Baidu appoints former Microsoft EVP Qi Lu as Group President and COO
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Baidu today announced the appointment of Dr. Qi Lu as Baidu’s Group President and Chief Operating Officer, in charge of products, technology, sales, marketing and operations, effective immediately.
Until last year, Qi Lu served as executive vice president of Microsoft’s Applications and Services Group, Dr. Qi Lu lead Microsoft’s business across productivity, communications, education, search and other information services. He was responsible for all of the research and development teams across Microsoft Office, Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, Yammer, Lync, Skype, Bing, Bing Apps, MSN and the Advertising platforms and business group. Lu was previously the president of the Online Services Division, where he led the Microsoft’s search, portal and online advertising efforts.
In September last year, Satya announced that Lu is leaving Microsoft due to health issues.
First, my friend and colleague Qi Lu has made a difficult and very personal decision to leave Microsoft to focus all his time on recovering from health conditions caused by a prior injury. Once Qi recovers, he will continue to serve as a personal advisor to Bill Gates and me. I wish Qi a full and fast recovery in the coming months, and want to thank him for all he has done for Microsoft.
Over the years, I’ve worked closely with Qi – first as an engineering leader within Bing, later as fellow members of the SLT, and most recently as he led ASG to new heights. The groundbreaking work Qi led during his eight years resulted in many product advances and built the foundation for future innovation across Microsoft. Qi exemplifies what it means to have a deep sense of mission, purpose and authenticity in everything one does. His greatest impact is the people he has inspired. I count myself among them.
“I am delighted to join Baidu,” said Dr. Lu. “Baidu is well known as one of China’s top technology companies, and is already recognized on the global stage as a leader in AI. I am excited to help realize Baidu’s visionary AI strategy. To be part of Baidu’s evolution into a world-class technology company for the AI-era is a tremendous opportunity. Under Robin’s leadership, I look forward to working with the entire Baidu team to create a true global technology leader.”
