Baidu shares rise on quarterly revenue jump

[SAN FRANCISCO] Shares in Baidu jumped on Thursday after the company often referred to as China's version of Google reported that revenue climbed as ads flowed into its search engine.

Revenue during the first quarter tallied US$2.45 billion in a 31.2 per cent increase from the same period a year earlier.

Meanwhile, profit slipped 19 per cent to US$308.1 million in a similar year-over-year comparison, evidently due to investments being made to find successful business opportunities beyond online search.

"We had an excellent start to 2016, and we've made great strides toward realization of our vision to connect people with information and services and provide an integrated solution to our customers," Baidu chief executive Robin Li said in the earnings release.

"In 2016, we will continue to build out our integrated platform and explore the new business opportunities that our core business has opened up for us." Baidu shares rose more than four percent to US$194.99 in after-market trades on the Nasdaq exchange following release of the earnings figures.

"We are pleased to deliver very strong results for the first quarter, and our integrated online marketing and transaction services platform continued to exhibit strength and momentum," said Baidu chief financial officer Jennifer Li.

Like other Internet titans, Baidu has been working to adapt to a lifestyle shift to accessing the internet from mobile devices, particularly smartphones.

Baidu reported having 663 monthly active users in March in a nine percent increase from the same month last year.

The company expected revenue in the current quarter to range from US$3.12 billion to US$3.192 billion in what could be an increase of more than 28 percent from the prior year.

AFP