Baidu's net income rises 83 percent in Q2

Robin Li, chairman and CEO of Baidu Inc speaks at Baidu Create 2017 Conference in Beijing, July 5, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

Chinese internet firm Baidu reported an 82.9 percent net income increase to 4.4 billion yuan ($651 million) in the second quarter, which ended June 30, the company announced Thursday.

Total revenue of the world's largest Chinese search engine stood at about 20.9 billion yuan in the second quarter, a 14.3 percent increase from the same period last year. Mobile revenue represented 72 percent of the company's total revenue, up from 62 percent last year, according to the company's unaudited financial statement.

"We made big strides in the second quarter, as we reported solid financial performance and made meaningful progress in our core business and AI-enabled initiatives," Lu Qi, Baidu's vice-chairman, group president and chief operating officer, said.

"Our Mobile Baidu App and our Feed product showed strong progress, and the solid increase of our online active customer base reaffirmed Baidu's unique and compelling value proposition," Lu said.

iQiyi, Baidu's video streaming site, continued to strengthen Baidu's lead in the online video business, according to Lu.

Baidu will use AI as a fundamental driver to elevate its current core businesses, specifically Mobile Baidu, search and feed in order to achieve the company's new mission to make a complex world simpler through technology, said Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and chief executive officer.

"In parallel, we will continue to build out our newer AI-enabled initiatives through an open platform and ecosystem approach to capture long-term economic opportunity," Li said.

As of June 30, Baidu had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of 92.15 billion yuan. Its net operating cash inflow for the second quarter was 6.63 billion yuan and capital expenditures for the second quarter were 1.13 billion yuan, according to the statement.

Baidu forecasts generating 23.13 billion yuan to 23.75 billion yuan in total revenue in the third quarter, representing an annual increase of 26.7 percent to 30.1 percent, according to the company's announcement.