It was a very hot day here. And as for hot, if you had to name two very hot things in business these days, surely “search” and “China” would come to mind.
So when Baidu (pronounced “by-doo”)—China’s leading internet search engine—quadrupled in price today, as their ADSs (American Depositary Shares) were offered on the Nasdaq, I guess no one should have been surprised.
Still, is it one more bullish indicator that we’re starting a new dotcom-like cycle? I keep hearing it’s happening, but I’m very skeptical. I heard it from a venture capitalist two weeks ago over lunch near Harvard Square in Cambridge. I heard it last week in San Francisco. Most of us who lived through the dotcom boom and bust are rather prudent about calling it anything yet, but today had to make you wonder.