Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com (BIDU) posted its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2008 and said total revenues increased to CNY802.6 million — 100% more than the same period in 2007.
"This quarter saw impressive growth for Baidu," stated Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and chief executive officer. "Our ability to make such progress was due to the appreciation of paid search by our loyal small and medium sized enterprise customers as well as a growing appreciation of search engine marketing by large enterprises in China. The scalability of our business, aided by increasing numbers of large enterprise customers, helped Baidu post record results this quarter, despite some impact from the devastating earthquake this past May."
Net income was CNY265.0 million, representing an 86.7% increase from the corresponding period in 2007. Basic and diluted EPS for the second quarter of 2008 amounted to CNY7.74 and CNY7.62, respectively.
Growth was mainly driven by increases in both the number of active online marketing customers and revenue per customer. Baidu had more than 181,000 active online marketing customers in the second quarter of 2008, representing a sequential increase of 12.4% and an increase of 41.4% from the corresponding period in 2007. Revenue per active online marketing customer for the second quarter increased to approximately CNY4,400, a sequential increase of 22.2% and an increase of 41.9% from the corresponding period in 2007.
Traffic acquisition costs as a component of cost of revenues were CNY101.7 million, representing 12.7% of total revenues, compared to 11.2 % in the corresponding period in 2007. The increase in TAC as a percentage of total revenues primarily reflects the continued growth of revenue contribution from Baidu Union members.
Operating profit was CNY276.3 million, representing a 114.3% increase from the corresponding period in 2007. Operating profit excluding share-based compensation expenses (non-GAAP) was CNY305.6 millionfor the second quarter of 2008, a 121.7% increase from the corresponding period in 2007. Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP), which is defined in this announcement as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, other non- operating income and share-based compensation expenses, were CNY376.8 million for the second quarter of 2008, representing a 110.0 % increase from the corresponding period in 2007.
As of June 30, 2008, Baidu's cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments amounted to CNY1.9 billion.
