Baidu: fall in quarterly profit, but sales are recovering

Shanghai (awp / afp) – Chinese search engine Baidu posted a sharp drop in net profit in the second quarter, but its turnover has gone up very slightly, beating the predictions of analysts, according to figures released Tuesday. .

The internet giant based in Beijing but listed on the Nasdaq has benefited from growth in traffic on its sites and the number of mobile users.

Its net profit plunged 62% year on year to 2.41 billion yuan (335 million Swiss francs). In the previous quarter, Baidu announced the first losses in its history since its IPO in 2005, with a negative balance of 327 million yuan. His vice president of search engine activity had to resign.

From April to June, the turnover of the internet giant rose by 1.4% year on year to 26.2 billion yuan, a result higher than the predictions of analysts polled by the financial agency Bloomberg , who on average expected a slight decline.

These figures, announced after the closure of Wall Street, have boosted Baidu's share price by nearly 10% in post-closing transactions.

In a letter to employees, the boss of the group, Robin Li, put the decline of the net result on the account of the reforms initiated by Baidu to consolidate its activities, while it is competed in China even by rivals like ByteDance, owner of the Toutiao search engine.

"Faced with serious external challenges and a sluggish macroeconomic environment, the company has embarked on a series of transformations, ranging from organizational structure to workforce and consolidation of activities," he said. .

"These changes are temporarily painful but their positive impact will be significant and will lead to a stronger and more sustainable future," Li said.

In the immediate future, Baidu does not seem to be out of business, the group having announced that its sales could fall by 5% in the current quarter.

Considered as "Chinese google", Baidu largely depends on advertising revenues, a sector subject to the vagaries of the economy, which is the case at the moment because of the trade war between China and the United States.

Frequently accused of letting false ads go, Baidu said in a conference call that his artificial intelligence software had "filtered" more than a billion commercials and "tens of billions" of "vulgar" content. or "displaced" in the first half.

The Chinese government requires websites to clean up politically subversive content.

These results contrast with those of two other Chinese internet giants, Alibaba and Tencent, which announced last week solid increases in profits.

Baidu strives to move towards artificial intelligence and autonomous cars, sectors on which Beijing wants to become a world champion.

afp / buc