The logo of Baidu on its headquarter building in Beijing in this July 22, 2010 photo. Baidu Inc., owner of China’s most popular search engine, said it agreed to buy a majority stake in China travel site Qunar for US$306 million.

    The purchase will close in the third quarter, Beijing-based Baidu said in a statement Friday. The deal will be financed by a third-party loan, it said. Baidu is boosting spending on technology and stepping up investment to extend its dominance of the search engine market in China into other services such as online commerce and video. The company is becoming “more active” in investing in technology firms, seeking out electronic-commerce and mobile and social networking assets, chief financial officer Jennifer Li said in an April interview.SD-Agencies