The Hong Kong shares of Baidu plunged on Monday, wiping $2.4 billion off its market value, after the founder of the Chinese search engine giant was not spotted at a rare meeting between President Xi Jinping and corporate leaders.

A recent summit for private entrepreneurs in Beijing, attended by tech leaders including Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Huawei founder Zhengfei Ren, has drawn attention to the notable absence of Baidu founder Robin Li.

Baidu's stock fell about 7% in Hong Kong on Monday after CEO Robin Li was not seen at a meeting between China's President Xi Jinping and corporate executives.

China's Baidu will launch the next generation of its artificial intelligence model Ernie in mid-March, which will see improved capabilities in areas such as reasoning, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Baidu will leverage its AI capabilities in digital intelligence development to support CATL across chips, platforms, and applications, the company said. In autonomous driving, the partnership will focus on integrating CATL's battery technology, battery-swapping solutions, and skateboard chassis into the development of unmanned vehicles.

China's Baidu and electric vehicle battery giant CATL will jointly explore the development of "competitive" driverless vehicles and innovative business models, the companies said on Thursday.

The Beijing-based internet company said Tuesday that fourth-quarter revenue fell 2.4%, better than analysts’ estimates.

Shares of Baidu fell sharply, losing $2.4 billion in market value, after founder Robin Li was absent from a key meeting with China's President Xi Jinping. This absence, amid strategic shifts towards AI integration,

"One thing we learned from DeepSeek is that open-sourcing the best models can greatly help adoption," said Baidu's Robin Li.

Baidu Inc. (BIDU) on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $711 million. The Beijing-based company said it had profit of $1.95 per share.