Baidu Revenue Slips 4% as Ad Slump Outweighs AI Cloud Growth

Baidu Inc. reported second-quarter revenue of 32.71 billion yuan ($4.56 billion), narrowly missing the 32.76 billion-yuan consensus and marking a 4 percent year-on-year decline. Adjusted profit came in at 13.58 yuan per American depositary share, roughly in line with forecasts, while adjusted EBITDA fell to 6.49 billion yuan, giving a 20 percent margin versus 27 percent a year earlier. A protracted slowdown in China’s advertising market weighed on results. Online marketing revenue, which still accounts for more than 60 percent of Baidu’s business, slid 15 percent to 16.2 billion yuan. By contrast, revenue from AI-driven cloud and other non-advertising services jumped 34 percent, helping to soften the impact of weaker ad spending and underscoring Baidu’s push to diversify beyond its search engine. Baidu Core revenue declined 2 percent to 26.3 billion yuan, and adjusted operating profit dropped 41 percent to 4.4 billion yuan. The company ended the quarter with 124.2 billion yuan in cash and equivalents, down from 142 billion yuan a year earlier. U.S.-listed shares of Baidu fell about 2 percent in pre-market trading after the release.