Baidu 2nd-quarter net income more than doubles as ad customer base grows

Baidu more than doubles 2Q profit

NEW YORK — Baidu Inc., which operates China’s biggest Internet search engine, said Wednesday that its second-quarter profit more than doubled as its advertising customer base grew and profit margins improved.

The company earned 837.4 million yuan ($123.5 million), or 2.40 yuan (35 cents) per American Depositary share, up from 383.3 million yuan, or 1.10 yuan per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Excluding stock options expenses, Baidu earned 36 cents per share.

Revenue rose 74 percent to 1.91 billion yuan ($282.3 million).

Baidu said the strong results reflect the “healthy growth” of its customer base and underscore the “vast Internet market opportunities” it faces.

The company had about 254,000 active online marketing customers during the quarter, up 25 percent from a year earlier.

For the current quarter, Baidu forecast revenue in the range of 2.2 billion yuan ($324.4 million) to 2.26 billion yuan ($333.3 million), an increase of 72 percent to 77 percent from a year earlier.

Baidu’s U.S.-traded shares rose $2.59, or 3.5 percent, to $75.90 in after-hours trading. The stock earlier slid 73 cents to close at $73.31.