Chinese Online Firm Baidu Reports Higher Third-Quarter Financials

Chinese Internet provider Baidu.com on Monday pledged to concentrate on the development of mobile and cloud-focused online products as the company reported higher third-quarter financials.

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The company reported a 48.1 percent improvement in its operating profit to 3.3 billion yuan ($524.6 million). It also posted  a 49.7 percent year-over-year increase in revenue to 6.25 billion yuan ($994.6 million).

Baidu predicted revenue for the fourth quarter to come in at $979.3 million-$1.01 billion, which will translate to a year-over-year increase of 37.6 percent-41.8 percent.

“In the third quarter, we saw solid profitability as we continued our strategy of investing in key areas of future growth, particularly mobile and cloud,” said Baidu CFO Jennifer Li. “In the quarters ahead, we will look to accelerate the pace of investment to achieve long-term, sustainable growth.”

Robin Li, the company’s chairman and CEO, added: “Mobile and cloud represent our vision for the future of China’s internet, and Baidu will continue to proactively drive the development of this crucial eco-system. We stand ready to meet the challenges and capture the opportunities the PC-to-mobile transition presents.”

The company said it had about 390,000 active online marketing customers in the latest period, representing a 28.3 percent increase from the same period in 2011 and a 10.8 percent increase from the second quarter this year.

Each online marketing customer generated 16,000 yuan (US$2,546) for the company, a 16.8 percent increase from the same quarter in 2011 and a 3.2 percent increase from the previous quarter this year.