Google's verdict to stop censoring Internet search in China last month has proved a boost to rival Baidu.com.Baidu, the Internet search leader in China even before Google's move, reported its net profit more than doubled in the first quarter as its revenue rose on strong gains in online marketing. The company has also gained market share in China, while Google notched a decline.
"We delivered another strong quarter with record top line [revenue] results and strong earnings growth," said Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and CEO, in a conference call.
The company's revenue rose 59.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to 1.29 billion Chinese yuan (US$189.6 million), while its net profit soared 165.3 percent to 480.5 million Chinese yuan. Baidu forecast its revenue will reach a fresh record high in the second quarter, between 1.83 billion yuan and 1.87 billion yuan.
The better-than-expected financial results surprised analysts and investors.
Baidu's stock soared 14.3 percent, or US$89.13, in after-market trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market to end at $710.51 per share. Baidu released its first quarter financial results after regular trading on the Nasdaq had already ended.
The head of Baidu acknowledged the business impact of Google's decision, saying that "we saw marginal benefit from this so-called 'semi-exit' by Google...we are certainly benefitting from this, but at the end of the day I think the China search market is still in its very early stage and the performance of Baidu is largely driven by our own execution."
Analysys International, a Beijing-based market researcher, said Baidu's share of all Internet searches in China rose to 64 percent in the first quarter from 58.4 percent in the previous quarter, while Google's dropped to 30.9 percent from 35.6 percent. The figures are the first real sign of Google's decline in business in China since its March announcement.
No comments:
Post a Comment