Is BIDU (Baidu, Inc.) halal?

Q: Is BIDU (Baidu, Inc.) halal?

DOUBTFUL: Chinese search-engine and AI company — permissible technology business but advertising-supported model and content concerns parallel Google. Baidu is a China-based internet company organized into Baidu Core and the iQIYI portfolio investment. Online marketing services (search advertising) generate the majority of Baidu Core revenue, while ERNIE AI, cloud, intelligent driving and robotaxi businesses are additional activities. Its audited December 31, 2025 Form 20-F reports RMB449,157 million of assets, RMB81,886 million of interest-bearing debt, RMB24,606 million of cash, RMB214,523 million of interest-bearing securities, RMB12,972 million of receivables and RMB129,079 million of revenue. Liquidity/assets is 53.23% and interest income is 6.17% of revenue, so the examined asset-based financial screen fails despite low debt/assets of 18.23%; advertising categories, iQIYI content and VIE activity remain methodologically incomplete.

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BIDU

Baidu, Inc.

DOUBTFUL — SCREEN DOES NOT PASSstock

Is BIDU Halal?

Chinese search-engine and AI company — permissible technology business but advertising-supported model and content concerns parallel Google.

What You Should Know

Baidu is a China-based internet company organized into Baidu Core and the iQIYI portfolio investment. Online marketing services (search advertising) generate the majority of Baidu Core revenue, while ERNIE AI, cloud, intelligent driving and robotaxi businesses are additional activities. Its audited December 31, 2025 Form 20-F reports RMB449,157 million of assets, RMB81,886 million of interest-bearing debt, RMB24,606 million of cash, RMB214,523 million of interest-bearing securities, RMB12,972 million of receivables and RMB129,079 million of revenue. Liquidity/assets is 53.23% and interest income is 6.17% of revenue, so the examined asset-based financial screen fails despite low debt/assets of 18.23%; advertising categories, iQIYI content and VIE activity remain methodologically incomplete.

⚠️ Concerns

•Substantially all Baidu Core revenue is online marketing services (search advertising) — the ad inventory includes advertising for verticals that may include conventional financial services, gambling-adjacent products, dating, and entertainment with haram content
•Liquidity/assets is 53.23% and interest income/revenue is 6.17% in the audited 2025 filing, above the examined asset-based limits
•iQIYI streaming-video portfolio investment carries entertainment content concerns; iQIYI is deconsolidated for reporting but is a Baidu equity holding
•Apollo Go robotaxi and intelligent-driving businesses are permissible at the activity level but carry execution and regulatory risk (business-quality consideration)
•China VIE corporate-structure considerations — Baidu's US-listed shares are ADRs of a Cayman holding company that controls China operating entities via VIE contracts; this is a corporate-governance and country-risk consideration rather than a Sharia screen concern, though some boards apply additional scrutiny

Current quantitative Sharia screen

Based on 20-F figures for the period ended 2025-12-31; calculated 2026-07-15.

RMB · millions

Interest-bearing debt / assets

18.23%Within limit

Below 33.333% under FTSE Yasaar

81,886 / 449,157

Cash + interest-bearing securities / assets

53.24%Above limit

Below 33.333% under FTSE Yasaar

239,129 / 449,157

Receivables + cash / assets

8.37%Within limit

Below 50% under FTSE Yasaar

37,578 / 449,157

Non-compliant income / revenue

6.17%Above limit

No more than 5% under FTSE Yasaar

7,962 / 129,079

Methodology	Financial	Overall	What drives it
FTSE Yasaar v4.6, February 2026	Fails	Fails	Debt/assets is 18.23%, liquidity/assets is 53.23% and receivables-plus-cash/assets is 8.37%; liquidity exceeds the examined FTSE limit and interest income is 6.17% of revenue.
MSCI Islamic (total-assets series) October 2024 methodology	Fails	Fails	Liquidity/assets is 53.23%, above the examined MSCI limit; debt/assets is 18.23% and receivables-plus-cash/assets is 8.37%.
Malaysia SAC financial ratios single 5% activity benchmark adopted November 2025	Fails	Fails	Liquidity/assets is 53.23%, above the examined Malaysia limit, and interest income is 6.17% of revenue; this is not an official SAC classification of a foreign-listed security.
Market-cap denominator methods MSCI M-Series, S&P and Dow Jones methods differ	Not calculated	Fails	A licensed historical market-cap series is not stored; the asset-based screen fails on liquidity and the income benchmark.

FTSE Yasaar

v4.6, February 2026

Financial: Fails
Overall: Fails

Debt/assets is 18.23%, liquidity/assets is 53.23% and receivables-plus-cash/assets is 8.37%; liquidity exceeds the examined FTSE limit and interest income is 6.17% of revenue.

MSCI Islamic (total-assets series)

October 2024 methodology

Financial: Fails
Overall: Fails

Liquidity/assets is 53.23%, above the examined MSCI limit; debt/assets is 18.23% and receivables-plus-cash/assets is 8.37%.

Malaysia SAC financial ratios

single 5% activity benchmark adopted November 2025

Financial: Fails
Overall: Fails

Liquidity/assets is 53.23%, above the examined Malaysia limit, and interest income is 6.17% of revenue; this is not an official SAC classification of a foreign-listed security.

Market-cap denominator methods

MSCI M-Series, S&P and Dow Jones methods differ

Financial: Not calculated
Overall: Fails

A licensed historical market-cap series is not stored; the asset-based screen fails on liquidity and the income benchmark.

Business-activity disclosure

Baidu operates search advertising, AI, cloud, intelligent-driving and other internet businesses, with an iQIYI streaming-video investment. Search, cloud and AI technology are generally permissible, while advertising categories, streaming content and VIE activity require methodology-specific review.

Limitation: The filing does not quantify prohibited advertising categories, iQIYI content or every VIE and affiliate activity as a separate revenue line.

Purification

Interest income is disclosed, but no scholar-approved purification percentage is calculated here.

Inputs, assumptions and primary sources

Amounts are RMB millions from Baidu's audited December 31, 2025 Form 20-F.
Interest-bearing debt includes current and non-current long-term loans, notes payable and convertible senior notes totaling RMB81,886 million.
Cash is RMB24,606 million; interest-bearing securities include RMB90,661 million of short-term investments and RMB123,862 million of long-term time deposits and held-to-maturity investments.
Net accounts receivable is RMB12,972 million and fiscal-year revenue is RMB129,079 million. Baidu reports RMB7,962 million of interest income.
Baidu Core revenue is principally online marketing services, while the filing does not allocate all advertising, gaming, streaming or affiliate revenue by prohibited category.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Baidu, Inc. Fiscal Year 2025 Form 20-F FTSE Russell: FTSE Yasaar Global Equity Shariah Index Series Ground Rules MSCI: MSCI Islamic Index Series Methodology Securities Commission Malaysia: Shariah-Compliant Securities Screening Methodology

This is a reproducible financial screen, not a fatwa. A failed total-assets screen can coexist with a pass under a market-cap methodology. ZakatInvest keeps the qualitative assessment separate so numerical thresholds do not erase material context.

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