Baidu mourns sudden demise of its CFO Shawn Wang

Baidu.com Inc., China’s Internet search firm, announced Sunday the sudden demise of its Chief Financial Officer Shawn Wang. In a statement yesterday, the company said that Shawn Wang died in an accident on December 27 while on vacation in China.

Beijing-based Internet search engine Baidu.com declared that its chief financial executive passed away during the Christmas-New Year holiday vacation four days ago.

"We are all completely shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic news," said Baidu's Chairman and CEO, Robin Li. "Shawn's leadership and vision helped transform Baidu into a leading US public company, and his presence will be greatly missed. Shawn was not only a tremendous leader within our company, but also a wonderful friend to us all. We extend our deepest sympathy and most sincere condolences to Shawn's family."

Baidu, which takes its name from an ancient Chinese poem about a man in search of love, did not give further details on fatal incident.

Company’s senior management team, including the senior finance personnel, will assume Wang’s duties on an interim basis until the company finds a successor.

Wang, 40, joined Baidu.Com in 2004 as CFO and helped the company successfully list on the NASDAQ stock market in August 2005. Wang, who worked immensely hard to help company get included in the NASDAQ-100, also sat as an independent director and chairman of the board's audit committee at WuXi PharmaTech, China's premier provider of pharmaceutical R&D outsourcing services.

He was appointed as an independent director on WuXi PharmaTech's Board of Directors in July, 2007 when the Shanghai-based company was preparing its public listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

WuXi PharmaTech also mourned the tragic loss of its executive. "We are all deeply saddened by the tragic and untimely loss of Shawn. He was not only a remarkable leader but also a very close personal friend of mine," said Dr. Ge Li, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of WuXi PharmaTech. "We are honored and grateful for having known and worked with Shawn. I will miss him very much and my thoughts and prayers go out to Shawn's family."