Though it continues to trail search leader Baidu.com Inc. in China, Google Inc. has shown it will continue to invest in the country in an effort to tap into the gazillions of Chinese who use the Internet or eventually will. In January, it reportedly invested $5 million in Chinese video and game download firm Xunlei Network Technology Ltd. and in June announced a partnership with Sina Corp. to cooperate on search services and advertising. Now, published reports say Google Inc. will acquire one or two Chinese companies and invest in up to five more over the next year in a continued effort to battle Baidu. —David Shabelman

See Jan. 5 story in TheDeal.com
See Aug. 16 story in PCWorld

Tags: search, google, goog