Baidu Q4 earnings, revenue beat expectations

Chinese search giant Baidu’s New York-listed shares rose Thursday after the online services firm announced that fourth-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue beat expectations, The Wall Street Journal reported. Baidu reported overall profit of RMB24.71 billion yuan (US$3.815 billion), up from RMB3.24 billion year on year. While operating costs grew 37%, revenue increased 33% to RMB18.7 billion, exceeding the company’s forecast of RMB18.2-18.75 billion. Online-marketing sales rose 27% as the number of active online-marketing customers grew 6.1% to roughly 555,000, while revenue per customer rose 17%. Adjusted earnings were RMB7.61 per share, well above analysts’ expectations of RMB6.62 per share.