Baidu, Hospital Association Squabble over Ad Charges

(Beijing) – China's largest private hospital association has accused the country's biggest search engine company, Baidu Inc., of charging their members too much for ads.

The accusations have hurt the share price of the Nasdaq-listed tech firm, which, unlike Google, gives prominence to the highest bidder in search results.

Putian (China) Health Industry Chamber of Commerce said on March 22 that it has required all of its more than 8,600 private hospitals across the country to stop all paid promotional activities online.