September 14, 2011 3:19 PM EDT

Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) shares are moving to session highs Wednesday afternoon following a report the company has joined the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

The Shanghai Daily pointed out, in joining the W3C, Baidu becomes the first Chinese company to join the body. According to the report: "It expects to join hands with about 500 IT and Internet companies around the world to work on international web standards on the Internet open platform and wireless Internet technologies."

Baidu shares are up 3.3 percent Wednesday afternoon.