Baidu Announces Second Quarter 2023 Results

BEIJING, Aug. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU and HKEX: 9888 (HKD Counter) and 89888 (RMB Counter), "Baidu" or the "Company"), a leading AI company with strong Internet foundation, today announced its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023.

"In the second quarter of 2023, Baidu Core accelerated revenue and profit growth, driven by the solid performance of online marketing business and operating leverage," said Robin Li, Co-founder and CEO of Baidu. "Generative AI and large language models hold immense transformative power in numerous industries, presenting a significant market opportunity for us. To stay ahead of the game, we keep upgrading our models to generate more creative responses, while improving training throughput and lowering inference costs. Our latest foundation model, ERNIE 3.5, has been well recognized by our cloud customers, AI developers, and industry experts. By adopting an AI-native mindset, we are reinventing our products and offerings for innovative experiences, and to support various enterprises to capture this opportunity. Overall, Baidu is committed to building a new engine around generative AI and LLM to drive sustainable long-term growth."

"Baidu Core non-GAAP operating profit grew by 27% from a year ago, with non-GAAP operating margin expanding to 25% from 22% a year ago and 23% a quarter ago. Baidu Core generated about RMB9.7 billion net cash from operating activities in the quarter. The improvement in profit and margins as well as strong cash generation were primarily driven by revenue acceleration and efficiency gain," said Rong Luo, CFO of Baidu. "Baidu has invested in AI for over a decade and is well-positioned to capitalize on the opportunities arising from generative AI and LLM. As we look ahead, we remain steadfast in investing in AI, in particular large language models and generative AI in the upcoming quarters."

Operational Highlights

Corporate

• Baidu launched ERNIE 3.5 in May 2023, which is the latest foundation model powering ERNIE Bot, Baidu's conversational AI bot. According to IDC's latest report on the technological abilities of AI models, issued in July 2023, ERNIE 3.5 excels in many areas, such as algorithm, industry coverage, developer tools, and ecosystem.
• Baidu earned a position in the China edition of the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook, in recognizing its exceptional ESG scores. The selection stems from a comprehensive evaluation of 1,600 Chinese companies as part of the S&P Global 2022 Corporate Sustainability Assessment, underscoring Baidu's sustainability practices.

AI Cloud

• PaddlePaddle developer community grew to 8 million in mid-August, 2023. PaddlePaddle is Baidu's self-developed open-source deep learning framework.
• According to IDC's 2022 report on China's public cloud market, Baidu was once again ranked the No.1 AI Cloud provider in China, maintaining this position for the fourth consecutive year.

Intelligent Driving

• Apollo Go, Baidu's autonomous ride-hailing service, provided around 714K rides in the second quarter of 2023, up 149% year over year. As of June 30, 2023, the cumulative rides provided to the public by Apollo Go reached 3.3 million.
• Apollo Go received permits to offer fully driverless ride-hailing services to the public in Shenzhen Pingshan area in June. Apollo Go has now been granted permission to provide fully driverless ride-hailing services to the public in four cities, including Beijing, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Chongqing.
• Apollo Go received permits to conduct fully driverless testing on open roads in Shanghai Pudong area in July.

Other Growth Initiatives

• Xiaodu ranked No.1 in smart display shipments and smart speaker shipments in China for the first quarter of 2023, according to IDC and Canalys.

Mobile Ecosystem

• In June 2023, Baidu App's MAUs reached 677 million, up 8% year over year.
• Managed Page accounted for 52% of Baidu Core's online marketing revenue in the second quarter of 2023.

iQIYI

• iQIYI's average daily number of total subscribing members for the quarter was 111.2 million, compared to 98.3 million for the second quarter of 2022 and 128.9 million for the first quarter of 2023.

Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results 

Total revenues were RMB 34.1 billion ($4.70 billion), increasing 15% year over year.

Revenue from Baidu Core was RMB 26.4 billion ($3.64 billion), increasing 14% year over year; online marketing revenue was RMB 19.6 billion ($2.71 billion), up 15% year over year, and non-online marketing revenue was RMB 6.8 billion ($937 million), up 12% year over year.

Revenue from iQIYI was RMB 7.8 billion ($1.08 billion), increasing 17% year over year.

Cost of revenues was RMB 16.2 billion($2.23 billion), increasing 7% year over year, primarily due to an increase in content costs and traffic acquisition costs.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were RMB 6.3 billion ($869 million), increasing 32% year over year, primarily due to an increase in channel spending and promotional marketing expenses.

Research and development expense was RMB 6.4 billion ($880 million), increasing 1% year over year, primarily due to an increase in server depreciation expenses and cloud related expenses which support ERNIE Bot research inputs, partially offset by the decrease in personnel related expenses.

Operating income was RMB 5.2 billion ($718 million). Baidu Core operating income was RMB 4.6 billion ($630 million), and Baidu Core operating margin was 17%. Non-GAAP operating income was RMB 7.3 billion ($1.01 billion). Non-GAAP Baidu Core operating income was RMB 6.5 billion ($899 million), and non-GAAP Baidu Core operating margin was 25%.

Total other income, net was RMB 1.4 billion ($189 million), increasing 807% year over year, primarily due to the increase in net foreign exchange gain and net interest income, partially offset by the increase of fair value loss from long-term investments.

Income tax expense was RMB 1.3 billion($175 million), compared to RMB 25 million in the same period last year. The lower level of income tax expense in the second quarter of 2022 is primarily due to the reversal of certain tax expenses based on the 2021 tax return. Apart from the reversal, the main reason for the increase of income tax expense is the increase in profit before tax year over year.

Net income attributable to Baidu was RMB 5.2 billion ($718 million), and diluted earnings per ADS was RMB 14.17 ($1.95). Net income attributable to Baidu Core was RMB 5.0 billion ($691 million), and net margin for Baidu Core was 19%. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu was RMB 8.0 billion ($1.10 billion). Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB 22.55($3.11). Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu Core was RMB 7.7 billion ($1.06 billion), and non-GAAP net margin for Baidu Core was 29%.

Adjusted EBITDA was RMB 9.1 billion ($1.26 billion) and adjusted EBITDA margin was 27%. Adjusted EBITDA for Baidu Core was RMB 8.2 billion ($1.14 billion) and adjusted EBITDA margin for Baidu Core was 31%.

As of June 30, 2023, cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments were RMB 201.5 billion ($27.79 billion), and cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments excluding iQIYI were RMB 196.9 billion ($27.15billion). Free cash flow was RMB 7.9 billion ($1.09 billion), and free cash flow excluding iQIYI was RMB 7.1 billion ($973 million).

Conference Call Information

Baidu's management will hold an earnings conference call at 8 AM on August 22, 2023, U.S. Eastern Time (8 PM on August 22, 2023, Beijing Time).

Please register in advance of the conference call using the link provided below. It will automatically direct you to the registration page of "Baidu Inc Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call". Please follow the steps to enter your registration details, then click "Register". Upon registering, you will then be provided with the dial-in number, the passcode, and your unique access PIN. This information will also be emailed to you as a calendar invite.

For pre-registration, please click:
https://s1.c-conf.com/diamondpass/10032710-f851qv.html

In the 10 minutes prior to the call start time, you may use the conference access information (including dial-in number(s), the passcode and unique access PIN) provided in the calendar invite that you have received following your pre-registration.

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of this conference call will be available at https://ir.baidu.com .

About Baidu

Founded in 2000, Baidu's mission is to make the complicated world simpler through technology. Baidu is a leading AI company with strong Internet foundation, trading on NASDAQ under "BIDU" and HKEX under "9888". One Baidu ADS represents eight Class A ordinary shares.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Among other things, Baidu's and other parties' strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. Baidu may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in announcements made on the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "Hong Kong Stock Exchange"), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including but not limited to statements about Baidu's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: Baidu's growth strategies; its future business development, including development of new products and services; its ability to attract and retain users and customers; competition in the Chinese Internet search and newsfeed market; competition for online marketing customers; changes in the Company's revenues and certain cost or expense items as a percentage of its revenues; the outcome of ongoing, or any future, litigation or arbitration, including those relating to intellectual property rights; the expected growth of the Chinese-language Internet search and newsfeed market and the number of Internet and broadband users in China; Chinese governmental policies relating to the Internet and Internet search providers, and general economic conditions in China and elsewhere. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and announcements on the website of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Baidu does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of the press release, and Baidu undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement Baidu's consolidated financial results presented in accordance with GAAP, Baidu uses the following non-GAAP financial measures: non-GAAP operating income (loss), non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net income (loss) attributable to Baidu, non-GAAP net margin, non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin and free cash flow. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Baidu believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of its recurring core business operating results, such as operating performance excluding non-cash charges or non-operating in nature. The Company believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management's internal comparisons to Baidu's historical performance and liquidity. The Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in allowing for greater transparency with respect to supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. A limitation of using these non-GAAP financial measures is that these non-GAAP measures exclude certain items that have been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant component in the Company's results of operations. These non-GAAP financial measures presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measures differently, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures to the Company's data.

Non-GAAP operating income represents operating income excluding share-based compensation expenses, amortization and impairment of intangible assets resulting from business combinations.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu represents net income attributable to Baidu excluding share-based compensation expenses, amortization and impairment of intangible assets resulting from business combinations, disposal gain or loss, impairment of long-term investments, fair value change of long-term investments, adjusted for related income tax effects. Baidu's share of equity method investments for these non-GAAP reconciling items, amortization and impairment of intangible assets not on the investees' books, accretion of their redeemable non-controlling interests, and the gain or loss associated with the issuance of shares by the investees at a price higher or lower than the carrying value per share, adjusted for related income tax effects, are also excluded.

Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS represents diluted earnings per ADS calculated by dividing non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu, by the weighted average number of ordinary shares expressed in ADS. Adjusted EBITDA represents operating income excluding depreciation, amortization and impairment of intangible assets resulting from business combinations, and share-based compensation expenses.

For more information on non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned "Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest comparable GAAP measure.