Facebook to Enter China Market: Report

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Facebook has struck an agreement with Chinese search giant Baidu(BIDU) to launch a new social networking site, according to reports.

The new Web site will not be integrated with Facebook's international site, which has been blocked in China since 2009, said a report on Chinese web portal Sohu.com.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

The partnership comes on the heels of reports that Facebook is eyeing a presence in China. The social networking giant said in February that it plans to open an ad sales office in Hong Kong, its third in Asia. In December, CEO Mark Zuckerberg also traveled to China, where he met with Baidu CEO Robin Li and Charles Chao, chief executive of popular web portal Sina.com.

Facebook is the latest high-profile U.S. company battling stiff competition and tight government regulation to break into the world's biggest Internet market.

In March, coupon king Groupon launched a new Chinese deals Web site called Gaopeng.com in collaboration with Chinese Internet company Tencent. Groupon, which rules the U.S. daily deals sector, faces a slew of competitors in the Chinese market.

Google(GOOG) has also struggled in China, where it has tried unsuccessfully to grab search market share from Baidu and has battled with authorities over censorship. Google's presence in the Chinese search market may dwindle further, after Sina announced last month that it was dropping Google's search service from its Web site in favor of its own technology.

E-commerce giants like eBay(EBAY) and Amazon(AMZN) have also had difficulty entering the Chinese market.

Facebook could not be reached immediately for comment.

--Written by Olivia Oran in New York.

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