Baidu’s (NASDAQ:BIDU) quarterly results topped Wall Street estimates as the Chinese search engine benefited from a rebound in advertising sales and higher demand for its artificial intelligence and cloud computing products.
The company, which is referred to as the "Google of China," also said that its Chief Financial Officer Herman Yu has been appointed its Chief Strategy Officer but will continue to serve as CFO until a successor for him is found.
Demand for the company's rapidly growing autonomous driving service and artificial intelligence-powered cloud computing products, in which it has been investing heavily, has helped Baidu diversify its revenue sources and offset competition from rivals such as Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and ByteDance.
Baidu's streaming service, iQIYI, posted a 15% increase in advertising revenue and subscribers grew to 106.2 million through the end of June due to more original content. Total revenue at iQIYI was up 3% to $1.17 billion U.S. in the quarter.
The company said its total revenue rose to $4.84 billion U.S. from $4.02 billion U.S. in the previous quarter, topping analysts' estimates. The company's latest profit came in at $2.38 U.S. a share, ahead of $2.01 per share expected by Wall Street.
