Baidu profit up 45% on growth in news app and artificial intelligence push

Chinese online search giant Baidu today said net profit for the second quarter jumped 45 percent, fuelled by growth in its personalised news app and artificial intelligence (AI) projects. The firm logged a net income for April-June of 6.4 billion yuan (USD 967 million). "We had another strong quarter in Q2 with search exhibiting robust revenue growth driven by AI-powered monetisation capabilities, and Baidu feed continuing strong traffic and monetisation momentum," said Robin Li, chairman and chief executive. The Beijing-based company said its total revenues swelled 32 per cent and about three-quarters of its profit came from mobile revenue. Baidu App, which offers personalised news feeds and search, saw daily active users rise 17 per cent year on year to 148 million in June.