Baidu’s net profit soars 155 per cent to 33.66 billion yuan
China’s online search giant had 1.05 million active online marketing customers last year
Spending by Chinese online search giant Baidu on its online-to-offline (O2O) and streaming video services is expected to continue unabated this year even as efforts are made to streamline the company’s businesses.
Analysts said Baidu could well afford that strategy because of the earning power of its core search business, which enabled the company to post strong earnings last year.
The Nasdaq-listed company on Friday reported a 155 per cent increase in net profit last year to 33.66 billion yuan (HK$40 billion), up from 13.19 billion yuan in 2014, on the back of solid online marketing revenue and subscriber growth.
Services and domestic consumption-related vertical [industries] are supported by the government’s Internet Plus initiative, and hold tremendous potential
Total revenue rose 35 per cent to 66.38 billion yuan from 49.05 billion yuan in 2014.
In a conference call with analysts, Baidu chairman and chief executive Robin Li Yanhong said 2015 was “a touchstone year for Baidu: we made significant progress in broadening our online marketing platform and further extending our reach into transactions services”.
The company said it recorded 1.05 million active online marketing customers last year, up 29 per cent from 2014.
Revenue per online marketing customer last year reached 60,500 yuan, a nearly 2 per cent year-on-year increase.
