Baidu Group Vice President Xu Jing’s recent remarks have triggered a large amount of negative public opinion, leading to a total evaporation of over 12 billion RMB in market value for Baidu’s Hong Kong and US stocks. Xu Jing, who has previously worked at Xinhua News Agency and Huawei, and who once proclaimed herself as the number one in Baidu’s public relations, issued an apology statement recently under pressure from various parties.
In recent days, Baidu’s Vice President of Public Relations, Xu Jing, sparked widespread discussion on social media with several videos posted on her account. On May 7th, the related topics trended on multiple platforms.
According to a report by “First Financial Daily”, on May 7th, Baidu’s Hong Kong stocks closed at 108.3 Hong Kong dollars, a decrease of 2.17%, leading to a market value evaporation of over 6 billion Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to over 5.5 billion RMB.
On the night of May 7th, when the US stock market opened, Baidu’s stock price dropped by nearly 4%, closing with a 2.47% decrease, resulting in a market value evaporation of over 900 million US dollars, approximately 6.9 billion RMB.
On the same day, Baidu’s total market value in Hong Kong and the US evaporated more than 12 billion RMB.
Regarding this turbulence, Jiupai Finance interviewed several internal sources, who revealed that behind the public opinion crisis lies Xu Jing’s recent promotion of a “short video project” within Baidu’s PR department.
It is understood that the project required all members of the PR department, led by Xu Jing, to open their own short video social media accounts, with “no one exempted,” and not participating would affect their annual performance. Sources revealed that after this requirement was announced, several employees in the Baidu PR department chose to resign.
In early May, Xu Jing opened an account named “我是璩 (qú) 靜” on the short video platform Douyin, with headlines claiming to reach 950,000 followers within five days, under the identity of “Baidu Vice President, Baidu’s PR number one, and former Vice President of PR at Huawei,” which was later found to involve activities like buying accounts, followers, and engagements.
“21st Century Economic Report” discovered video records on this account showing clothing sales, confirming suspicions of buying accounts, followers, and manipulating data. At the same time, her controversial remarks led to her popularity on the internet and trending on multiple platforms.
On May 1st, after her first video release, Xu Jing continued to post controversial statements such as “Employees resign during quarrels, I instantly approve,” and “Why consider employees’ families,” which netizens mocked for a PR executive accentuating negative news despite being Baidu’s PR number one.
In the second video titled “300 complaint letters scattered on desks,” Xu Jing revealed that upon her promotion as Baidu’s Vice President, she was reported by a subordinate’s wife with 300 complaint letters accusing her of misconduct, but this video is no longer visible.
Subsequently, the content of the complaint letters was exposed, accusing Xu Jing of invading personal privacy by collecting hobbies and family details of government officials, media leaders, and central media portal websites, and creating “privacy files” known as “One Finger Zen,” spreading news to smear other companies like “Byd Employee Dies Suddenly After 12 Hours of Overtime.” Zheng Guangkui, the former director of the People’s Daily’s Public Opinion Data Center, publicly criticized her actions as terrifying if proven true.
On May 6th, Xu Jing publicly responded to the 2016 scandal involving Baidu in her social media account.
China’s tech website Silicon Bull criticized her behavior of buying accounts, manipulating traffic, and spreading controversial remarks as “drinking poison to quench thirst, harming oneself, others, and the company.” At noon on May 7th, her account was found to be cleared of content. Subsequently, Silicon Bull’s self-media account under Baidu was deleted and blocked.
Red Star News commented that Xu Jing, as Baidu’s PR head, disregarding the impact of personal statements, persistently spreading values of exploiting employees as tools without emotional considerations, fails to uphold the brand image of Baidu, instead creating negative public opinion for the company.
On May 8th, rumors circulated about Baidu’s Vice President Xu Jing being dismissed, to which she responded to the Global Times, “I’m at work.” Meanwhile, The Paper confirmed that she is still in her position, but Baidu has not responded to allegations regarding the collection of government officials’ and media leaders’ private hobbies by the Baidu PR team to create the so-called “One Finger Zen.”
In the early hours of May 9th, Baidu Vice President Xu Jing issued an apology on her WeChat Moments.
Public records show that Xu Jing entered Xi’an International Studies University majoring in English in 2000. After graduating from Xi’an International Studies University in 2004, she pursued further studies in English Language and Literature at Beijing Foreign Studies University as a postgraduate focusing on American studies.
In 2007, after obtaining her master’s degree, Xu Jing worked as a reporter for Xinhua News Agency’s domestic desk and the Central News Center. In 2015, she served as the Vice President of Huawei’s Public and Government Affairs Department and Director of China’s Media Affairs Department. In August 2021, she joined Baidu as a Vice President (VP), responsible for the company’s public communication department, self-dubbed as Baidu’s number one in public relations. It is estimated by the media that her annual salary is above 10 million RMB.