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Baidu’s CEO Says Company Could Go Bankrupt in 30 Days

Shares of Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) moved 0.74% in the red today as the company continues to grapple with the challenges arising after the death of Zexi Wei, a Chinese college student who died of cancer. Wei had accused the search engine company of manipulating the search results which led to his unsuccessful immunotherapy treatment at a hospital, which was shown at the top of the search results on Baidu, claiming that it has the equipment to treat synovial sarcoma, the rare form of cancer which Wei had. Following the claims by Wei, three regulatory authorities in China opened an investigation against Baidu. On Tuesday, Robin Li, Baidu’s CEO, wrote a letter to the company employees and announced a $153 million fund to compensate victims of fraudulent marketing information. Li also said that the company would go bankrupt within 30 days without the support of its online users and customers. The letter is written a day after the Chinese regulators ordered Baidu to change the way it shows its online search ads. Shares of Baidu have lost more than 13% since the scandal surfaced.

As of March, William Von Mueffling’s Cantillon Capital Management owns more than 2 million shares of Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU).

Allergan Beats Earnings Estimates

Allergan plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:AGN)’s stock gained more than 4% this morning after the company posted first quarter EPS of $3.04, better than the expected $3.03. Revenue in the quarter came in at $3.8 billion, below the estimates of $3.96 billion. During the earnings call, Brent Saunders, Allergan’s CEO, said that the company’s business continues to grow in all seven therapeutic areas. Mr. Saunders added that moving forward, the company sees global brands and broad geographic expansion in its innovative business. Allergan plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:AGN) also announced that its board has approved a $10 billion share buyback program.

Out of the funds we track, 159 funds held positions with a total value of $22.2 billion in Allergan at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, which made it the most popular stock among the funds in our database.

Dean Foods Swings to Profit, Buys Friendly’s Ice-cream Business

Dean Foods Co (NYSE:DF)’s stock opened higher but has inched down by around 1% so far today after the company posted first-quarter EPS of $0.45, better than the estimated $0.38, but revenue of $1.88 billion was lower than the expected $1.89 billion. The Dallas-based food company swung to profit mainly due to the declining mil prices. The company has been aiming to shift its focus to milk and ice cream products. On Monday, Dean Foods announced that it will acquire the ice cream manufacturing and retail business of Friendly’s restaurant chain for $155 million. The deal is expected to close by the second quarter this year.

   

David Harding’s Winton Capital Management 416,950 shares of Dean Foods Co (NYSE:DF) at the end of 2015. As of the end of 2015, 18 hedge funds had approximately $191.1 million worth of positions in Dean Foods.

Disclosure: none