Baidu.com Inc., China's most popular search engine, reportedly plans to announce details of a European expansion later this month.

The announcement will be made by Baidu CFO Shawn Wang at a Nasdaq investor conference this month, the U.K.'s Sunday Telegraph newspaper said in an online report. That event, where Wang is a scheduled speaker,will be held in London on June 19.

The Sunday Telegraph report did not offer details of Baidu's plans, including when the company planned to launch a European site or what language the site would use. However, the report hinted Baidu's planned site will be targeted at younger Internet users in a bid to compete with Google Inc. in Europe.

Baidu officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Earlier this year, Baidu set up a Japanese search engine, the company's first foray beyond its home market. Despite plans to spend around US$15 million [M] on the Japanese site, most of its early visitors came from China, primarily in search of access to pornography censored by Baidu's Chinese Web site.

In response, Chinese Internet censors apparently blocked access to Baidu Japan in April. At the time of writing, Baidu Japan remains unavailable in China.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

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