Baidu profits fall sharply for second consecutive quarter

Baidu Inc. on Thursday gave downbeat revenue projections for the current period following a second consecutive sharp drop in quarterly profit, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Chinese internet giant—which has had a near monopoly on China’s internet-search traffic since Google Inc. pulled out of the country in 2010 over censorship concerns—has struggled to catch up with competitors at the same time that it is facing increased regulatory pressure. In the most recent period, expenses rose 17% to 15.4 billion yuan while gross profit margin narrowed to 52.2% from 60.8% a year earlier. Over all, Baidu reported a profit of 2.40 billion yuan, down from 3.25 billion yuan a year earlier. Revenue rose 10% to 18.26 billion yuan ($2.75 billion).