In brief: Baidu’s quarterly revenue beats estimates

• Baidu’s Q4 2018 revenue rose 22 percent to 27.2 billion yuan (US$4 billion), beating estimates of 26.3 billion yuan (US$3.9 billion).
• The search giant’s online marketing business, which accounts for more than 75 percent of the company’s revenue and includes search, news feeds, and a video app, grew 10 percent to 21.2 billion yuan (US$3.15 billion) – the slowest pace in six quarters.
• Revenue from iQiyi, Baidu’s streaming service, jumped 55 percent to 7 billion yuan (US$1 billion). However, content costs nearly doubled as the company spent heavily on content and promotion for the platform to attract new customers last year. Baidu expects such expenses to rise in 2019.

Source: Reuters

Currency converted from Chinese yuan. Rate: US$1 = CNY 6.73