Baidu to Buy Chinese Livestreaming Giant in Big Social Foray – BNN

(Bloomberg) — Baidu Inc. agreed to buy Joyy Inc.ࢀ™s livestreaming business for China, a deal that will mark the search engine giantࢀ™s biggest foray into the fastest-growing arena of digital video. The company will pay about $3.6 billion in cash for Joyyࢀ™s YY Live, according to a statement Monday. Baidu unveiled the deal as it posted revenue for the September quarter that beat analystsࢀ™ estimates. Once the runaway leader in desktop search, Baidu is trying to adapt its business to the mobile era but losing ground piecemeal to rivals such as ByteDance Ltd. By taking over Joyyࢀ™s YY streaming network,…