China's Baidu Inc announced on Friday a major restructuring of its business lines and said Shen Haoyu, its senior vice president of business operations will leave for personal reasons.

Baidu said in a statement it will realign its business according to four departments such as sales, user products and technologies, commercial products and technologies and commercial operations. The firm will also implement an executive rotational program to promote innovation and efficiency.

With the development and rising complexity of Baidu's business, promoting organizational innovation and personnel training have become important tasks, said Robin Li, Baidu's chief executive officer.

Shen has been with the company since 2007 and was instrumental in the rollout of Baidu's keyword search platform Phoenix Nest. He was promoted to senior vice president in 2009. Sina Technology News reported that Shen will be joining e-commerce firm 360Buy. 360Buy declined to comment.

His departure at the end of the month, highlights the fight for talent in China's highly competitive technology sector.

Baidu said Xiang Hailong will take charge of commercial operations.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

China