The CEO of Baidu disclosed that the company saw accelerated revenue and profit growth in the Q2 of 2023 due to the good performance of the online marketing business and operating leverage.
Popular China’s tech company Baidu has reported a significant increase in its Q2 2023 revenue. A report filed on Tuesday showed that the company recorded a 15% increase in its year-on-year revenue. Consequently, its traded shares surged by more than 4% in pre-marketing trading.
According to Refinitiv data, the Q2 2023 revenue growth represents the fastest quarterly year-on-year growth pace Baidu has recorded over the past two years. The data also estimated that Baidu would record $4.5 billion in revenue last quarter. Surprisingly, the tech company did better than expected, pulling in $4.7 billion instead.
Meanwhile, this significant rise in the Q2 revenue is influenced by a persistent rise in its advertising engagements. The firm recorded a huge upsurge in advertising. Further insights into the financial report also showed that the online marketing revenue of Baidu went up by 15% to about $2.6 billion in the second quarter of the year. Also, the non-online market revenue saw a 12% rise, amounting to $932 million.
Baidu CEO Gives Details about Factors Driving Baidu’s Growth in 2023
The CEO and co-founder of Baidu, Robin Li, emphasized how the growth in advertising contributed to the increase in the tech company’s revenue. In a release, Robin Li disclosed that Baidu saw accelerated revenue and profit growth in the Q2 of 2023 due to the good performance of the online marketing business and operating leverage.
Li added that generative AI and large language models have enormous influence across different sectors, stressing that the situation has presented a momentous market opportunity for Baidu. This submission undoubtedly reflects Baidu’s commitment to the AI market.
In recent months, the tech company has made noticeable progress with its Ernie bot, a Chinese-language ChatGPT alternative. Recall that Baidu launched the project in March 2023 in response to the regulatory constraints placed on ChatGPT in China. Its strong attention to AI birthed the launch of five Ernie bot plugins. Baidu is aiming to lead the emerging AI landscape and has kept the ball rolling with the launch of its new AI-powered assistant last week. The AI assistant solution is designed to help users book meetings, tickets, and hotels.
Since the relaxation of the COVID-19 restrictions, companies have been pumping heavily into virtual advertising. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the investment proceeds have tremendously impacted Baidu in 2023 Q2. Similarly, its engagements in the evolving AI sector have also been instrumental.
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