China’s Baidu beat revenue estimates for the fourth quarter on Wednesday, bolstered by strength in its advertising, cloud and artificial intelligence businesses, sending its US-listed shares up 7% in premarket trading, reports Reuters. The search engine giant, which generates most of its revenue from online ads, is seeing advertisers return after China lifted its zero-COVID policies last year in a boost to the country’s economic prospects.
The company also announced a new share repurchase program of up to $5 billion. Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 came in at RMB 33.08 billion ($4.80 billion), inching past analysts’ estimates of RMB 32.01 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
Revenue from Baidu Core, which includes search-based ad sales, cloud offerings and its autonomous driving initiatives, fell 1% to RMB 25.7 billion.