More consolidation for China's web giants

Baidu yesterday announced it had acquired PPStream, an online video service, for US$370million, giving it more firepower to compete with market leader Youku Tudou.Baidu claimed the combined entity will become China's largest online video platform by number of mobile users and video viewing time.PPS will operate as a sub-brand of iQiyi, an ad-supported online TV and movie portal.Gong Yu, CEO of iQiyi, said the merger is a major step toward consolidation in the industry and will provide for an improved user experience as well as more and better content. The move comes one week after Alibaba acquired a stake in Sina Weibo.