Baidu May Soon Delist from the NASDAQ

Baidu (BIDU) may delist from the NASDAQ.

All thanks to rising tensions between U.S. securities regulators and China.  The company is considering the move after the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would require additional reporting requirements on foreign-owned stocks.  “For a good company, there are many choices of destinations for listing, not limited to the U.S.,” CEO Robin Li told China Daily.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate passed a bill – the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act that “ requires certain issuers of securities to establish that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government. Specifically, an issuer must make this certification if the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is unable to audit specified reports because the issuer has retained a foreign public accounting firm not subject to inspection by the board. Furthermore, if the board is unable to inspect the issuer’s public accounting firm for three consecutive years, the issuer’s securities are banned from trade on a national exchange,” according to Congress.gov.

Baidu also believes its stock is severely undervalued and is considering a move to an exchange closer to home to boost its valuation.