No 8 Baidu

Despite its US IPO in 2005, Baidu has focused primarily on the Chinese market in recent years, but in 2014 the firm began pushing more aggressively overseas with its Nokia partnership, $3 million Israeli startup investment and strategic stake in Uber, Joel Backaler noticed.

Baidu Inc bought control of Brazilian online-discount company Peixe Urbano for an undisclosed sum, the latest step in a push to expand in Latin America's largest economy that began more than two years ago, China Daily reported on Oct 27, 2014.

(File Photo)