Baidu Offloads Ticketing Platform to iQiyi to Focus on AI

Baidu Inc. is transferring its movie theater ticketing platform Nuomi Film to video streaming unit iQiyi Inc. so that it can focus efforts on the fast-growing artificial intelligence sector. Baidu had been long-rumored to be looking to offload parts of its Nuomi business, which had been hemorrhaging money after its parent company focused more intensely on the AI sector. The firm, most well-known for its dominant search engine, has adopted an AI strategy similar to Google-parent Alphabet Inc. covering consumer applications such as autonomous cars. Supported by the government's ambitions to become a world-leader by 2030, China is leading the race to develop AI products globally. The country dominated AI funding last year with Chinese startups accounting for a little under half of all financing pumped into the sector globally in 2017, leveraging China's vast market and well-established data infrastructure.