This Thursday,Hard Soap Hard Soap (1977) China’s biggest travel agency Ctrip Group announced that Robin Li (also known as Yanhong Li), Baidu’s CEO, had resigned from his position as the company’s director with immediate effect. Following his resignation, the Ctrip Group’s board of directors has been reduced to eight members, including four independent directors. In 2015, Ctrip merged with Baidu-backed trip search and service provider Qunar. Robin Li has been Ctrip’s director since then, serving for nearly eight years until now. Currently, Baidu remains Ctrip’s largest shareholder with a stake of over 10%. However, Baidu planned to reduce approximately 474,500 shares of Ctrip, cashing out about 170 million Hong Kong dollars ($22 million), according to a report from Chinese financial media Caijing in June. [Ctrip filing, in Chinese]
