aidu reports 5% revenue growth in 2019

Beijing, Feb 29 (IANS) China’s leading search engine and AI tech firm Baidu has reported total revenues of 107.4 billion yuan (about $15.4 billion) in 2019, representing a 5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth.

The Nasdaq-listed company raked in 28.9 billion yuan in the fourth quarter of 2019, with Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu surging 95 per cent to 9.2 billion yuan compared with the same period of 2018.

“Baidu delivered solid fourth-quarter results with increasing year-over-year revenue growth rate,” said Herman Yu, CFO of Baidu, noting that the company had improved its quarterly operating margin by strengthening its mobile ecosystem and the focus on resource investment returns.

Baidu App’s average daily active users (DAUs) reached 195 million in December 2019, up 21 per cent year on year, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.

“Baidu’s new AI businesses have also made great strides in 2019, as we built leadership in smart devices, smart transportation and enterprise cloud solutions with Baidu’s leading AI technologies,” said Robin Li, chairman and CEO of Baidu.

The company expects a 5-per cent to 13-per cent year-on-year decline of revenue in the first quarter of 2020 to between 21 billion yuan and 22.9 billion yuan.