Baidu revenue grows 6% in Q4 as AI and advertising boost business By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An indication of Baidu is pictured on the firm’s headquarters in Beijing, China March 16, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Picture

(Reuters) -China’s Baidu (NASDAQ:) stated fourth-quarter income rose 6%, helped by positive aspects from its synthetic intelligence purposes and a rising promoting enterprise.

For the three months by means of December, the corporate reported income of 34.95 billion yuan ($4.92 billion), broadly consistent with analysts’ common estimate of 34.97 billion yuan, based on LSEG knowledge.

The corporate’s adjusted internet revenue rose by 44% to 7.76 billion yuan, in contrast with 5.37 billion yuan for a similar interval a 12 months earlier, beating analysts’ forecasts for six.32 billion yuan.

As China’s largest web search engine, Baidu makes the vast majority of its income from promoting. However as China’s financial system slows and customers spend much less, Baidu has more and more invested in AI. In March final 12 months, it launched its ChatGPT-like ERNIE Bot in bid to seize from the potential of the know-how.

The corporate stated ERNIE AI companies have already began to contribute to Baidu’s revenues.

“All through 2023, we made important strides in advancing

ERNIE and ERNIE Bot, reinventing our services and products, and attaining breakthroughs in monetization.” Co-founder and CEO Robin Li stated in an announcement.

The U.S.-listed shares of the corporate rose by 0.4% in buying and selling earlier than the bell.

Baidu’s on-line advertising and marketing income grew 6% to 19.2 billion yuan.

For the quarter, its adjusted revenue was 21.86 yuan per American Depositary Share (ADS), in contrast with a revenue of 15.25 yuan per share a 12 months earlier.

This exceeded analysts’ common estimate of 17.87 yuan per ADS, based on LSEG.

($1 = 7.20 renminbi)