Baidu’s profit up 14% in Q3
/Beijing, 21st November: Last week, Baidu, the leading Chinese language Internet search provider, released its financial results for the quarter ended 30th September 2024. Revenues in the quarter were US$4.8 billion, a decrease of 3% year-on-year. However, the company’s net profit posted an increase of 14% in the third quarter, reaching US$1.1 billion.
Revenues from Baidu’s core business were US$3.8 billion in the quarter, flat with the figure recorded in the previous year. The majority of those revenues (US$2.7 billion) were generated from its online marketing business, which also dropped by 4% year-on-year. However, Baidu’s non-online marketing businesses grew 12% in the same period, amounting at US$1.1 billion. According to the company, the growth was mainly driven by AI Cloud business.
Robin Li, Co-founder and CEO of Baidu, said, “Baidu Core’s flattish third quarter top line reflected the ongoing weakness in our online marketing business, offset by the growth of our AI Cloud business. Our strong AI capabilities are gaining broader market recognition, as evidenced by increasing adoption of ERNIE. In intelligent driving, Apollo Go continues to lead the global autonomous ride-hailing market, hitting another milestone with our sixth-generation autonomous vehicle now operating on public roads across multiple cities in China. Despite the near-term pressures, we remain steadfast in our AI-focused strategy and are confident in our long-term trajectory. As we further scale AI, we are emboldened to find how it can drive innovations and create value for consumers, enterprises and society at large.”