li said he made a mistake by not moving the search and e-commerce titan to mobile platforms more quickly.
“I realized mobile was a megatrend we needed to catch. I regret that I didn’t do it earlier,” Mr. Li told the 150 or so entrepreneurs and investors at the venture firm’s private event. “I started doing the transition in 2012 and I should have done it in 2010.”
Baidu, which commands roughly 80% of search in China, has paid dearly for that lost time. Mr. Li said the company has been spending half its profits since then to buy pre-loaded spots on handset manufacturers. And while mobile revenue accounted for more than half of the company’s $2 billion revenue during the last fiscal quarter, revenue overall has not grown as quickly as some analysts had expected.
Still, Mr. Li remains bullish on Baidu’s long-term prospects both in China and developing markets. Key to Baidu’s growth–the company on Monday reports earnings–is the ability it provides consumers to search, select and purchase items with minimal clicks.
In China “you can search for a movie, select a seat and buy tickets before you ever leave the app. You don’t have that in the U.S.,” said Mr. Li, adding that most entities in the U.S. already have their own apps and mobile web sites, which makes coordinating a single experience for consumers tough. That complete offering, which allows Baidu and competitors like Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to bring offline businesses online and direct to consumers, is why Chinese companies have larger valuations than their U.S. counterparts, Mr. Li said.
Conference host DCM Ventures, which has more than $2.8 billion under management and investments in more than 200 tech companies across the United States and Asia, has seen that valuation disconnect more than a few times.
The firm has had its share of hits, including Chinese social networking site Renren, content site About.com and distributed technology BitTorrent, but it’s also missed a few winners.