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Maybe he's getting paid more, or some interesting perks got tossed in.  Still, Peng Ye's move away from Apple China, where he served as country general manager, seems as good a sign as any of Baidu's dominance.

Starting April 25th, Peng Ye will gain the title of COO of Baidu.  The man already holds four degrees, and he's previously worked for SatCom AG, Motorola Mobile Business North Asia, and Nortel China and Europe.

 Peng Ye Leaves Apple To Become Baidu's New COO

Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and CEO, stated, "We are pleased to have Mr. Peng Ye joining us as chief operating officer.  With his years and wide range of experiences in sales, marketing and business operations management, as well as software development in the IT and telecom industries, Peng is a strategic addition to our management team."

Investors seem duly impressed - Baidu's stock rose about 30 points yesterday, and is up another four so far this morning.

Aside from the problem this development creates for Apple, Google is also probably feeling less than jubilant.  Its Chinese arm was already struggling for market share, and its American CIO is leaving the company.