Males work together with a Baidu AI robotic close to the corporate brand at its headquarters in Beijing, China April 23, 2021.
Florence Lo | Reuters
BEIJING — Chinese language tech big Baidu reported Tuesday third-quarter income that beat expectations, though development was slower than through the earlier three months.
The corporate’s U.S.-listed shares had been up round 2% in pre-market commerce at 5:00 a.m. ET. The inventory is down nearly 3% over the yr to this point.
Income grew by 6% year-on-year to 34.45 billion yuan ($4.72 billion) within the quarter that ended Sept. 30. That was barely greater than analyst expectations of 34.33 billion yuan, in response to Refinitiv.
On-line advertising and marketing income on the search engine supplier was up by 5% from a yr in the past, whereas non-online advertising and marketing income was 6% greater over the identical interval.
It comes after income within the earlier quarter surged 15% from a yr in the past, with on-line and non-online advertising and marketing income rising by double digits.
“Baidu reported strong third-quarter monetary outcomes, demonstrating resilience in a difficult financial local weather,” Robin Li, Baidu CEO and co-founder of Baidu, mentioned in a launch.
Adjusted earnings per American Depositary Share had been 20.40 yuan within the third quarter, down from 22.55 yuan within the earlier three months, however up from 16.87 yuan within the year-ago interval.
Baidu reported web earnings of 6.68 billion yuan for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 5.21 billion yuan within the earlier quarter.
The corporate mentioned greater advertising and marketing spend contributed to an 11% year-on-year enhance in promoting, basic and administrative bills which got here in at 5.8 billion yuan.
Analysis and growth bills rose by 6% to six.1 billion year-on-year, partly as a result of elevated server charges to assist Ernie bot analysis, the corporate mentioned. That is a pickup from 1% development within the second quarter from a yr in the past.
Ernie bot is Baidu’s model of the unreal intelligence-powered chatbot ChatGPT. Baidu solely began charging for Ernie bot in November.
“Baidu Core maintained secure margins within the quarter,” Rong Luo, Baidu CFO, mentioned in a launch. “Our ongoing investments in AI have underpinned technological and product improvements. Transferring ahead, whereas we are going to proceed prioritizing investments in AI, particularly in generative AI and basis fashions, we are going to achieve this with an unrelenting deal with effectivity and strategic useful resource allocation.”
The corporate mentioned its Apollo Go robotaxi enterprise operated 821,000 rides within the third quarter, up from 714,000 rides within the second three months of the yr.
In September, the suburban Beijing metropolis district of Yizhuang formally let native robotaxi operators cost fares for totally autonomous taxis, with no drivers inside.
Baidu additionally introduced that Sandy Xu, former CFO of JD.com, would be part of the corporate as an impartial director of the board beginning Jan 1, 2024.
