One of the most significant AI and internet companies in the world, Baidu, reported its Q2 earnings.
The China-based company exceeded the expectations posting a profit of $507 million, or $1.46 per share. Compared to last year's figures, its revenue fell 1% to $3.7 billion.
Revenues from online marketing were down 8% compared to last year’s numbers, at $2.50 billion. Baidu is trying to keep up with Tencent’s and ByteDance’s aggressive competition in media and advertising. Currently, it is trying to diversify its ad sources and invest in technology and content.
The company's stock price fell roughly 8% in after-hours trading. One of its subsidiaries, iQiyi, revealed that it is cooperating with a U.S. regulator as it was accused of inflating the number of users.
For Q3, Baidu expects the revenue to come in at a high of $4.1 billion, 2% bigger than the same time last year. It added that the figures are "subject to substantial uncertainty," given the unpredictability of the pandemic.
During today’s pre-market session, Baidu stock price lost nearly 6%.
Sources: marketwatch.com, finance.yahoo.com