Baidu (BIDU.NASDAQ), China’s largest search engine by revenue, beat its own fourth-quarter revenue projection, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company posted a 50% increase in total revenue to US$1.57 billion, above its October projection of US$1.5 billion-$1.54 billion, which was above analysts’ estimates at the time. American depositary shares of Baidu rose 7.9% to US$186.51 in recent after-hours trading, shortly after the results were released. For the first quarter, Baidu said it expected revenue of between US$1.53 billion and US$1.57 billion.