Baidu Exec Transitions to Lesser Role

Qi Lu is resigning from his position of president and chief operating officer at Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc., effective July 1.

Citing unspecified personal reasons, Lu says he can no longer work in China full-time and is moving back to the U.S. to be with his family. He will continue to serve as vice chairman on Baidu’s board and support the company’s research and investment activities.

Baidu hired Lu in mid-2016 from Microsoft Inc. He has since helped the company expand beyond its core search-engine business into artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicle technologies.

Wang Haifeng will take over some of Lu’s responsibilities in a newly created position of senior vice president and general manager of Baidu’s AI Group. He joined Baidu in 2010 and most recently managed the company’s internet search products. Haifeng previously was chief research scientist at Toshiba Corp.'s research and development operations.

Lu’s announcement follows the departure of several Baidu senior executives. Chief scientist Andrew Ng and Wang Jing, who headed Baidu’s autonomous driving unit, both left the company last year.