Baidu has reported total revenues of RMB1.28 billion for the third quarter of 2009, an increase of 39.1% compared to RMB919m for the same period last year.
The company has posted an operating profit of RMB521.4m, an increase of 41.6%, compared to RMB368m for the same period a year ago. Operating profit excluding share-based compensation expenses increased by 40.8% to RMB542.7m.
Net income for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, was RMB492.9m, up 41.7% compared to RMB347.85m for the same period last year. Basic and diluted EPS amounted to RMB14.23 ($2.08) and RMB14.14 ($2.07), respectively.
Robin Li, chairman and CEO of Baidu, said: We continued to see large customers shift more of their marketing budgets to our P4P platform. In addition, we introduced a number of initiatives to support Baidu’s long-term growth which will benefit our users, customers and union members. During the quarter, Phoenix Nest, our new online marketing system, continued to gain customer traction and showed promising trends in key monetisation metrics.
Online marketing revenues grew by 39.2% to RMB1.28 billion, compared to the same period last year.. Revenue per online marketing customer was RMB5,900, an increase of 25.5% compared to the third quarter of 2008.
During the quarter, Baidu had about 216,000 active online marketing customers, representing a 11.3% increase from the same period last year and a 6.4% increase from the previous quarter.
Mr Li added: With 70% of customers already using Phoenix Nest, we believe this is the right time to complete the switch to the new system. The move to a single upgraded bidding platform will more efficiently utilize company resources and relieve customers from the burden of maintaining two systems. We are confident that Phoenix Nest will deliver tremendous benefits to our users, customers and Baidu.
Baidu expects to generate total revenues in the range of $174m to $180m for the fourth quarter of 2009, representing 32% to 36% year-over-year growth.
