Baidu.com Inc., China's leading search engine, said Thursday its third-quarter profit surged 91 percent over the year-earlier period on rapid growth in revenue from online marketing.
Net income for the quarter ending Sept. 30 was 347.9 million yuan (US$50.9 million), or 10.00 yuan (US$1.46) per share, on revenue of 919.10 million yuan (US$134 million), the company said in a statement. Revenue was up 85 percent from the same quarter in 2007.
Baidu said the rise in revenue came from growth in the number of marketing customers and revenue per customer. The minor impact on revenues from the Beijing Olympics in August was as expected, it said.
"I'm pleased to announce solid results for the third quarter," Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and CEO, said in the statement. "Companies throughout China are increasingly recognizing the value of Baidu's paid search as an effective marketing tool," he said.
Baidu, based in Beijing, has more than 60 percent of China's Internet search market, well ahead of second-place Google Inc.
China's population of Internet users tied the United States for the world's largest in February with 221 million people online, according to the government.
The industry still lags the United States, South Korea and other markets in financial terms. But incomes are rising rapidly and the number of Chinese online is expected to expand by double digits annually in coming years while other major markets grow more slowly.
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