Baidu’s Sales Beat Estimates After Cloud Arm Offsets China Slowdown

Baidu’s net income for the December quarter plunged to 1.7 billion yuan from 5.17 billion yuan a year earlier

(Bloomberg) — Baidu Inc.’s revenue beat estimates after efforts to monetize artificial intelligence technology helped offset losses in ad sales triggered by China’s economic slowdown.

Revenue for the December quarter came in at 33.1 billion yuan ($5.2 billion), compared with the 32.2 billion yuan average estimate. Revenue from nonadvertising businesses, including the cloud segment, surged 63% in the three months, compared with growth of just 1% in online marketing.