Baidu revenue slips anew amid ad clampdown

NEW YORK: Chinese Internet giant Baidu jumped on Thursday on quarterly earnings that topped expectations despite falling revenue as the company clamped down on dubious ads. Revenue in the final three months of last year came to $2.62 billion (18.21 billion RMB), down 2.6 per cent from the same period the previous year, the company reported in New York, where it is listed. Income in the fourth quarter plunged 83 per cent from a year ago to $1.7 billion. The Wall Street market-reference earnings per share, which excludes certain items, was 93 cents, two cents above the consensus estimate. It was the second quarter in a row the company has reported a slump in revenue, following the authorities’ introduction of new controls on advertising. The decline came after the company was embroiled in scandal and lashed by Chinese media over the death of a student whose family used the search engine to seek a cancer cure that did not work. Early last year, Baidu was summoned by regulators, and following a public outcry, the government announced stricter controls on Internet advertising, while the company itself stepped up checks on clients. — AFP