Baidu Reports 5% Year-on-year Decrease In Q2 Revenue

Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc. on Tuesday announced second-quarter revenues of 29.6 billion yuan ($4.3 billion), down five percent from last year after the company faced a challenging economic climate and tight controls on China's once-thriving tech sector. Other Chinese tech giants, including Tencent and e-commerce behemoth JD.com, had also reported disappointing results in recent weeks. China's major tech companies have been grappling with economic uncertainty, Covid-19 restrictions that have kept consumers jittery, and heightened scrutiny from regulators in recent months. Baidu, which operates China's most widely used search engine, saw revenues decrease but posted a net profit of 3.6 billion yuan ($522 million), buoyed by a 31 percent year-on-year growth in its cloud computing business. "Despite a challenging macro environment caused by Covid-19, Baidu Core generated RMB23.2 billion in revenues in the second quarter," CEO Robin Li was quoted as saying in an official press release.