Chinese search leader Baidu has posted a bumper first quarter result, hiking profit 165% and boosting market share.
In a period marked by rival Google’s controversial exit from the market, Baidu recorded income of 480.5 million yuan ($77.8m) on 59.6% higher sales of 1.29 billion yuan.
Its share of internet search market revenue rose to 64% in the first quarter from a two-year low of 58.4% in the previous three months, according to research firm Analysys International, quoted in the Wall Street Journal. Google’s share fell five points to 30.9%.
The company has opened up an “impregnable lead” in the China search market, WSJ noted. Apart from Google, none of its competitors has a more than 1% market share.
CEO Robin Li said the new Phoenix Nest online advertising platform “continued to exceed our expectations.”
CFO Jennifer Li said: “For the rest of the year, we will aggressively expand our R&D and sales teams to drive improvements in technology and monetization while investing in network infrastructure to support traffic growth.”