Eric Xu Yong (; born 1964) is a Chinese entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. He is best known as co-founder of

Baidu Baidu, Inc. ( ; , meaning "hundred times") is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products and artificial intelligence (AI), headquartered in Beijing's Haidian District. It is one of the la ...

, the largest Chinese search engine. Dr. Xu is founder and chairman of Yifang Capital, an investment holding company engaged in venture capital investments and asset management. He also founded family philanthropic organizations including The Xu Family Charitable Foundation Limited, Yifang Foundation, and Zhengyu Education Foundation.

Education

Xu earned his B.S and M.S. degrees in biology at Peking University from 1982 to 1989. A

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

fellow 1989–1993, Xu obtained PhD degree in Biology from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. Xu was also a post-doctoral research fellow at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

from 1994 to 1996.

Career

Dr. Xu's career ranges across research in life sciences, biotechnology, film production, entrepreneurship in information technology, venture capital and fund management.

Biotechnology

Prior to Baidu, Dr. Xu worked at

Qiagen QIAGEN N.V., the global corporate headquarter of the QIAGEN group, is located in Venlo, The Netherlands. Furthermore, European, American, and Asia regional headquarters are located in respectively Hilden, Germany, Maryland United States, and Sh ...

, Inc. and

Stratagene Stratagene California is an American biotechnological company based in La Jolla, California, a maker of life science research and diagnostic products. It was established in 1984 and incorporated in California. It has been involved with the fields of ...

, Inc, two biotech start-up companies in California in technical support, sales and marketing.

Television

Dr. Xu is a producer of the first Chinese TV documentary on Silicon Valley's unique history and culture in 1999. Titled "A Journey to Silicon Valley", the TV series brings to light the history, start-up culture, business management and venture capital mechanisms of the Valley in an objective and comprehensive fashion, and profoundly reveals the mystery behind the success of Silicon Valley as the world model for high-tech innovation.

Baidu

In 1999, together with Mr.

Robin Li Robin Li Yanhong (; born 17 November 1968) is a Chinese software engineer and billionaire internet entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of the search engine Baidu. As of March 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$8.5 billion. Li studied inform ...

, Dr. Xu co-founded

, the world's largest Chinese search engine (NASDAQ:BIDU) and served as an Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer from 1999–2004.

Venture capital and asset management

Dr. Xu is the founder and chairman of YIFANG VENTURES, an investment company, engaged in venture capital investments and asset management. Dr. Xu also serves as a board member for several technology start-up companies. Yifang currently invests in information technology, new media, bio-pharmaceuticals, healthcare and clean-technologies, etc. It counts Allele Biotech, AcuraGen, AIC Semiconductor, BravoKids, BioHermes, Imune-Onc, TSM, Yidian, Haizhi, Kuwo, Baihe, etc., as its portfolio companies, among others. YIFANG is also a limited partner of several venture capital and private equity funds, including Sequoia Capital China Fund, Decheng Capital Fund, Dragonfly Fund, among others.

Personal life

Dr. Xu and his families are based in Singapore and Beijing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Eric 1964 births Living people Businesspeople from Beijing Chinese chief executives Chinese computer businesspeople Chinese documentary filmmakers Chinese expatriates in Singapore Chinese technology company founders Chinese television producers Chinese venture capitalists Peking University alumni Texas A&M University alumni Baidu people