Baidu Net More Than Doubles
Baidu Inc.’s fourth-quarter net profit more than doubled—and its revenue nearly did—as China’s top Internet search engine continued to gain market share.
The company, which derives virtually all of its revenue from online marketing, has been overtaking Google Inc.’s share of the Chinese search market with a new keyword advertising program, Phoenix Nest. Google stopped operating its Chinese search engine last year and began rerouting mainland users to its Hong Kong site in protest of Beijing censorship rules.
According to research firm Analysys International, Baidu’s market share rose to 75.5% in the fourth quarter, up from 73% in the third quarter. Google’s share slipped two percentage points to 19.6%.
Baidu said active online-marketing customers rose 24% to 276,000 in the latest period, as revenue per customer rose 56%, a sequential acceleration.
The company’s results have surged in the last year as it benefits from a new keyword advertising system, as well as more users and better monetization of them. Chief Executive Robin Li has also credited improved customer service. However, the most recent period and those to come face tougher comparisons, as the company’s bounding performance gains began about a year earlier.
FYI Jaymie commented on this information several days ago upon the release of the stock report. Baidu was one of her early stock picks and it has obviously proven to be a major winner!