Males work together with a Baidu AI robotic close to the corporate’s brand at its headquarters in Beijing, China April 23, 2021.
Florence Lo | Reuters
BEIJING – Chinese language tech big Baidu on Tuesday reported third-quarter earnings that beat expectations, though progress was slower than within the earlier three months.
The corporate’s US-listed shares rose 2% in pre-market commerce at 5:00 am ET. The inventory is down practically 3% yr so far.
Income grew 6% year-on-year to 34.45 billion yuan ($4.72 billion) within the quarter ended Sept. 30. That was barely increased than analyst expectations of 34.33 billion yuan, based on Refinitiv.
The search engine supplier’s on-line advertising income rose 5% from a yr in the past, whereas non-online advertising income was 6% increased over the identical interval.
This comes after final quarter’s income elevated 15% from a yr in the past, with on-line and non-online advertising income rising by double digits.
“Baidu reported robust third quarter monetary outcomes, demonstrating resilience in a difficult financial local weather,” Robin Li, CEO of Baidu and co-founder of Baidu, stated in a launch.
Adjusted earnings per American Depositary Share was 20.40 yuan within the third quarter, down from 22.55 yuan within the earlier three months, however up from 16.87 yuan a yr earlier.
Baidu reported web revenue of 6.68 billion yuan for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 5.21 billion yuan within the earlier quarter.
The corporate stated that increased advertising prices contributed to an 11% year-on-year improve in gross sales, normal and administrative bills that reached 5.8 billion yuan.
Analysis and improvement bills rose 6% to six.1 billion year-over-year, partly as a consequence of a rise in server charges to help Ernie bot analysis, the corporate stated. That is a pickup from 1% progress within the second quarter from a yr in the past.
Ernie bot is Baidu’s model of the bogus intelligence-powered chatbot ChatGPT. Baidu solely began charging for the Ernie bot in November.
“Baidu Core maintained robust margins within the quarter,” stated Rong Luo, Baidu CFO, in a launch. “Our continued funding in AI underpins know-how and product improvements. Going ahead, as we proceed to prioritize investments in AI, notably in generative AI and foundational fashions, we are going to achieve this with the relentless deal with effectivity and strategic useful resource allocation.”
The corporate stated its Apollo Go robotaxi enterprise operated 821,000 rides within the third quarter, up from 714,000 rides within the second quarter of the yr.
In September, Beijing’s suburban Yizhuang metropolis district formally allowed native robotaxi operators to cost fares for totally autonomous taxis, with no drivers on board.
Baidu additionally introduced that Sandy Xu, former CFO of JD.com, will be part of the corporate as an impartial board director beginning January 1, 2024.
