Baidu launched its finance center on October 28, 2013, within 5 hours, Baidu sold out 1 billion yuan (USD 163 million) worth of money fund. Baidu aimed at offering a finance product with a 8% annual percentage yield (APY) in cooperation with China AMC (China Asset Management Co.). Over 120,000 users bought Baidu money fund, outperformING Alibaba’s Yu’E Bao on the first day.
Baidu finance center was officially on line at 10:28 am on October 28. The heat of Baidu finance center caused downtime merely after 10 minutes of launch, users from some regions couldn’t register or purchase money fund. The system recovered after 1 pm, and Baidu reminded its users that the first finance product was about to be sold out at 14:27. By the time of 14:50, Baidu money fund had sold 1 billion yuan (USD 163 million), more than Yu’E Bao single day revenue of 350 million yuan (USD 57 million) on June 13, 2013.
The launch of Baidu finance center was a hit not only because of the internet marketing of 8% APY, but also the idea of online finance product really suited internet users finance management needs. Online finance product in essence is money fund, but it lowers the entrance limits and offer more flexible buying and selling money funds with low risk.