MAIN SUMMARY
====> The quarter ended September 30th saw revenue increase by 6% year over year to 34.45 billion yuan ($4.72 billion). That exceeded analyst estimates by a small amount.
====> It follows a 15% revenue increase from a year earlier in the prior quarter, driven by double-digit growth in both online and offline marketing revenue.
====> According to a statement, Robin Li, the CEO and co-founder of Baidu, “Baidu reported solid third-quarter financial results, demonstrating resilience in a challenging economic climate.”
CHINA — The Chinese internet behemoth Baidu said on Tuesday that its third-quarter revenue exceeded forecasts, despite a slower rate of growth than the preceding three months.
As of 5:00 a.m. ET, the company’s shares that are listed on the American stock exchange were up almost 2%. The stock has lost about 3% of its value this year.
The quarter ended September 30th saw revenue increase by 6% year over year to 34.45 billion yuan ($4.72 billion). Refinitiv reports that this was somewhat more than the 34.33 billion yuan that analysts had predicted.
The search engine provider saw a 5% increase in online marketing income and a 6% increase in non-online marketing revenue in the same time frame.
It follows a 15% revenue increase from a year earlier in the prior quarter, driven by double-digit growth in both online and offline marketing revenue.
The CEO and co-founder of Baidu, Robin Li, stated in a release that “Baidu reported solid third-quarter financial results, demonstrating resilience in a challenging economic climate.”
In the third quarter, adjusted earnings per American Depositary Share were 20.40 yuan, up from 16.87 yuan in the same time last year but down from 22.55 yuan in the preceding three months.
For the quarter that concluded on September 30, Baidu recorded net income of 6.68 billion yuan, an increase from 5.21 billion yuan the previous quarter.
According to the corporation, increased marketing expenditures helped drive up selling, general, and administrative expenses by 11% on an annual basis, totaling 5.8 billion yuan.
According to the corporation, higher server fees to fund Ernie bot research contributed to a 6% annual rise in research and development expenditures, which came to $6.1 billion. That is an improvement above the 1% growth in the same quarter last year.
Baidu’s take on ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot, is called Ernie Bot. Baidu only began collecting money in November for the Ernie bot.
The Baidu CFO, Rong Luo, stated in a release that “Baidu Core maintained stable margins in the quarter.” “Technological and product developments have been supported by our continuous investments in AI. Going forward, we will continue to place a high priority on investments in AI, particularly in foundation models and generative AI, but we will do so while maintaining a relentless emphasis on efficiency and wise resource allocation.
According to the corporation, 821,000 rides were operated by its Apollo Go robotaxi service in the third quarter of the year, compared to 714,000 journeys in the second three months.
Additionally, Baidu declared that Sandy Xu, the former CFO of JD.com, will become an independent board director on January 1, 2024.