去哪儿董事会扩容 百度发力在线旅游业

Four years ago, the Chinese search giant Baidubought a majority stake in one of China’s biggest travel booking sites. Now it is gaining abigger presence on the company’s board.

四年前，中国网络搜索巨头百度收购了国内一家大型旅游预订网站的多数股份。现在，它将在这家公司的董事会发挥更大的作用。

The travel company, Qunar, plans to announce on Thursday that it will give Baidu five directorseats, up from three, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

这家旅游公司名为“去哪儿，英文名Qunar。据知情人士透露，它计划在周四宣布，百度在公司董事会的席位将从三个增加到五个。

As part of its plans, Qunar will expand its board to nine seats from seven. And one of its mostimportant board committees, the audit committee, will be stocked entirely with independentdirectors, the people said.

知情人士表示，作为计划的一部分，去哪儿网将把董事会的总席位从七个增加至九个，而重要的董事会审计委员会，将完全由独立董事组成。

The move is meant to strengthen the relationship between the two Internet companies. Qunar,which means “where to go in Chinese, will eventually have access to services beyond thebooking of hotels and flights by becoming more tightly integrated with Baidu, which, along withthe Alibaba Group and Tencent, is one of China’s Internet titans.

此举是为了强化两家互联网企业之间的纽带。通过更加紧密地与百度集成，去哪儿网最终将有机会发展酒店和机票预订之外的业务。百度是和阿里巴巴、腾讯并驾齐驱的中国互联网巨头。

Qunar has been successful in building out its mobile offerings, an important goal for manyChinese Internet companies, including Baidu.

去哪儿网在打造移动产品上很成功。对于包括百度在内的很多中国互联网公司而言，这都是一个重要的目标。

The two are making their move amid growing competition in the travel market in China. TheAlibaba Group, the e-commerce behemoth, recently revamped one of its travel offerings, andthe Priceline Group has grown its stake in Ctrip, one of Qunar’s main rivals.

两家公司采取这次行动的时候，正值中国旅游市场竞争日趋激烈之际。电子商务巨头阿里巴巴最近调整了旗下的一款旅游产品，而Priceline集团增持了在携程的股份。携程是去哪儿网的主要竞争对手之一。

Though investors have fretted about a slowdown of China’s economy, the Chinese governmentand analysts have contended that the travel industry has suffered no such drop. Chinesetravelers booked about two billion trips in the first half of the year, up 10 percent from thesame time a year ago, according to figures from the government.

尽管投资者担忧中国经济在放缓，但中国政府和分析人士声称，旅游行业并未遭受这样的影响。政府数据显示，今年上半年，中国游客的预定量达20亿人次，较上年同期增长了10%。

People close to Qunar said that the company had experienced little decline in leisure travel byChinese passengers, the service’s main focus, this past summer.

与去哪儿网关系密切的人士表示，今年夏季，该公司的中国旅客休闲游业务基本没有下滑，而这一块是公司的重点业务。

The two companies have been linked financially since Baidu paid about $306 million for just over50 percent of Qunar’s stock in 2011.

2011年，百度出资3.06亿美元收购去哪儿网逾50%的股份，两家公司自此有了财务联系。

The travel booking service has drawn interest from other companies since the Baidu investment.It held talks to merge with Ctrip, though those discussions broke off in June.

百度进行投资后，这家旅游预订服务公司引起了其他企业的兴趣。去哪儿与携程进行了合并谈判，但相关讨论在今年6月破裂。

Instead, Qunar chose to take in a $500 million round of capital financing that was led by SilverLake, the investment firm that has profited from its early bet on Alibaba.

去哪儿转而选择接受银湖投资集团(Silver Lake)牵头的一轮5亿美元融资。通过早早投资阿里巴巴，银湖获利颇丰。

Separately, Qunar plans to announce that it has extended the employment agreements of itschief executive, Chenchao Zhuang, and its chief financial officer, Yilu Zhao, by an additionalfour years, the people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

另外，据知情人士透露，去哪儿网计划宣布将首席执行官庄辰超、首席财务官赵轶璐的雇佣合同延长四年。