Baidu Sales Rise After AI Push Helps Offset China Slowdown

(Bloomberg) — Baidu Inc. posted a surprise revenue rise after efforts to expand in areas such as cloud computing and autonomous driving offset weak ad sales in China.

Shares of Baidu jumped 5% while its Netflix-style streaming affiliate iQiyi Inc. surged 13% in pre-market trading in the U.S.

Revenue inched 1% higher to 28.4 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) for the three months ended in March, compared with a forecast by analysts of 27.9 billion yuan. The net loss was 885 million yuan, partly due to a 3 billion yuan one-time loss from long-term investments, compared with an estimated profit of 142 million yuan.